Starting the debugger for remote debugging

The debugger allows you to run the debugger user interface and the debug engine on separate machines. These separate machines can be running different operating systems. When you start the debugger for remote debugging, you first start a debug engine daemon. This daemon waits for a connection from the debugger user interface. Once a connection is established, you can begin to debug your program.

Debugging compiled languages remotely

To start debugging a remote program from the command line:

  1. On the remote system, start the debug engine daemon with the irmtdbgc command at a command line prompt. If you issue this command without any parameters, you will be prompted for required information in the Load Program dialog on the local system. For information on irmtdbgc command parameters, see the related topic below.
  2. On the local system, start the debugger user interface with the idebug command using the remote debug parameters at a command line prompt. You must specify the -qhost parameter and the -qlang parameter for the language you are debugging. For information on the idebug command parameters, see the related topic below.

Tip: The debug engine is terminated if the debugger cannot load the program you want to debug. Also, the debug engine is terminated when the program you are debugging runs to completion or is terminated manually. To prevent the debug engine from being terminated in these situations, use the -qsession=multi option of the irmtdbgc command.

Debugging interpreted Java programs remotely

To start debugging a remote interpreted Java program from the command line:

  1. On the remote system, set the CLASSPATH environment variable to point at all classes and packages you will need to debug your program.
  2. On the remote system, start the debug engine daemon with the irmtdbgj command at a command line prompt. If you issue this command without any parameters, you will be prompted for required information in the Load Program dialog on the local system. For information on the irmtdbgj command parameters, see the related topic below.
  3. On the local system, start the debugger user interface with the idebug command with the remote debug parameters at a command line prompt. You must specify the -qhost parameter and the -qlang=java parameter. For information on the idebug command parameters, see the related topic below.

ngsol.gif (418 bytes) Restriction: The above method does not apply when debugging interpreted Java programs on Solaris. To debug an interpreted Java program running on Solaris, see the related topic below.

Warning: When debugging your interpreted Java program remotely, communication between the debugger and the program being debugged may be terminated prematurely by the JVM. If this happens, you will need to reload your program. To reload your program, select File > Load Program and enter the required information in to the Load Program dialog.

Tip: The debug engine is terminated if the debugger cannot load the program you want to debug. Also, the debug engine is terminated when the program you are debugging runs to completion or is terminated manually. To prevent these situations use the -multi option of the irmtdbgj command.

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ngsol.gif (418 bytes) Starting the debugger on Solaris

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ngjava.gif (225 bytes)irmtdbgj command
ngaix.gif (1051 bytes)ngwin.gif (1069 bytes)irmtdbgc command
idebug command