MSIL debuggers - Mdbg, Dbgclr, Cordbg

Question

I've been doing some MSIL work and have come across references to these three debuggers.

• What's the difference between them?

• Is one of them better than the others wrt. functionality?

• Are there others that I have missed?

Answer 1

I'm assuming you meant DbgClr not Clt and mdbg not mdbug?

• DbgClr uses the VS shell so you get a nice GUI.
• mdbg is the command line managed debugger.
• cordbg was an old sample that sorta shipped, but now it's just a wrapper for mdbg. http://blogs.msdn.com/jmstall/archive/2005/11/07/views_on_cordbg_and_mdbg.aspx

Visual Studio is one you missed, but DbgClr should have the same functionality. http://blogs.msdn.com/andypennell/archive/2005/02/21/377621.aspx.

You can also use windbg with SOS extensions to do managed debugging from Windows debugger. SOS is also helpful when using VS since it lets you inspect memory and so on.

To see source level MSIL debugging, try using ilasm with the /debug option. Last time I checked, VS will let you step through the .il source just like C# or any other language.

MSDN blogs have a ton of content about debugging .NET apps -- I suggest you search further there.