Hacker News with Generative AI: Debugging

Show HN: Await-Tree – Visualize Async Rust Task Execution in Real-Time (github.com/risingwavelabs)
await-tree allows developers to dump this execution tree at runtime, with the span of each Future annotated by instrument_await.
Rust, Async Programming, Debugging, Visualization, Tools
23 points by Sheldon_fun 16 hours ago | 2 comments
Debugging Lotus 1-2-3 by fax (jgc.org)
There isn't a lot to this story beyond the fact that in around 1990 I helped debug someone's Lotus 1-2-3 set up via fax. But it's a good reminder of how important the Zeroth Law of Debugging is (see below).
Debugging, Retro Computing, Software, Humor
95 points by jgrahamc 2 days ago | 19 comments
Bringing Record and Replay debugging everywhere on Linux (github.com/sidkshatriya)
I've modified the awesome rr debugger so that it can run without needing access to CPU Hardware Performance counters.
Debugging, Linux, Software, Open Source
206 points by sidkshatriya 8 days ago | 28 comments
I made AI fix my bugs in production for 27 days straight – lessons learned (reddit.com)
For the past 27 days, I’ve had AI automatically fix my bugs in production, all the way to creating a full PR, and I wanted to share the results!
Artificial Intelligence, Software Development, Debugging, Production, Lessons Learned
12 points by simonpure 8 days ago | 3 comments
A Debugger is a REPL is a Debugger (matklad.github.io)
I love debuggers! The last time I used a debugger seriously was in 2017 or so, when I was still coding in Kotlin. I’ve since switched to working with native code, and, sadly gdb and lldb are of almost no help for me. This is because they are mere “debuggers”, but what I need is a REPL, and a debugger, all in one. In this article I show a more productive way to use debuggers as REPLS.
Debugging, Programming Languages, REPL, Software Development, Tools
44 points by ingve 9 days ago | 19 comments
JEP Draft: JFR Method Timing and Tracing (openjdk.org)
Extend JDK Flight Recorder (JFR) to support bytecode-based method timing and tracing for quick and easy use.
Java, Performance, Debugging, Monitoring, OpenJDK
7 points by mfiguiere 9 days ago | 0 comments
War story: the hardest bug I ever debugged (clientserver.dev)
All of a sudden, without any ostensible cause, Google Docs was flooded with errors. How it took me 2 days and a coworker to solve the hardest bug I ever debugged.
Debugging, Software Engineering, Case Studies, Google Docs
462 points by jakevoytko 9 days ago | 187 comments
The case of the critical section that let multiple threads enter a block of code (microsoft.com)
One of my colleagues in enterprise product support runs a weekly debug talk consisting of a walkthrough of a debug session.
Multithreading, Software Development, Debugging, Programming
140 points by luu 11 days ago | 100 comments
Show HN: We made an MCP server so Cursor can debug Node.js on its own (npmjs.com)
An MCP server that gives Claude Code access to NodeJS at runtime to help you debug: mcp-nodejs-debugger.
Node.js, Debugging, AI, Software, Open Source
139 points by arthurgousset 11 days ago | 72 comments
When you deleted /lib on Linux while still connected via SSH (2022) (tinyhack.com)
Let’s first not talk about why this can happen, but deleting /lib, /usr/lib, or some other essential runtime files happens quite a lot (as you can see: here, here, here, and here). In this post, I will only discuss what happens when you delete /lib on Linux and how to recover from that.
Linux, System Administration, Debugging, Software Errors
191 points by todsacerdoti 12 days ago | 111 comments
Debugging with GDB (sourceware.org)
This file describes GDB, the GNU symbolic debugger.
Debugging, Tools, Software
4 points by ibobev 12 days ago | 0 comments
Everything Is Broken: Shipping Rust-Minidump at Mozilla (2022) (mozilla.org)
For the last year I’ve been leading the development of rust-minidump, a pure-Rust replacement for the minidump-processing half of google-breakpad.
Rust, Software Development, Debugging, Mozilla, Open Source
55 points by chautumn 15 days ago | 5 comments
Debugging PostgreSQL More Easily (cybertec-postgresql.com)
PostgreSQL is the foundation for thousands and thousands of applications. The system has long proven its worth and is operating reliably. However, the question people often ask is: What is the best way to actually debug a database application?
PostgreSQL, Databases, Debugging, Software Development
63 points by amalinovic 16 days ago | 18 comments
Show HN: Localscope–Limit scope of Python functions for reproducible execution (readthedocs.io)
Have you ever hunted bugs caused by accidentally using a global variable in a function in a Jupyter notebook? Have you ever scratched your head because your code broke after restarting the Python kernel? localscope can help by restricting the variables a function can access.
Python, Jupyter Notebooks, Reproducibility, Software Development, Debugging
67 points by tillahoffmann 16 days ago | 31 comments
Show HN: A Simple Inbox for Your Exceptions and Odd Events (wt.tools)
Tools, Programming, Error Handling, Debugging
10 points by bh213 17 days ago | 0 comments
I spent 181 minutes waiting for the Zig compiler this week (zackoverflow.dev)
TLDR; The Zig compiler takes about 1 minute and 30 seconds to compile debug builds of Bun. Zig's language server doesn't do basic things like type-checking, so often have to run the compiler to see if my code works.
Programming, Software Development, Compilers, Debugging
24 points by ingve 17 days ago | 3 comments
Unraveling Time: A Deep Dive into TTD Instruction Emulation Bugs (cloud.google.com)
This blog post presents an in-depth exploration of Microsoft's Time Travel Debugging (TTD) framework, a powerful record-and-replay debugging framework for Windows user-mode applications.
Debugging, Security, Microsoft, Windows
26 points by threat_analyst 23 days ago | 5 comments
Stack Traces Are Underrated (karl.berlin)
When something goes wrong in a program, many languages will spit out a stack trace with lots of useful information.
Debugging, Programming, Software Development
96 points by zoidb 24 days ago | 56 comments
GDB Ollama – Getting hints during debugging using Ollama (github.com/danielinux)
gdb-ollama is a GDB extension that integrates Ollama AI into the GDB debugging workflow, allowing AI-powered debugging insights directly from within GDB. It provides an automated way to analyze the current debugging session and generate AI-assisted feedback.
Debugging, AI, Tools
4 points by redarguireda 24 days ago | 0 comments
Arranging invisible icons in quadratic time (2021) (wordpress.com)
Near the end of January I was pointed to a twitter thread where a Windows user with a powerful machine was hitting random hangs in explorer. Lots of unscientific theories were being proposed. I don’t generally do random analysis of strangers’ performance problems but the case sounded interesting so I thought I’d take a look.
Performance Optimization, Windows, Debugging, Software Development
62 points by fanf2 27 days ago | 27 comments
The case of the vanishing CPU: A Linux kernel debugging story (clickhouse.com)
A mysterious CPU spike in ClickHouse Cloud on GCP led to months of debugging, revealing a deeper issue within the Linux kernel’s memory management.
Linux Kernel, Debugging, Cloud Computing, Memory Management
47 points by manish_gill 27 days ago | 5 comments
Show HN: Ariana – A time travel debugger for PY/JS right in VSCode (github.com/dedale-dev)
Ariana is an IDE extension and CLI tool to understand what your JS, TS and Python code does when it runs in development way faster than with a traditional debugger or with print() or console.log().
Debugging, Programming, Python, JavaScript, IDE Extensions
25 points by anougaret 27 days ago | 15 comments
Investigating an argument-dependent lookup issue and working around it (microsoft.com)
C++/WinRT pull request 1225 fixed a problem with a call to invoke. What’s the problem, why did it show up all of a sudden, and what can you do if you are stuck on an older version of C++/WinRT?
C++, Software Development, Debugging, Programming, Windows
46 points by luu 27 days ago | 3 comments
Show HN: Time travel debugging AI for more reliable vibe coding (nut.new)
Fix tough bugs and get your app working right.
Artificial Intelligence, Debugging, Software Development
129 points by bhackett 29 days ago | 52 comments
Performance optimization, and how to do it wrong (genna.win)
I recently tried to optimize convolutions using SIMD instructions, but what I thought would be a simple task ended up taking me days, with issue after issue popping up one after another. Some of them make sense in hindsight, but others were utterly baffling. While the specific examples are for direct convolution, these considerations apply to pretty much any code with a hot loop.
Performance Optimization, Programming, Software Development, Debugging
71 points by todsacerdoti 29 days ago | 24 comments
The Miserable State of Modems and Mobile Network Operators (golioth.io)
Golioth recently received a number of customer reports regarding connectivity issues on a specific vendor’s cellular chipset series. We immediately contacted the vendor and began working towards reproducing and isolating the behavior. What ensued was a lengthy investigation that ultimately revealed some unexpected and highly undesirable behavior. This is a story of the complexities of cellular connectivity, the perils of closed ecosystems, and how to debug what you cannot see.
Mobile Networks, Connectivity, IoT, Debugging, Hardware
181 points by hasheddan 36 days ago | 50 comments
The DOS 3.3 sys.com bug hunt (brutman.com)
SYS.COM corrupted a NetDrive image. But why?
DOS, Debugging, Computer History, Operating Systems
71 points by todsacerdoti 38 days ago | 42 comments
Concurrency bugs in Lucene: How to fix optimistic concurrency failures (elastic.co)
Debugging concurrency bugs is no picnic, but we're going to get into it. Enter Fray, a deterministic concurrency testing framework from CMU’s PASTA Lab, that turns flaky failures into reliably reproducible ones. Thanks to Fray’s clever shadow lock design and precise thread control, we tracked down a tricky Lucene bug and finally squashed it. This post explores how open-source heroes and tools are making concurrency debugging less painful—and the software world a whole lot better.
Concurrency, Software Development, Debugging, Open Source, Lucene
60 points by aoli-al 41 days ago | 15 comments
Debugging Hetzner: Uncovering failures with powerstat, sensors, and dmidecode (ubicloud.com)
At Ubicloud, we build software that turns bare metal providers into cloud platforms. One of the providers we like is Hetzner because of their affordable and reliable servers.
Debugging, Hardware, Cloud Computing, Hetzner
345 points by ngalstyan4 43 days ago | 108 comments
Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers (github.com/subtrace)
Subtrace is Chrome DevTools for your backend. It tracks the API requests coming in and going out of your servers so that you can solve problems in production quickly.
Docker, Debugging, Monitoring, Development Tools
369 points by adtac 43 days ago | 73 comments