vimpdb 0.4.1.1

Short story

vimpdb tries to avoid depending on any user configuration. If it cannot detect the right configuration by itself, it will ask a few questions which you should be able to answer easily.

Long story

When launched, vimpdb looks for its RC file : ~/.vimpdbrc. If it does not find it, vimpdb creates that file for you from default values.

vimpdb tries a set of default values that should work for you. It checks if those default values are appropriate. If the default values do not work, vimpdb asks for other values interactively until it has checked that the values provided actually work.

The default values per OS are listed hereunder.

For Linux:

vim_client_script = vim
vim_server_script = vim
server_name = VIM
port = 6666

For MacOSX:

vim_client_script = mvim
vim_server_script = mvim
server_name = VIM
port = 6666

For Windows:

vim_client_script = vim.exe
vim_server_script = gvim.exe
server_name = VIM
port = 6666

See below for details about each option.

You are obviously allowed to create and tune that RC file. Nevertheless, the RC file should hold values for all 4 options. If one of them is missing, vimpdb breaks and complains accordingly.

VIM client script - vim_client_script

To communicate with the VIM instance where debugging happens, vimpdb needs to launch another VIM instance in client mode.

vim_client_script option holds the script used to launch that VIM instance with clientserver support.

On Windows, it should hold vim.exe, not gvim.exe. Furthermore, do not include quotes in the value to take care of whitespace in the path.

VIM server script - vim_server_script

In case no VIM instance is running, vimpdb launches a VIM instance in server mode.

vim_server_script option holds the script used to launch that VIM instance with clientserver support. As debugging in the VIM instance is written with python, that instance must have python support.

On MacOSX and Linux, vim_server_script and vim_client_script can hold the same value.

However, on Windows, only the graphical VIM can be used as server, reason for the default value as seen above.

Server Name - server_name

The VIM instance in server mode has a name.

By default, vimpdb speaks to the server named VIM, which is the default servername used by VIM.

If you want vimpdb to use another server name, modify the server_name option. It should hold the name of the VIM server you want to be used for debugging.

You may list the currently running VIM servers using:

$ vim --serverlist
VIM

Or, on a Mac:

$ /Applications/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim --serverlist
VIM

When a VIM instance with clientserver support is running, you can find its name by issuing the following command at the VIM prompt:

:echo v:servername

UDP Port - port

VIM communicates to vimpdb through a UDP socket. By default, the socket is opened on port 6666.

If that socket is not available in your system, you can specify an available port number in the port option.

Backward Compatibility

Before version 4.1, vimpdb ony used a single script option. That option has now be turned into vim_client_script. The migration should be transparent.

Before version 4.0, vimpdb was configured through environment variables. If you had a working configuration, you should have no problem. The values of VIMPDB_SERVERNAME and VIMPDB_VIMSCRIPT environment variables are setup in the RC file (~/.vimpdbrc). They are put respectively in server_name and script options.

Python code

Using vimpdb is easy – just insert a call to set_trace in your code almost as usual:

import vimpdb; vimpdb.set_trace()

Then start your python application/script.

When the python interpreter hits that line, vimpdb will launch a VIM instance. VIM should get the focus; it loads the source file at the right line.

VIM commands

In VIM, you may now use the following commands:

0.4.1.1 (2010-11-26)

• Tune documentation.

0.4.1 (2010-11-26)

• check python and clientserver support; gives a chance to provide right configuration if support is missing

• try to start a VIM instance if none is available

0.4.0 (2010-07-29)

• tested with Python 2.7.

• UDP port is now an option.

• configuration through ~/.vimpdbrc instead of environment variables.

0.3.8 (2010-06-17)

• fix: some versions of VIM need explicit import of vim module even though most don’t. (http://github.com/gotcha/vimpdb/issues/issue/5)

0.3.7 (2010-05-20)

• fix: could not go “down” after switching from pdb to vimpdb after having gone “up”. (http://github.com/gotcha/vimpdb/issues/issue/4)

0.3.6 (2010-04-17)

• fix: “continue” command was broken after breakpoint has been set. (http://github.com/gotcha/vimpdb/issues/issue/3)

• fix: Key mappings were left broken after “continue” command. (http://github.com/gotcha/vimpdb/issues/issue/2)

0.3.5 (2010-03-22)

• better documentation, especially for Windows

• fix: capture of output was broken for Python 2.5 and 2.6

• Windows compatibility (at least XP)

0.3.4 (2010-03-15)

• close socket to allow debugging session to start again

0.3.3 (2010-03-04)

• avoid leaving mappings in debugged buffers

0.3.2 (2010-03-03)

• more documentation

0.3.1 (2010-03-02)

• fix setup.py metadata so that it does not hold non ascii chars. This avoided actual release to PyPI

0.3 (2010-03-02)

• fully rewritten

0.2.1 (2008-06-27)

• added vimpdb script

• added “exit” callback

0.2 (2008-06-17)

• first release to PyPi