How can I debug a PHP CLI script with xdebug?

Question

I haven't quite figured this out. EVERY piece of documentation I've found covers how to use xdebug to debug scripts running in Apache. I need to debug a php CLI script.

So, for instance, how do I pass the XDEBUG_SESSION_START variable in to get xdebug to kick on?

I'm specifically trying to debug a CakePHP shell. So if anyone has any additional insight into that I'd be very appreciative.

Thanks.

Answer 1

There is a couple of notes about that in Xdebug's manual, like, for instance (quoting) :

export XDEBUG_CONFIG="idekey=session_name"
php myscript.php

If you are using Eclipse PDT to develop and debug your PHP scripts, there is not much difference between Apache or CLI : the configuration lloks quite the same, you just don't have to configure a web server, nor indicate an URL ; instead, you have to indicate the path to the PHP executable.

About the XDEBUG_SESSION_START variable : well, you launch the whole script in "debug-mode", so you don't have any notion of "debugging-session", I'd say.

For instance, here's what Window > Preference > PHP > PHP executables looks like for me right now, and, on the right, what I get when clicking on the Edit button of the first one :

_{(source: pascal-martin.fr)}
   

_{(source: pascal-martin.fr)}

And the debug configurations window :

_{(source: pascal-martin.fr)}

And launching the debugging: it just works :

_{(source: pascal-martin.fr)}

Hope this helps :-)

Else, what specific problem do you encounter ?

Answer 2

If you're using bash (or similar shell), this little script might come in handy:

alias drush-debug=drd
function drd {
    export XDEBUG_CONFIG="idekey=cli_session"
    export SERVER_NAME="developer.machine"
    export SERVER_PORT="9000"
    drush "$@"
    unset XDEBUG_CONFIG
    unset SERVER_NAME
    unset SERVER_PORT
};

or as suggested by the commentators below

alias drd='XDEBUG_CONFIG="idekey=PHPSTORM" drush "$@"'

This way you don't have to manually set and unset the trigger variable each time you want to debug.

Answer 3

simply put the following section to your php.ini

[XDebug]
xdebug.max_nesting_level = 200
xdebug.remote_enable=1
xdebug.remote_port=9000
;xdebug.profiler_enable=1
xdebug.idekey=PHPSTORM
xdebug.remote_autostart=1

and replace PHPSTORM with your ide key