Embeddable Debugger for C++ - c++

Question

Does not need to be a full debugger but i need to get a good stack trace dump when an assert is raised. A simple list of called functions is not enough. I'm pretty happy with my Eiffel system which is giving me something like
17 frames in current stack.
===== Displaying only top 10 frames in run-time stack =====
agent call wrapper 2
======================================
lookup_key USER_COMMAND_INVOCATION
Current = USER_COMMAND_INVOCATION#03FE5D00
[ arachno_window = #061A4AF0
window = #061A4AF0
mrec = Void
trigger = "if"
param_int = 0
param_str = Void
skip_next_keystroke = false
in_continuation_key = false
current_hook = #05EFB500
update_default_command = #05EF3578
default_command = "Editor.Modifications#cInsert Typed Text"
last_invoked_command = "Editor.Modifications#cTab Character"
show_popup_menu_action = #061B3C30
build_menu = Void
menu_line = 0
menu_offset = 0
modifiers = #03FDCAC8
code = #03FDCB88
character = #03FDCB58
count = 0
prefix_count = -1
selected_commands = #03FDCA98
cached_file_types = #03FDCA68
cached_file_context = #03FDCA38
cached_window_type_name = Void
project_context_action = #061B3C80
program_context_action = #061B3C58
window_context_action = #061B3CA8
cached_window_name_valid = false
cached_file_type_valid = false
cached_file_context_valid = false
reset_prefix_on_next_event = false
]
before = true
mod = BIT_32
[ bits = 0
]
c = 65362
str = ""
menu = Void
map = Void
key = Void
b = Void
i = 0
n = 0
m = 0
cval = 65362
char = 0
cnt = 0
s = Void
skip_flag = false
prefix_found_flag = false
ev = AGUI_EVENT_CONSTANTS
t = Void
consume = false
line 387 column 13 file x:\work_arachno\src\run\user_command_invocation.e
======================================
on_key_hook (late bind.)
======================================
on_key_hook EDITOR_KEY_STEALER_HOOK
Current = EDITOR_KEY_STEALER_HOOK#05EFB500
[ callback = POINTER#063D1570
sapi = SCRIPTING_API
]
mod = BIT_32
[ bits = 0
]
code = 65362
str = ""
Result = false
break = false
engine = POINTER#04BEE690
cmd_pair = Void
line 41 column 0 file x:\work_arachno\src\editor\editor_key_stealer_hook.e
======================================
callback SCRIPTING_API
ptr = POINTER#04BEE690
cb = POINTER#063D1570
args = 3
res = 1
Result = 0
line 481 column 16 file x:\work_arachno\src\scripting\scripting_api.e
======================================
External CECIL call.
======================================
editor__move_lines EDITOR_SCRIPTING
Current = EDITOR_SCRIPTING#05EE17A0
[ sapi = SCRIPTING_API
view = #061A47D0
positions = #05EE1780
stealer_hook = #05EFB500
html_file_dialog = Void
html_file_dialog_modified = false
]
manager = EDITOR_MANAGER#05EE0ED8
[ configuration = #03FD7F00
breakpoints = #05ED0460
folding_settings = #05ED76C0
lang_descriptors = #05EDD360
confirm_edit_while_debugging = true
use_word_wrap = false
are_foldings_visible = true
are_line_numbers_visible = true
are_modified_markers_visible = true
are_bookmarks_visible = true
are_whitespaces_visible = false
is_highlight_current_line = false
is_highlight_search_results = true
is_right_margin_visible = true
are_indent_lines_visible = true
are_line_endings_visible = false
are_end_of_line_dots_visible = false
are_breakpoints_visible = false
commands = #03FD1E70
completition = #0400A8C0
tooltip_buffer = Void
folding_background_task_id = 0
folding_file_observer = #061C6EE0
folding_rand = #05EDDE88
bracket_window = Void
bracket_window_popdown_task = 0
tracked_positions = Void
code_hinting = #05EE2F20
code_hinting_active = false
code_hinting_window_id = 0
code_hinting_file_id = 0
code_hinting_shutdown_task = 0
code_hinting_shutdown_agent = #05ED2690
code_hinting_autostart = true
code_hinting_info_display = 2
code_hinting_display_id = 0
code_hinting_sequence_id = 3
]
engine = POINTER#04BEE690
sobj = POINTER#07526740
Result = 0
first = 486
last = 486
ref = 487
before = false
line 220 column 25 file ΘÖ▓♣
======================================
move_lines (late bind.)
======================================
move_lines EDITOR_BUFFER
Current = EDITOR_BUFFER#03FE91B0
[ modified_lines = #074BD408
modified_lines_string = ""
lines = #074BD348
last_modified_position = #061D6B18
is_read_only_state = false
is_modified = true
is_special_empty = false
is_zombie = false
line_end_coding = 1
loaded_without_last_newline = true
descriptor = #05EE04C0
views = #074BD3A8
transform_position = Void
transform_array = #07552E40
forbid_update_counter = 0
inside_undo_operation = false
debug_position_list = #074BD390
]
pos = EDITOR_POSITION#061B35A0
[ help = "caret"
buffer_line = #03FF0460
offset = 18
data = #075181E0
is_anchored = false
is_transformed = false
next_transformed = Void
next = #044C0270
]
lower = 486
upper = 486
ref = 487
before = false
count = 1
src = 0
dest = 1
i = 2214
j = 2213
low = 486
up = 489
target = 486
skip = false
a = ARRAY[EDITOR_BUFFER_LINE]#075529C0
[ storage = NATIVE_ARRAY[EDITOR_BUFFER_LINE]#03FDA448
capacity = 1
upper = 1
lower = 1
]
set = SET[INTEGER]#075266E0
[ buckets = NATIVE_ARRAY[SET_NODE[INTEGER]]#0755B000
cache_user = -1
cache_node = Void
cache_buckets = 0
count = 2213
capacity = 3079
]
line 1107 column 25 file x:\work_arachno\src\editor\editor_buffer.e
======================================
It means i get a dump of all stack variables and the current (this) object.
And the best is that i can ship this to the customer because it requires zero configuration on the client side.
Does anyone know how i can do this in a C++/C or even D or CObject (i have to switch the langauge anyway and this are my four preferred targets)?
And everyone who says i should deploy GDB will get downvotes.

Answer 1

for windows, look at minidumps, creatable with methods in toolhelp.dll

Answer 2

If you're on Linux with glibc look into the 'backtrace()' function.
I've used it on a PPC system to get stacktraces whenever a critical error occurs.
In my implementation I just log the return addresses and use a script on the host platform (based around addr2line) to translate is back into filename/function name/line number.

Answer 3

As stijn pointed out, under Windows a minidump may be sufficient. If it is, it'll undoubtedly be a whole lot easier than almost any alternative.
A minidump won't be very close to what you're getting from Eiffel though. If you need something closer, you'll probably have to write (most of) the code yourself. The Antex Stack Walker would probably be a reasonable start (look for stackwalker.cpp and stackwalker.h).

Answer 4

You might want to look at google-breakpad: http://code.google.com/p/google-breakpad/
It's the project formerly known as Airbag:
http://benjamin.smedbergs.us/blog/2006-09-12/deploying-the-airbag/
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Airbag
I'll admit that I haven't used it (my needs for something like this have been Windows-only), but it appears to have Mozilla behind it and seems to be pretty active.
It's a set of libraries and tools to automatically send crashdumps to a server so you can do post mortems. As I understand it Firefox is currently using it, so I imagine it's pretty cross-platform. The downside is that it's not self-contained in the client program - you need some infrastructure in place for it to be useful. That might or might not be workable for your situation.
Though if you don't want to have a service that gets the reports (maybe you just want them on the client or have them sent by email) I imagine you could have the client reporter send it's information to a 'server' program that also exists on the client machine to do the reporting. No idea how much work it would be to get it to function like that.