Debugging

To debug D programs you need to use a debugger that understands the format of the debug symbols information that your chosen compiler produces. The quality of the debug symbols information might vary depending on which compiler you use and its underlying debug format. For example, some compiler configurations may present the names of variables and/or functions in it's C mangled form, instead of the natural D name.

Debugging support by compiler

Compiler+Platform	Format	Debugger	Supported functionality
DMD-Win32	OMF	Mago/VisualD	Good support: Breakpoints; Stack frames; Mostly pretty names ('.' shows up as '@'); Variable inspection; Visual Studio based.
		Mago-MI	Good support: Breakpoints; Stack frames; Variable inspection; GDB/MI compatible interface for Mago debugger.
		WinDbg	Supplied with the main D compiler zip file download. Overview
		ddbg	Doesn't seem to be working well. Project no longer maintained.
		OllyDbg 2	Reasonable support when assisted by cv2pdb; stack frames; mangled symbols; shows source code alongside disassembly. Note: v2.01 has a bug that may cause frequent crashes when reading PDB files. Details and patch here.
DMD-Win64 LDC-Win64	COFF	Mago/VisualD	TODO: same level of support as for win32? Has issues with structs and pointers, break on D exceptions can no longer be toggled for unknown reasons.
		RemedyDB	Paid. Works better at certain duties than VS. Still in active development. Does not have an option for break on exceptions, but can be mitigated with putting a breakpoint into an exception CTOR.
DMD-Linux GDC-Linux LDC-Linux GDC-Win32/64	DWARF	GDB	Good support: Breakpoints; Stack frames; Pretty names; Variable inspection;
		ZeroBUGS	"Modular debugger for C/C++/D programming languages (and virtually anything else that supports Stabs/DWARF debug formats)". Supported debugging functionality??
LDC-MinGW	DWARF	-	DWARF debug symbol info seems to be broken for LLVM compiled with MinGW note
DMD-MacOS GDC-MacOS LDC-MacOS	?	GDB	Limited/outdated support? According to Jacob Carlberg: "D symbols need to be prefixed with an extra underscore." "Line numbers don't work."
		LLDB	?

Graphical debugger frontends

Frontends providing support to a command-line debugger mentioned in the previous section.

Debugger	Frontend	Description	Platform
GDB	Mono-D	MonoDeveloped-based full D IDE. Has integration with the GDB debugger. "Debugging (using MonoDevelop’s integrated gdb support on Linux currently)"	Linux?
GDB	DDT	Eclipse-based IDE. Has integration with the GDB debugger, including D support. (Debugging support is based on Eclipse CDT)	Linux, Windows, MacOS
GDB	Nemiver	Graphical frontend to the GDB debugger, which supports full D syntax from version 7.2.	Linux
GDB	CGDB	Command line frontend to the GDB debugger, which supports full D syntax from version 7.2.Shows code and the GDB console in split windows.	Linux, MacOS
GDB	DDD	GNU DDD is a graphical front-end for command-line debuggers such as GDB. Usual front-end features such as viewing source code, viewing variables, etc.	Linux
GDB	Affinic Debugger	Affinic Debugger GUI .aka. ADG, is designed as a graphical user interface for various debuggers. This version is specifically targeted on GDB, the GNU debugger.	Linux, Windows, MacOS
GDB	DlangIDE	D language IDE written in D. Supports GDB-MI compatible debuggers.	Linux, Windows, MacOS
GDB	Dexed - GDB commander	Visual debugging with GDB in one of the IDE widget.	Linux
mago-mi	DlangIDE	D language IDE written in D. Supports GDB-MI compatible debuggers.	Windows
mago-mi	DDT	Eclipse-based IDE. Supports mago-mi debugger using GDB-MI interface.	Windows
GDB / LLDB	VS Code with C/C++ Extension	Visual Studio Code along with the C/C++ extension which allows for debugging native applications. It is possible to use the extension's debugger with D.	Linux, MacOS
GDB / LLDB / mago-mi	Native Debug (VS Code Extension)	Debugging through Visual Studio Code's debugging UI.	Linux, Windows, MacOS

Specific Debugger Tutorials

Some video resources on learning debugging can be found here: Debugging with GDB (Linux demonstration), Debugging with lldb (Mac demonstration with LDC2 and DMD) (Note, as the quality of debug information improves you may get more information/abilities through your debugger over time). Please visit the Tutorials which may contain further resources.