[Question] Compiling with debug symbols?

[sulliops]

I've been writing a small program in HolyC that parses XML, and all the string manipulation is resulting in a bunch of leaked memory. I'd like to be able to compile my program with debug symbols for use with valgrind, if possible.

From what I see in the compiler source, gcc/clang are used primary for compiling assembly. I'm assuming that means that debug symbols are never created, but I wanted to check and see if there's something I'm missing? In any case, I'd love to see this as a feature in the future.

[Jamesbarford]

gcc/clang are used primary for compiling assembly

Soon that won't be the case as there is an assembler and disassembler in the project that I've not yet wired up so don't rely on that if you somehow are!

I'm assuming that means that debug symbols are never created

Creating debug symbols and using gcc/clang to assemble and link are mutually exclusive so you can create debug symbols and use gcc/clang. However you are correct in that this does not produce those symbols.

There's two things I can think of that may help you;

• hcc -jit -Memsafe, -Memsafe replaces calls to MAlloc, ReAlloc, Free and friends with something that tracks memory. It's very rudimentary but could be useful.
• Depending on how you are allocating memory, perhaps look for alternatives (The JSON parser in tree uses an arena allocator). GingerBill (creator of Odin) has a blog series on allocators which could be of interest. They'll make it easier for you to track memory, thus subsequently less prone to leaking/corruption.