debugging php on mac?

Question

Hi All,

was wondering what was the best way to debug PHP on my local machine. I use MAMP on mac os 10.5

thanks, Patrick

Answer 1

I've always thought the "best" way of PHP debugging on any platform is by using FirePHP, which can output debug messages straight into the Firebug window in Firefox.

Answer 2

I've found that running php -l myfile.php is great at catching syntax errors before I try and reload the page in my browser (and thus prevent the abominable White Screen of Death). Beyond that, I just point my browser to my local webserver and try to access the pages.

You can do some nifty things in your code itself (like using debug_backtrace()), but that (obviously) requires you to put it in the code yourself.

Answer 3

Personally, I use Eclipse+PDT and XDebug. To simplify things, get Eclipse for PHP Developers from the Eclipse download page rather than installing PDT as a plugin. Eclipse has a high learning curve, but it gives you all the debugger functionality you expect: instruction stepping, breakpoints, watches, even altering variables live.

If you don't like Eclipse or find it's too much for you, there are other clients compatible with XDebug.

Answer 4

I also use eclipse+pdt and xdebug. If you're new to trying out debuggers you can try zend studio which will setup things pretty easily.

Answer 5

Using xdebug is a good start. Download the package and follow the instructions in the INSTALL file. It's fairly easy. Once this is done, add the following lines to your php.ini file:

;;[xdebug]
zend_extension="/Path/to/your/module/xdebug.so"
xdebug.file_link_format="txmt://open?url=file://%f&line=%1"
xdebug.var_display_max_depth = 20

Don't forget to restart Apache after this.

Most debugging can be done using a simple die(var_dump($some_variable)). It's not very sophisticated, but with xdebug installed, the output of a vardump looks pretty good in a browser. In most of the cases this is enough.

If you need more control, you can add an xdebug_break(); statement in your code and add the following lines to your php.ini:

xdebug.remote_enable=1
xdebug.remote_host=localhost
xdebug.remote_port=9000
xdebug.remote_autostart=1

Again, don't forget to restart Apache.

Now, using a tool like MacGDBp (or Eclipse+PDT if you must), you get a classic debugger. You can step though your program.

Have fun!