Bitcoin core development in IDE #13694

Hello, where I could find the guide on how to install an IDE and debug the code?

Sorry, we don't have documentation on how to use common IDEs with our build configuration, because for integration the IDEs often require cmake. However, it is possible to use any IDE (like clion or vim) to edit the code.

Some further resources, that talk about specific IDEs:

• https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/56529/what-ide-to-use-for-bitcoin-development
• Visual Studio build configuration for Bitcoin Core. #11526 (unmerged)
• https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/50046/how-to-open-bitcoin-source-in-ide

so far I am not happy with this answer, because this means that clion is not available for debug mode and step by step inspection, the only viable option from what you have suggested looks like the visual studio option. Does this mean that the codebase has never been tested step by step with a debugger?

@LucaPaterlini Most developers don't use IDEs as far as I know, but that doesn't prevent editing and debugging.

why there is not a paragraph or a tutorial on how to debug and make the life easy for the new contrbutors?

clion is not available for debug mode and step by step inspection

I do believe this is possible. I did this a few years ago, so no guarantee on correctness or completeness:

• Build the executable "normally" in the terminal (./autogen.sh && ./configure && make -j 2)
• Open the source tree in clion and add a "run configuration" to clion, selecting the executable manually and specifying the command line args. Something like this:

• Set a debug point in one of the source files and debug the configuration target you just created...

See for example:

hi, I have a newer version 2018.1, could you explain what datadir param stand for?

I have tried the way you suggested and I got

Error running 'bitcoind' Cannot run 'bitcoind' on '<default>'

If one wants line by line debugging, gdb or lldb is probably the most simplest way to do this. Just use ./configure --enable-debug and run gdb src/bitcoind.

Using Qt Creator's IDE is also an effective how to do line-by-line debugging (more GUIish then gdb) including interactive variable inspection, etc.

If someone wants to add documentation on how to setup an IDE with Bitcoin Core please do so at https://github.com/bitcoin-core/docs

If someone wants to add documentation on how to setup an IDE with Bitcoin Core please do so

For Windows devs:

Install Visual Studio Community Edition (free), Double click build_msvc/bitcoin.sln from #11526 ;).

I am using wsl and vscode to debug set .launch.json like this

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "(gdb) Launch",
            "type": "cppdbg",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/src/bitcoind",
            "args": [],
            "stopAtEntry": false,
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
            "environment": [],
            "externalConsole": false,
            "MIMode": "gdb",
            "setupCommands": [
                {
                    "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
                    "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
                    "ignoreFailures": true
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}