Gap Analysis: chrome-debug vs. node-debug

[weinand]

Goal: Find out what is needed to use the 'Debugger for Chrome' extension as a replacement for 'Node Debug'.

Installation of node 7.0:

    npm install -g node-nightly
    node-nightly --version

Install experimental CDP extension:

    git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-node-cdp-debug
    cd vscode-node-cdp-debug
    npm install
    code .

Run node 7.0 in 'inspect' mode:

    node-nightly --inspect index.js

Findings:

• Startup:
  • no "launch" support - Launch the Node process with correct args #2
  • no "restart" on attach - Reattach on process restart #3
  • no extension host support - Attach to extension host #4
  • early breakpoints on startup don't work because debugger does not break on entry by default - Implement --break-on-entry #5
  • Support a UI picker of all available targets - Support a UI picker of all available targets vscode-chrome-debug-core#19
  • Support runInTerminalRequest - Use runInTerminalRequest #6
• Variables:
  • properties with getters not supported - Show getter property value vscode-chrome-debug-core#77
  • array sorting wrong (alphabetically instead of numerical) - array in debugger didn't display in right order vscode-chrome-debug-core#62
  • large arrays slow: no paging ('chunks')
    (needs adoption of VS Code variables paging) - Implement expanding large arrays by sub range vscode-chrome-debug-core#4
  • setting variable values - Add support for editing variables vscode-chrome-debug-core#58
• ES6:
  • no Map support - Support ES6 data structure visualization vscode-chrome-debug-core#31
  • no Set support - Support ES6 data structure visualization vscode-chrome-debug-core#31
  • no generator support - Show generator state vscode-chrome-debug-core#32
  • Show Promise state - Show Promise state vscode-chrome-debug-core#33
• Source Maps:
  • no inlined sources - Support inlined sources vscode-chrome-debug-core#85
  • no remote source maps
  • no local/remote source mapping for remote debugging - Support remote debugging using the same properties as vscode-node-debug vscode-chrome-debug-core#86
  • Support "dynamically generated sourcemaps" and SystemJS - Support "dynamically generated sourcemaps" and SystemJS vscode-chrome-debug-core#36
  • Smart code stepping - Smart code stepping vscode-chrome-debug-core#34
• Misc
  • completionRequest (intellisense for debug console) - Implement completionRequest for console intellisense vscode-chrome-debug-core#87
  • Stop using deprecated 'lines' prop on SetBreakpointsArguments from vscode-debugprotocol - Stop using deprecated 'lines' prop on SetBreakpointsArguments from vscode-debugprotocol vscode-chrome-debug-core#73
  • sourceMapPathOverrides matching doesn't work when sourceRoot does not end in / - sourceMapPathOverrides matching doesn't work when sourceRoot does not end in / vscode-chrome-debug-core#78
  • Minor refactoring to support some features - Minor refactoring to support some features vscode-chrome-debug-core#57
  • Add reasons for breakpoint bind failure - Add reasons for breakpoint bind failure vscode-chrome-debug-core#38
  • Show variable type on hover - Show variable type on hover vscode-chrome-debug-core#52
  • Localization - Localization vscode-chrome-debug-core#37
  • Support function breakpoints - Support function breakpoints vscode-chrome-debug-core#28
  • Support callstack paging - Support callstack paging vscode-chrome-debug-core#30
  • Add support for conditional breakpoints - Add support for conditional breakpoints vscode-chrome-debug-core#10

[roblourens]

This is moved to #7