From f4c062d9378d83f2640d0ade6c52cc3a6351bdcb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Florian=20M=C3=BCllner?= <fmuellner@gnome.org>
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2024 10:36:10 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] docs: Add debugging information

The current debugging page on the wiki is fairly outdated and
very X11-centric, so base the new page on the recently added
mutter documentation instead, but with a bigger focus on
Javascript debugging.

Part-of: <https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/merge_requests/3122>
---
 docs/debugging.md | 52 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 52 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 docs/debugging.md

diff --git a/docs/debugging.md b/docs/debugging.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0ea50af9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/debugging.md
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# Debugging
+
+## Looking Glass
+
+[Looking Glass][lg] is a built-in debugger and inspector tool that makes
+it possible to run arbitrary JS code inside the shell, visually select
+any object from the shell's scene, and much more.
+
+It can be accessed by entering `lg` into the run dialog (Alt+F2).
+
+[lg]: looking-glass.md
+
+## Javascript stacktraces
+
+gnome-shell is split between C and JavaScript. It is sometimes necessary
+to debug the interaction between the two, for example when javascript
+code triggers a warning or crash on the C side.
+
+In gdb, the javascript stacktrace can be printed with
+```
+<gdb> gjs_dumpstack()
+```
+
+The `SHELL_DEBUG` environment variable can be used to print
+the javascript stack automatically:
+
+ * `backtrace-warning`: when a warning is logged
+ * `backtrace-segfault`: on segfaults
+
+To log a stacktrace when some particular javascript code is reached, you
+can insert the following code:
+
+```js
+console.trace('trace from doSomething()')
+```
+
+## Debugging the session's gnome-shell proces
+
+It is possible to attach gdb to the gnome-shell process of the existing
+login session (or with the native backend on a tty), but beware: When the
+debugger stops the gnome-shell process, the entire session will freeze.
+
+It is necessary to use a second system to continue controlling the
+debugger, most conveniently in combination with [screen]:
+
+ 1. create a screen session
+ 2. detach the session
+ 3. ssh from a second system
+ 4. resume the screen session
+ 5. attach gdb to the gnome-shell process
+
+[screen]: https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/