XCode debug vs release build when debugging

Question

Ok, i think i've seen it all now.

For about 24 hours i've been trying to debug my app, trying to find where all the weird crashes are coming from all of a sudden. I've been debugging via Simulator/Debug mode. As usual, when i hit a breakpoint, i could see the value of variables (most of the time). Then suddenly i was unable to view variables no matter what i did (btw, im talking about mouse-hovering as for some stupid reason my xcode disabled all the debugging tools from the debug menu).

Long story short, out of sheer loss of things to do, i decide to debug with Release mode. Now I can hit breakpoints and see the contents of my variables. And whats even more confusing is that now xcode gives me a much more comprehensive view of the variables that im 'watching' (hovering over).

I know Apple likes to do things different. But what the heck!? Can somebody please slap me and then tell me what im not understanding here?

Answer 1

First, the configurations "Debug" and "Release" are just names, you could also name them "Jon" and "Carla" if you want. They are just names for a configuration sets that you can modify and you can tweak them so that for example the "Debug" configuration is not suitable for debugging any more. So if you (accidentially) disabled generating debug symbols in your "Debug" configuration you would get exactly what you described.

Go to "Project" -> "Edit active target". Select the "Build" tab and select the "Debug" configuration in the drop down box on the upper left. Select "Show all settings" in the drop down box below and type "debug" in the search bar right next to these two drop down boxes.

There should be a setting "Generate Debug Symbols", make sure its check box is set. "Level of Debug Symbols" should be set to "All Symbols". Also, the "Debug Information Format" should be set to "DWARF with dSYM file".

After changing the settings, clean your project ("Build" -> "Clean") and build again.

Hope that helps.