*Visual / VM Debugger* (*VDB* for short) is a simple standalone graphical front-end for [GDB][2]aimed to debug, not only, virtual machines. It provides easy-to-use, easy-to-extend user interface while keeping full power of GDB command line and scripting facilities.

  * source-and-assembly view with detailed instruction analysis (basic blocks,

  * integrated support for reverse debugging using *GDB's* native reverse

  * ability to run *GDB* remotely through SSH on a remote server or on a

It is recommended to use GDB built from [https://github.com/janvrany/binutils-gdb][4] as it contains changes not yet in upstream. However, VDB should work fine with stock GDB 12 and newer.

For more information about building patched GDB see [https://swing.fit.cvut.cz/hg/jv-libgdbs/file/tip/doc/GDB.md][9].

## Downloading and running:

 1. Create a directory for VDB

        mkdir vdb

        cd vdb

 2. Get pre-built [Smalltalk/X jv-branch][3] "toy" archive:

        wget --quiet --output-document=get-stx.py https://swing.fit.cvut.cz/download/smalltalkx/get-stx.py

        python3 get-stx.py

    Alternatively, you may download and unpack apropriate archive from [https://swing.fit.cvut.cz/download/smalltalkx/devel](https://swing.fit.cvut.cz/download/smalltalkx/devel/).

 3. Get [jv:libgdbs][5]:

        mkdir jv

        hg clone https://swing.fit.cvut.cz/hg/jv-libgdbs/ jv/libgdbs

 4. Get VDB:

        hg clone https://swing.fit.cvut.cz/hg/jv-vdb/ jv/vdb

 5. To run VDB, execute:

        ./stx/bin/stx --package-path . --load jv:vdb --run VDBStartup

send a message to [Smalltalk/X mailing list][8].

Jan Vrany `<jan [at] vrany.io>`

[5]: https://swing.fit.cvut.cz/hg/jv-libgdbs/