"not a bytecode file" error message in ocamldebug

Learning
1

Here is my short sequence of commands :

$ ocamlc -bin-annot -g str.cma unix.cma -o debugger.d.cmo -c debugger.ml
$ ocamlopt -bin-annot -g str.cmxa unix.cmxa -o debugger.ocaml_debuggable
$ ocamldebug debugger.ocaml_debuggable
OCaml Debugger version 4.04.1
(ocd) break @debugger 6291
Loading program… /Users/jonathandoyle/Documents/OCaml/Idaho/debugger.ocaml_debuggable is not a bytecode file.

What did I do wrong ?

2

I don’t use ocamldebug, but the manual implies that it only accepts bytecode executables. That means you shouldn’t be creating debugger.ocaml_debuggable with ocamlopt, but with ocamlc.

3

I used ocamlc in place in ocamloptand it works now, thank you.

I am surprised though that the -g option exists for ocamlopt (and is even mentioned in the manual) as it seems to serve no purpose

4

It does. Retains symbol names which are needed for the stack traces (and native debugging in general). See the manual.

1 Like
5

If I understood correctly, native debugging cannot use ocamldebug. How does one do it then ? Is it via gdb ?

6

Maybe soon with first class support. But it’s already useful to have the names in C backtraces and for other C profiling tools in general.