Debugging Apex Ada 4.2.0c on Windows XP Pro

Debugging Apex Ada 4.2.0c on Windows XP Pro

[Dan T.]

Is anyone else building Ada applications using Apex Ada 4.2.0c on
Windows XP Pro (SP2)?  I'm running into problems where the debugger
fails, probably during program elaboration.  The same executables, on a
Windows 2000 Pro workstation, work fine under the debugger.

Thanks,
Dan

Re: Debugging Apex Ada 4.2.0c on Windows XP Pro

[Pete E.]

Dan T. wrote:
> Is anyone else building Ada applications using Apex Ada 4.2.0c on
> Windows XP Pro (SP2)?  I'm running into problems where the debugger
> fails, probably during program elaboration.  The same executables, on
a
> Windows 2000 Pro workstation, work fine under the debugger.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan

Hi Dan,

What kind of problems are you running into?  You might consider
contacting IBM Rational Technical Support:

Electronic Service Request (ESR):
https://www-111.ibm.com/software/support/ecare/support_login.jsp
Phone: 1.800.IBM.SERV
E-mail: sw_support@us.ibm.com
Web: http://www.ibm.com/software/rational/support
Regards,
Pete Eberlein

RE: Debugging Apex Ada 4.2.0c on Windows XP Pro

[EXT-Turpin, Daniel S]

Thanks Pete.

Haven't narrowed things down enough to contact Rational yet.  We have over 500,000 lines of Ada and quite a number of other languages involved.  I'm in the process of building up a stripped down executable to the point where it causes a problem.  At the same time, I have to come up with source I am allowed to release to them.  Proprietary issues.

Anyway, when I start up the debugger on the executable it gets through initialization and goes to the Ready state.  At that point, stepping into the executable or setting a break and hitting Go results in a popup from a_db.exe that says "a_db.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.  We are sorry for the inconvenience."  The files assembled for transmittal to Microsoft (which I can't do) include the crash dump for a_db.exe and an appcompat.txt file that just lists a_db.exe and kernel32.dll.  The error signature is:

EventType: BEX  P1: a_db.exe  P2: 0.0.0.0  P3: 3e3f8ab6
P4: dbghelp.dll  P5: 5.1.2600.2180 P6: 4110969a P7: 0001295d
P8: c0000409 P9: 00000000

After this, once the popups are dismissed, the a_db.exe process dies, but the a_db_stop.exe process does not and must be killed to allow the IDE to continue.

Right now I'm really just looking to see if anyone has experience a similar problem running on Windows XP.  I don't have this problem on Windows 2000 systems.  I'm certain it's something in elaboration that is causing an exception, but haven't been real successful in finding where yet.  Our elaboration code is rather extensive as is our use of exception based programming, which makes it tough to set a break on an exception/signal since there are hundreds or even thousands of them during elaboration.

Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: Pete E. [mailto:pete.eberlein@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 12:58 PM
To: comp.lang.ada@ada-france.org
Subject: Re: Debugging Apex Ada 4.2.0c on Windows XP Pro


Dan T. wrote:
> Is anyone else building Ada applications using Apex Ada 4.2.0c on
> Windows XP Pro (SP2)?  I'm running into problems where the debugger
> fails, probably during program elaboration.  The same executables, on
a
> Windows 2000 Pro workstation, work fine under the debugger.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan

Hi Dan,

What kind of problems are you running into?  You might consider
contacting IBM Rational Technical Support:

Electronic Service Request (ESR):
https://www-111.ibm.com/software/support/ecare/support_login.jsp
Phone: 1.800.IBM.SERV
E-mail: sw_support@us.ibm.com
Web: http://www.ibm.com/software/rational/support
Regards,
Pete Eberlein

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Re: Debugging Apex Ada 4.2.0c on Windows XP Pro

[Pete E.]

EXT-Turpin, Daniel S wrote:
> Thanks Pete.
>
> Haven't narrowed things down enough to contact Rational yet.  We have
over 500,000 lines of Ada and quite a number of other languages
involved.  I'm in the process of building up a stripped down executable
to the point where it causes a problem.  At the same time, I have to
come up with source I am allowed to release to them.  Proprietary
issues.
>
> Anyway, when I start up the debugger on the executable it gets
through initialization and goes to the Ready state.  At that point,
stepping into the executable or setting a break and hitting Go results
in a popup from a_db.exe that says "a_db.exe has encountered a problem
and needs to close.  We are sorry for the inconvenience."  The files
assembled for transmittal to Microsoft (which I can't do) include the
crash dump for a_db.exe and an appcompat.txt file that just lists
a_db.exe and kernel32.dll.  The error signature is:
>
> EventType: BEX  P1: a_db.exe  P2: 0.0.0.0  P3: 3e3f8ab6
> P4: dbghelp.dll  P5: 5.1.2600.2180 P6: 4110969a P7: 0001295d
> P8: c0000409 P9: 00000000
>
> After this, once the popups are dismissed, the a_db.exe process dies,
but the a_db_stop.exe process does not and must be killed to allow the
IDE to continue.
>
> Right now I'm really just looking to see if anyone has experience a
similar problem running on Windows XP.  I don't have this problem on
Windows 2000 systems.  I'm certain it's something in elaboration that
is causing an exception, but haven't been real successful in finding
where yet.  Our elaboration code is rather extensive as is our use of
exception based programming, which makes it tough to set a break on an
exception/signal since there are hundreds or even thousands of them
during elaboration.
>
> Dan

I haven't seen that problem on Windows XP myself, but I have not
upgraded to SP2 yet.  Do you know if it was previously a problem with
SP1?  I assume a simple hello world program works ok in the debugger?

Instead of breaking on exceptions, you can try to break on the name of
the elaboration procedure for a package.  For the package whose
elaboration procedure you want to break, export the name of the
elaboration procedure using 'pragma Export_Elaboration_Procedure
("package_name_body_elaboration");' in the package body.  In the
debugger, on the break dialog, set the dropdown to "On Location" and
use the same name "package_name_body_elaboration" you exported by the
pragma.  This might help you narrow down where the crash is coming
from.

Regards,
Pete Eberlein