762a5bbefa
- Move the debugging guides for VSCode and node-inspector into separate files. - Add instructions for using electron-inspector to the node-inspector guide. - Remove note in node-inspector guide about crashing when inspecting `process` (it was fixed a long time ago: https://github.com/nodejs/node-v0.x-archive/issues/8205)
131 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
131 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
# Debugging the Main Process in node-inspector
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[`node-inspector`][node-inspector] provides a familiar DevTools GUI that can
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be used in Chrome to debug Electron's main process, however, because
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`node-inspector` relies on some native Node modules they must be rebuilt to
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target the version of Electron you wish to debug. You can either rebuild
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the `node-inspector` dependencies yourself, or let
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[`electron-inspector`][electron-inspector] do it for you, both approaches are
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covered in this document.
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**Note**: At the time of writing the latest release of `node-inspector`
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(0.12.8) can't be rebuilt to target Electron 1.3.0 or later without patching
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one of its dependencies. If you use `electron-inspector` it will take care of
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this for you.
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## Use `electron-inspector` for Debugging
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### 1. Install the [node-gyp required tools][node-gyp-required-tools]
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### 2. Install [`electron-rebuild`][electron-rebuild], if you haven't done so already.
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```shell
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npm install electron-rebuild --save-dev
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```
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### 3. Install [`electron-inspector`][electron-inspector]
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```shell
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npm install electron-inspector --save-dev
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```
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### 4. Start Electron
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Launch Electron with the `--debug` switch:
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```shell
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electron --debug=5858 your/app
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```
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or, to pause execution on the first line of JavaScript:
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```shell
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electron --debug-brk=5858 your/app
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```
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### 5. Start electron-inspector
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On macOS / Linux:
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```shell
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node_modules/.bin/electron-inspector
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```
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On Windows:
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```shell
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node_modules\\.bin\\electron-inspector
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```
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`electron-inspector` will need to rebuild `node-inspector` dependencies on the
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first run, and any time you change your Electron version. The rebuild process
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may require an internet connection to download Node headers and libs, and may
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take a few minutes.
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### 6. Load the debugger UI
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Open http://127.0.0.1:8080/debug?ws=127.0.0.1:8080&port=5858 in the Chrome
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browser. You may have to click pause if starting with `--debug-brk` to force
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the UI to update.
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## Use `node-inspector` for Debugging
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### 1. Install the [node-gyp required tools][node-gyp-required-tools]
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### 2. Install [`node-inspector`][node-inspector]
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```bash
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$ npm install node-inspector
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```
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### 3. Install [`node-pre-gyp`][node-pre-gyp]
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```bash
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$ npm install node-pre-gyp
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```
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### 4. Recompile the `node-inspector` `v8` modules for Electron
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**Note:** Update the target argument to be your Electron version number
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```bash
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$ node_modules/.bin/node-pre-gyp --target=1.2.5 --runtime=electron --fallback-to-build --directory node_modules/v8-debug/ --dist-url=https://atom.io/download/atom-shell reinstall
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$ node_modules/.bin/node-pre-gyp --target=1.2.5 --runtime=electron --fallback-to-build --directory node_modules/v8-profiler/ --dist-url=https://atom.io/download/atom-shell reinstall
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```
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See also [How to install native modules][how-to-install-native-modules].
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### 5. Enable debug mode for Electron
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You can either start Electron with a debug flag like:
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```bash
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$ electron --debug=5858 your/app
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```
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or, to pause your script on the first line:
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```bash
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$ electron --debug-brk=5858 your/app
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```
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### 6. Start the [`node-inspector`][node-inspector] server using Electron
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```bash
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$ ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=true path/to/electron.exe node_modules/node-inspector/bin/inspector.js
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```
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### 7. Load the debugger UI
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Open http://127.0.0.1:8080/debug?ws=127.0.0.1:8080&port=5858 in the Chrome
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browser. You may have to click pause if starting with `--debug-brk` to see the
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entry line.
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[electron-inspector]: https://github.com/enlight/electron-inspector
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[electron-rebuild]: https://github.com/electron/electron-rebuild
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[node-inspector]: https://github.com/node-inspector/node-inspector
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[node-pre-gyp]: https://github.com/mapbox/node-pre-gyp
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[node-gyp-required-tools]: https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp#installation
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[how-to-install-native-modules]: using-native-node-modules.md#how-to-install-native-modules
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