Here are some rough notes from my recent zope debugging efforts - I hope that others will find them useful, or post corrections/improvements. - Environment: I am using NT Emacs and the cygwin bash shell on windows 98. So my paths generally have forward slashes. - I wanted to step through the code of an external method which was not working. So I tried debugging it with ZPublisher/Test.py, described in the zope docs. The command line I'm using now is: $Z/bin/python -i $Z/lib/python/ZPublisher/Test.py -d $Z/lib/python/Main /files/find_results python with the '-i' flag is required to get the interactive prompt in an emacs shell window. Also it ensures that I know exactly which version of python is being used. $Z is the path to my zope installation. /files/find_results is the url path to a DTML Document which calls my external method. - I could not set a breakpoint on my external method, apparently due to limitations of the standard pdb class. So I tried stepping right through zope's execution to that point, but it became clear that I needed a higher-level tool with good source display. So I explored various incarnations & versions of debugging tools: pdb, pydb, emacs modes, ddd. Eventually, I: - downloaded the latest python, 1.5.2b1. The pdb/bdb/cmd classes in this version incorporate various enhancements, in particular you can set a breakpoint in any file which is in your sys.path, as follows: pdb> import sys pdb> sys.path.append('/tools/zope/Extensions') pdb> b ExtranetFind.py:19 - running zope with the latest python gave warnings about API versions. Things were not working well at the time so for paranoia I copied the new pdb/bdb/cmd classes into zope's lib/python1.5 and used that. Either version seems to work fine aside from the warnings. - I downloaded the latest NT Emacs, 20.3.3.1.1. This fixed some problems, and has an up-to-date gud.el with pdb support. - I made a change to .../emacs/lisp/gud.el to get "M-x pdb" to work on windows: (defvar gud-pdb-marker-regexp "^> \\([-a-zA-Z0-9_/.:\\]*\\|<string>\\)(\\([0-9]+\\))\\([a-zA-Z0-9_]*\\|\\?\\)( )\\(->[^\n]*\\)?\n") ;fix for windows/dos pathnames - SKWM - I downloaded the latest python-mode.el from www.python.org - I added this in my ~/.emacs to match Test.py's altered pdb prompt (cosmetic fix): (add-hook 'pdb-mode-hook '(lambda () (setq comint-prompt-regexp "^pdb> *"))) ; for zope debugging - These made for a more convenient debug prompt: (eval-after-load "comint" '(define-key comint-mode-map "\M-p" 'comint-previous-matching-input-from-input)) (eval-after-load "comint" '(define-key comint-mode-map "\M-n" 'comint-next-matching-input-from-input)) (eval-after-load "comint" '(define-key comint-mode-map "\C-a" 'comint-bol)) (setq comint-input-ring-size 100) - NOW, I can step through zope in emacs with full source fontifying, etc (get help on the "gud-mode" function for keybindings). Type "M-x pdb", and at the "Run pdb" prompt enter the Test.py command line above. - In this situation, you can use "python -u" instead of "python -i" to skip the python prompt at the end of a run. -Simon