How to Debug Chromium in Visual Studio 2019

Описание: A comprehensive guide to debug Chromium in Visual Studio 2019, addressing common issues and providing step-by-step solutions to get your projects running smoothly.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/69463115/ asked by the user 'Moiz Ahmed' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/17033600/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/69468957/ provided by the user 'Asesh' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/4781312/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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How to Debug Chromium in Visual Studio 2019

Debugging large projects like Chromium can be quite challenging, especially when dealing with complex solutions like all.sln in Visual Studio 2019. If you're encountering issues, such as the error message: "Unable to start program allocator_clang_newlib_x64. The system can not find the file specified," it can be frustrating. However, there are effective methods to debug Chromium without crashing Visual Studio or getting lost in its massive structure.

Understanding the Problem

When working with Chromium's codebase, especially the all.sln solution, it's important to recognize that this solution is enormous. It includes many Visual C++ projects that can slow down Visual Studio, even on high-performance machines. As a result, debugging directly from this large solution can often lead to complications and performance bottlenecks, as you're likely to experience crashes or errors during the build process.

Solution Overview

To effectively debug your Chromium fork, the recommended approach is to utilize a standalone project rather than the all.sln solution. Here's how to do it step-by-step:

Step-by-Step Guide to Debugging Chromium

Open Visual Studio Command Prompt

Start by launching the Visual Studio Command Prompt. This allows you to easily navigate your project files.

Navigate to the Chromium Source Folder

Use the command line to change directories to your Chromium source folder. This is where your project files are stored and where you'll initiate debugging.

Example command:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Open Visual Studio for Debugging Your Executable

Once in the source folder, type the following command to open Visual Studio and start debugging the Chrome executable:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Make sure to replace YourBuildFolder with the actual name of your build folder.

Start Debugging

After launching Visual Studio in this way, you can press F5 to start debugging your source code.

Additional Debugging Tips

Entry Point Debugging:
If you want to begin debugging at the entry point of your project, you can right-click the respective project in the Solution Explorer pane and select:

Debug -> Step into new instance

Editing Source Code:
You can still open and modify the all.sln to make changes to the source code. Remember that after making changes, you'll need to compile the code again to see the updates reflected when you debug.

Conclusion

Debugging Chromium in Visual Studio 2019 can be simplified by utilizing a standalone project instead of the cumbersome all.sln. Following these steps will not only help you debug more efficiently but also reduce the chances of Visual Studio crashing. By navigating through the command line and properly configuring your Visual Studio environment, you pave the way for a smoother debugging experience.

Now that you have the tools and methods to tackle debugging Chromium, you can confidently navigate through the complexities of the project and address any issues that arise.