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.