Hi list,
I'm sorry to come here talking about this (since I realize
you have
many, far better things to do, but I'd really like your
feedback on an
idea I have for the summer of code.
I'd like to work with the guys at Ruby Central on
implementing a
feature for Ruby on Rails, and since you guys are the best
source of
information on the subject, I'd like to ask you if you like
my idea
and if you think it's possible to do this during the course
of three
months.
I'd like to "improve debugging capabilities for Ruby on
Rails" (that
will be the title of my application).
Right now, debugging a Rails application isn't really as
smooth as it
could be. You can set up a breakpoint and start up a
breakpoint client
and then access the page and that sort of works. If you
haven't set up
a breakpoint, all you get is some information on an HTML
page, which
sometimes isn't all that useful. If you're debugging
Ajax-based apps,
sometimes you don't even get the HTML page to let you know
something's
gone wrong. What you'd really like to be able to do is
inspect the
state of the application at that point.
What I'd like to do is change what happens when you start
script/
server and during its execution. Unless it's started in
Daemon mode,
I'd like it to support a more REPL-based style of
development. By
adding an option to script/server and/or the appropriate
places
(config/environment.rb and friends) you should get behavior
like this:
1) When a sucessful request is made, the behavior remains
the same as
now. (the results are logged on screen)
2) When an error occurs, a page appears, similar to the
500.html page
that's currently shown in production. This page will
instruct the
developer to check to console for additional details and a
debugging
session.
3) On the console, the error message that would have been
displayed
inside the HTML form is presented to the user.
4) He is then dropped in an Irb like environment, similar to
what he'd
get if he were to set up a breakpoint. At this point, the
server will
display an error message (something like 'Service
temporarily
unavailable') on any other request that is made during the
time of the
debugging session.
5) After inspecting the problem (and hopefuly fixing things)
he could
call something like 'continue', which would exit the IRB
session and
let the server return to its normal state.
6) Also, script/server should follow a similar behavior when
meeting a
breakpoint, except for the HTML page which should be
different.
7) The HTML pages should give the developer useful info on
where to
direct his text editor (what file and line, for breakpoints,
as well
as errors).
Some of this has been done with ruby-debug
http://blog.nanorails.com/articl
es/2006/07/14/a-better-rails-debugger-ruby-debug
but it would be great if this were integrated so that you
could get
this kind of behavior each time your application hits an
error. It
could use ruby-debug or the standard debug.rb, since I'm not
really
that aware of all the details, at this point.
I believe this could be a great aid, both to application
developers,
and to Rails developers.
So This is what I'd like to work on, this summer. I want to
know if
you guys think this project is worth submitting an
application for (if
you'd include it somehow, in core Rails, or if you'd like to
have it
as a plugin or something). Mostly, I'd like to know if you
like the
idea
I'd also like to know if you think it's possible (and
doable), or if
you think three months is too much time to work on this.
I'd generally appreciate any form of feedback you guys can
send my
way. I'd love to work on Rails for the google SOC and I'd
really like
to have this kind of functionality in Rails.
Thanks.
Eugen.
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