# Breakpointer doesn't show local variables

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/breakpointer-doesnt-show-local-variables/82334>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [January 19, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/breakpointer-doesnt-show-local-variables/82334 "2007-01-19T16:29:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paolo_N)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/breakpointer-doesnt-show-local-variables/82334/1 "2007-01-19T16:29:16Z")

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Hi there

On one of my machines (ubuntu 6.10) I’m experiencing some weird  
problems.

Breakpointer doesn’t recognize the local variables, if in a  
breakpointer session I type

local\_variables

the reply is always

[“id”, “block”, “\_”]

while in the context where breakpoint is invoked there are many other  
local variables.  
All the instance variables are correctly recognized and I can inspect  
and work with them as usual.  
Even the source\_lines method works fine

At this point I’m quite sure something is off in this machine setup.

Does anyone have a clue?

Thanks

Paolo

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paolo_N)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/breakpointer-doesnt-show-local-variables/82334/2 "2007-01-19T16:30:21Z")

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Hi,

I’ve previously had this problem too.

Rebboting my laptop solved it for me. Very strange though.

Martin

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paolo_N)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/breakpointer-doesnt-show-local-variables/82334/3 "2007-01-19T16:31:15Z")

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I’m running into the same thing also on Ubuntu 6.10. Started noticing  
it about the same time you did. Are we the same person? 😉

Hopefully my confirmation of the problem will draw some attention to  
our predicament. Certainly makes debugging a little difficult, doesn’t  
it!

Dave

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**Author:** ![Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paolo_N)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/breakpointer-doesnt-show-local-variables/82334/4 "2007-02-13T02:57:49Z")

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But we’re not using v1.8.5 - we’re on 1.8.4.

Paolo, if you’re still getting this try using this instead of the  
plain call to breakpoint: Breakpoint.breakpoint(nil,binding)

That works for me. YMMV, Dave

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paolo_N)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/breakpointer-doesnt-show-local-variables/82334/5 "2007-02-03T02:23:46Z")

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No ideas to this yet, eh? It’s truly the buggiest thing EVAR!  
Debugging is near impossible without being able to look at local  
variables.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paolo_N)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 10:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/breakpointer-doesnt-show-local-variables/82334/6 "2007-02-15T10:57:45Z")

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On 13/02/07, orangechicken [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> But we’re not using v1.8.5 - we’re on 1.8.4.
> 
> Paolo, if you’re still getting this try using this instead of the  
> plain call to breakpoint: Breakpoint.breakpoint(nil,binding)
> 
> That works for me. YMMV, Dave

Thanks Dave.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Paolo\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Paolo_N)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/breakpointer-doesnt-show-local-variables/82334/7 "2007-02-03T02:40:47Z")

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On Saturday 03 February 2007 02:23, orangechicken wrote:

> No ideas to this yet, eh? It’s truly the buggiest thing EVAR!  
> Debugging is near impossible without being able to look at local  
> variables.

No, breakpointer isn’t buggy at all. Displaying local variables just  
doesn’t work with Ruby 1.8.5, which is a well-known limitation that has  
been mentioned on this list quite a few times.

For a real debugger, consider ruby-debug

[DATANOISE.COM](http://www.datanoise.com/ruby-debug)

Michael

–  
Michael S.  
[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
[http://www.schuerig.de/michael/](http://www.schuerig.de/michael/)