As I posted on another forum, the steps I've historically taken to debug HDK is as follows:

compile with -g option
create a hip file with the SOP dropped but not cooked.
at a command line, run gdb houdini -or- “M-x gdb” in emacs
at the gdb prompt, type:
run -foreground /path/to/mydebug.hip (or in emacs, houdini -foreground /path/to/mydebug.hip)
houdini should then launch with the sop dropped, but not cooked, now you can set a breakpoint like:
break SOP_Watever::cookMySop -or- “Cntl-X SPC” on the line in emacs.
now cook the SOP
and step from there

… however, I'm now getting “-foreground load failed: No such file or directory” in H8 or “-fullname load filed. No such file or directory” in H9.

Is it still possible to debug with gdb? If so, any idea what's going wrong here?

Quick gdb hint: one easy way to get around needing to type -foreground is to do
set fork-follow-mode child

in gdb before starting Houdini.

However, that doesn't explain why you can't run houdini -foreground from gdb now. One thing I do notice is that you say -fullfile in your H9 example, and not -foreground; can you check your syntax?

Joe
Quick gdb hint: one easy way to get around needing to type -foreground is to do
set fork-follow-mode child

in gdb before starting Houdini.

However, that doesn't explain why you can't run houdini -foreground from gdb now. One thing I do notice is that you say -fullfile in your H9 example, and not -foreground; can you check your syntax?

Hmm… the syntax seems to be correct (well - it's consistent with what I posted above). I have had a little more luck by using “houdini-bin” under H9 rather than “houdini”, though it's still not working properly - not stopping at breakpoints, I get a message that says, “simple.hip load errors” with an “OK” button only.

For anyone else that uses gdb, is this the way you do it or is there another way?

BrianK
compile with -g option
create a hip file with the SOP dropped but not cooked.
at a command line, run gdb houdini -or- “M-x gdb” in emacs
at the gdb prompt, type:
run -foreground /path/to/mydebug.hip (or in emacs, houdini -foreground /path/to/mydebug.hip)

Hello,

I tested your steps with Houdini 8.2.339 and Houdini 9.1.144 and I was able to set a breakpoint and step through the code in gdb.

For H9, you should debug houdini-bin, not houdini. Also, if you find you're running into python errors on startup, you need to set the following environment variables before running “gdb houdini-bin”:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=“${HFS}/python/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}”
export PYTHONPATH=“${HFS}/houdini/scripts/python/ucs4:${PYTHONPATH}”


What H8 and H9 versions are you using? Also, what were the last Houdini versions you tried that worked with gdb? And can you still debug those versions?

Cheers,
Rob