Before you go through the pain of debugging use the Test framework to check if the standard tests work properly. If they do not run complete there is possibly a broken installation.
The debugging of FreeCAD is supported by a few internal mechanisms. The command line version of FreeCAD provides some options for debugging support.
These are the currently recognized options in FreeCAD 0.15:
Generic options:
-v [ --version ] Prints version string -h [ --help ] Prints help message -c [ --console ] Starts in console mode --response-file arg Can be specified with '@name', too
Configuration:
-l [ --write-log ] Writes a log file to:
$HOME/.FreeCAD/FreeCAD.log
--log-file arg Unlike to --write-log this allows to log to an
arbitrary file
-u [ --user-cfg ] arg User config file to load/save user settings
-s [ --system-cfg ] arg Systen config file to load/save system settings
-t [ --run-test ] arg Test level
-M [ --module-path ] arg Additional module paths
-P [ --python-path ] arg Additional python paths
If you are running a version of FreeCAD from the bleeding edge of the development curve, it may "crash". You can help solve such problems by providing the developers with a "backtrace". To do this, you need to be running a "debug build" of the software. "Debug build" is a parameter that is set at compile time, so you'll either need to compile FreeCAD yourself, or obtain a pre-compiled "debug" version.
Prerequisites:
Steps: Enter the following in your terminal window:
$ cd FreeCAD/bin $ gdb FreeCAD
GNUdebugger will output some initializing information. The (gdb) shows GNUDebugger is running in the terminal, now input:
(gdb) handle SIG33 noprint nostop (gdb) run
FreeCAD will now start up. Perform the steps that cause FreeCAD to crash or freeze, then enter in the terminal window:
(gdb) bt
This will generate a lengthy listing of exactly what the program was doing when it crashed or froze. Include this with your problem report.
Prerequisites:
Steps: Enter the following in your terminal window:
$ cd FreeCAD/bin $ lldb FreeCAD
LLDB will output some initializing information. The (lldb) shows the debugger is running in the terminal, now input:
(lldb) run
FreeCAD will now start up. Perform the steps that cause FreeCAD to crash or freeze, then enter in the terminal window:
(lldb) bt
This will generate a lengthy listing of exactly what the program was doing when it crashed or froze. Include this with your problem report.
Here is an example of using winpdb inside FreeCAD:
import rpdb2
rpdb2.start_embedded_debugger("test")
import FreeCAD
import Part
import Draft
print "hello"
print "hello"
import Draft
points=[FreeCAD.Vector(-3.0,-1.0,0.0),FreeCAD.Vector(-2.0,0.0,0.0)]
Draft.makeWire(points,closed=False,face=False,support=None)