Using DDD with the Intel Debugger (IDB) on Mac OS X

[Kevin_D_Intel]

With the Intel Debugger (IDB) for Mac OS X only providing a command-line interface and Xcode only capable of debugging simple structured Fortran programs with no support of MODULEs, GUI-based debugging of Fortran on Mac OS X seemed impossible, until now.

An option exists for GUI-based debugging of Fortran on Mac OS X using the GNU DataDisplayDebugger (DDD) (http://www.gnu.org/software/ddd/) with the Intel Debugger (IDB).

To obtain DDD 3.3.11 for Mac OS X, first install Fink 0.9.0 and FinkCommander (GUI interface to Fink) for Mac OS X available from http://www.finkproject.org/ (download versions are available for various Mac OS X releases).

I found FinkCommander very easy to use. There are numerous software packages available for installation, so under the FinkCommander window scroll through the package names or use the search facility to locate ddd. Once found, click on the +.h toolbar icon or right-click on the ddd package name and select Source -> Install. This will download, build, and install ddd and the required lesstif-shlibs packages.

DDD installs under: /sw/bin/ddd

Once installed, open a terminal window and launch DDD via the command-line with Intel Debugger (IDB) as follows:

ddd --debugger "/usr/bin/idb"

We welcome user feedback about using DDD as a GUI front-end to the Intel Debugger (IDB) for Mac OS X.

DDD is also usable with the command-line interface to the Intel Debugger (IDB) for Linux. Please refer to the GNU DataDisplayDebugger (DDD) page (http://www.gnu.org/software/ddd/) for information about obtaining DDD source and/or binary downloads for Linux.

[Don_Spong]

Quoting - Kevin Davis (Intel)

I have installed ddd as suggested, but so far have been unsuccessful in using it with idb. Invoking "ddd --debugger idb" brings up an error window that says GDB could not be started. I've also tried using the full path specification ddd --debugger"/opt/intel/Compiler/11.0/064/bin/ia32/idb"for idb with similar results. Any thoughts on what I should do differently to get ddd to work with idb?

-Thanks, Don

With the Intel Debugger (IDB) for Mac OS X only providing a command-line interface and Xcode only capable of debugging simple structured Fortran programs with no support of MODULEs, GUI-based debugging of Fortran on Mac OS X seemed impossible, until now.

An option exists for GUI-based debugging of Fortran on Mac OS X using the GNU DataDisplayDebugger (DDD) (http://www.gnu.org/software/ddd/) with the Intel Debugger (IDB).

To obtain DDD 3.3.11 for Mac OS X, first install Fink 0.9.0 and FinkCommander (GUI interface to Fink) for Mac OS X available from http://www.finkproject.org/ (download versions are available for various Mac OS X releases).

I found FinkCommander very easy to use. There are numerous software packages available for installation, so under the FinkCommander window scroll through the package names or use the search facility to locate ddd. Once found, click on the +.h toolbar icon or right-click on the ddd package name and select Source -> Install. This will download, build, and install ddd and the required lesstif-shlibs packages.

DDD installs under: /sw/bin/ddd

Once installed, open a terminal window and launch DDD via the command-line with Intel Debugger (IDB) as follows:

ddd --debugger "/usr/bin/idb"

We welcome user feedback about using DDD as a GUI front-end to the Intel Debugger (IDB) for Mac OS X.

DDD is also usable with the command-line interface to the Intel Debugger (IDB) for Linux. Please refer to the GNU DataDisplayDebugger (DDD) page (http://www.gnu.org/software/ddd/) for information about obtaining DDD source and/or binary downloads for Linux.

[Kevin_D_Intel]

Your first attempt with just "idb" was missing the full path: /usr/bin/idb. For your second attempt, at least in your post here, there appears to be a space missing between debuggerand the starting double quote for the full path to idb. If there is no space you will suffer the GDB could not be started error.

I could start idb under DDD using: ddd --debugger "/opt/intel/Compiler/11.0/056/bin/ia32/idb"

You can verify IDB is getting started by throwing --version in the command above, like this:

ddd --debugger "/opt/intel/Compiler/11.0/056/bin/ia32/idb --version"

With that ddd command you will see the IDB version appear under the DDD output window, but you also receive the pop-up about could not start GDB. So, just dismiss and restart ddd without the --version option to idb.

Double check to make sure you have a space between the --debuggerand the quoted path to idb.