From byebug to ruby/debug

Switching to a new debugger and potentially changing your debugging process could be scary. So I hope this post can help you get familiar with ruby/debug and determine whether to switch to it.

(In the rest of the article, I'll use debug to refer to ruby/debug)

Disclaimers:

• I'm not as experienced with byebug as with debug. So please let me know if I listed incorrect/outdated information.
• Its purpose is to give a higher-level comparison. To learn more about debug's specific usages, please check its official documentation.
• It doesn't contain all the features but should already cover most of them.

Advantages of debug

Before we get into individual features, I want to quickly mention some advantages of debug:

• Colorized output

  

• Backtrace with method/block arguments

  

• Immune from the compatibility issue with Zeitwerk

• Powerful breakpoints and tracers

• Convenient remote debugging and VSCode integration

  • Setting it up with VSCode

Disadvantages of debug

• Less flexible on thread control
• Doesn't work well with Fiber yet
• Doesn't have pry integration like pry-byebug
• No per-project configuration

byebug vs debug

Installation

(Although Ruby 3.1 comes with debug v1.4, I recommend always using its latest release)

	byebug	debug
Supported Ruby version	2.5+	2.6+
Gem install	gem install byebug	gem install debug
Bundler	gem "byebug"	gem "debug"
Dependencies	No	irb, reline
Has C extension	Yes	Yes

Start Debugging

	byebug	debug
Via executable	byebug foo.rb	rdbg foo.rb
Via debugger statement	byebug	binding.break, binding.b, debugger (the same)
Via requiring	No	require "debug/start"

User Experience Features

	byebug	debug
Colorizing	No	Yes
Command history	Yes	Yes
Help command	h[elp]	h[elp]
Edit source file	edit	edit

Evaluation

Code evaluation in REPL is more or less the same between byebug and debug, that is:

• If the expression doesn't match a console command, like my_method(arg), it'll be evaluated as Ruby code
• If the expression matches a console command, like n, you can use console commands to evaluate it

	byebug	debug
Execute debugger commands	<cmd>	<cmd>
Avoid expression/command conflicts	eval <expr>	pp <expr>, p <expr>, or eval <expr>

Flow Control & Frame Navigation

debug provides the same stepping commands as byebug does. So byebug users can switch to debug without learning new behaviors.

	byebug	debug
Step in	s[tep]	s[tep]
Step over	n[ext]	n[ext]
Finish	fin[ish]	fin[ish]
Move to <id> frame	f[rame] <id>	f[rame] <id>
Move up a frame	up	up
Move down a frame	down	down
Move up n frames	up <n>	No
Move down n frames	down <n>	No
Continue the program	c[ontinue]	c[ontinue]
Quit the debugger	q[uit]	q[uit]
Kill the program	kill	kill

Thread Control

As previously mentioned, debug stops all threads when suspended and doesn't allow per-thread management at the moment. So it has simpler thread-related commands.

	byebug	debug
Thread suspension	Only the current thread	All threads
List all threads	th[read] l	th[read]
Switch to thread	th[read] switch <id>	th[read] <id>
Stop a thread	th[read] stop <id>	No
Resume a thread	th[read] resume <id>	No

Breakpoint

Although byebug already has decent breakpoints support, debug takes it to another level by:

• Allowing breakpoints to execute commands with pre: and do: options
• Supporting call-location-based triggering condition with the path: option
• Supporting specialized catch and watch breakpoints

Setting Breakpoints

	byebug	debug
On line	b[reak] <line>	b[reak] <line>
On file:line	b[reak] <file>:<line>	b[reak] <file>:<line>
On a method	b[reak] <class>#<method>	b[reak] <class>#<method>
With a condition	b[reak] ... if <expr>	b[reak] ... if: <expr>
With a path condition	No	b[reak] ... path: /path/
To run a command and continue	No	b[reak] ... do: <cmd>
To run a command before stopping	No	b[reak] ... pre: <cmd>
Exception breakpoint	No	catch <ExceptionClass>
Instance variable watch breakpoint	No	watch <@ivar>

Managing Breakpoints

	byebug	debug
List all breakpoints	info breakpoints	b[reak]
Set a breakpoint	b[reak] ...	b[reak] ...
Delete a breakpoint	del[ete] <id>	del[ete] <id>
Delete all breakpoints	del[ete]	del[ete]

Information

Backtrace

Backtrace in debug contains values of method call or block arguments. This small improvement can save you from inspecting them manually between frames.

The filtering support can help you focus on relevant frames and ignore the ones from frameworks or libraries.

	byebug	debug
Show backtrace	where, backtrace, bt	backtrace, bt
Displaying method/block arguments in backtrace	No	Yes
Filter backtrace	No	bt /regexp/
Limit the number of backtraces	No	bt <n>

Varibles/Constants

	byebug	debug
Show local varibales	var local	info l
Show instance variables	var instance	info i
Show global varibales	var global	info g
Show constants	var const	info c
Show only arguments	var args	No (included in info l)
Filter variables/constants by names	No	info ... /regexp/

Methods

While debug doesn't have a dedicated command to list an object's methods, it has a ls command that's similar to
irb or pry's.

	byebug	debug
obj.methods	method instance obj	No
obj.methods(false)	method obj.class	ls obj

Tracing

I will write another dedicated article to introduce debug's tracing functionalities, but I encourage you to already give them a try from time to time, especially:

• trace exception - to monitor exceptions raised in your code. You may be surprised by the exceptions raised and rescued in your application under the surface.

• trace object <expr> - to observe an object's activities: receiving a method call or being passed to a method call.

  

	byebug	debug
Line tracer	set linetrace	trace line
Global variable tracer	tarcevar	No
Allow multiple tracers	No	Yes
Method call tracer	No	trace call
Exceptions tracer	No	trace exception
Ruby object tracer	No	trace object <expr>
Filter tracing output	No	trace ... /regexp/
Disable tracer	set linetrace false	trace off [tracer type]
Disable the specific tracer	No	trace off <id>

Configuration

debug supports a wide range of configurations to make it fit your needs. But it doesn't support per-project RC files due to security concerns.

	byebug	debug
List all configs	No	config
Show a config	show <name>	config show <name>
Set a config	set <name> <value>	config set <name> <value>
RC file name	.byebugrc	.rdbgrc (or .rdbgrc.rb for Ruby script)
RC file locations	$HOME and project root	$HOME

Remote Debugging

Remote debugging functionality is becoming crucial as we start containerizing our development environment and don't always have direct standard IO access.
It's also crucial for connecting to different debugger clients like VSCode or Chrome.

So if you have needs in this area, migrating to debug is your best option.

	byebug	debug
Connect via TCP/IP	Yes	Yes
Connect via Unix Domain Socket	No	Yes
VSCode integration through Debug Adapter Protocol (DAP)	No	Yes
Chrome integration through Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP)	No	Yes

Wrapping Up

To most users, switching from byebug to debug should take little effort. But the potential productivity gain from debug's features could be significant.

byebug is a great debugger and has served the community well for many years.
But as its development slows down (last release was 2 years ago) and debug receives constant updates from the Ruby core, the gap between them will only widen.

So adding debug to your toolbelt and exploring its powerful features will be a great productivity investment for the long term.

References

• Debugger commands comparison sheet by @ko1
• Byebug's official guide
• ruby/debug's official documentation