Hi everyone,

This is likely due to something peculiar in my configuration that I haven't found yet, but I can't be sure.  I'm having problems in that the latest Lazarus trunk won't create a console window when I'm running the compiler source in the debugger.  I tried to jury-rig it to create its own using the AllocConsole() Windows API function as a temporary workaround, but it failed with an "access denied" error.  The little I could find on that error implies that the application already has a console, but it's not displayed. Anyone got any ideas?

Gareth aka. Kit

Probably not your issue - but, if you have Avasta Anti-Virus - it can foobar Lazarus and Delphi console apps - where the Console is showing, but you cannot find it. Not on Taskbar, not in TaskList, etc. If you put an exclusion on your binary folder, then it works. Took me about 2 days to figure this out.

J. Gareth Moreton wrote

I'm having problems in that the latest Lazarus trunk won't create a console window when I'm running the compiler source in the debugger.

I have the same issue. A simple CLI program like

program Project1;
begin
   WriteLn('Test');
   ReadLn;
end.

does no longer open a console in Windows to show the output, just tested on an absolutely fresh Laz-trunk installation with FPC 3.2.0. No issues when I run the program within the IDE but without debugger (Run > Run without debugging), and, of course, also outside the IDE. The very same code performs well on Laz-trunk with FPC 3.0.4, also no problems on Laz 2.0.10/FPC 3.2.0

Werner

Unfortunately this one didn't work for me.  I do have Avast Antivirus, but adding Lazarus both as an exception and as an allowed app failed to fix the problem.  I've kept the entries present though.

Gareth aka. Kit

Are you sure? I use laz trunk and fpc trunk and for me the issue arises when run within the IDE without debugging. This also applies to Windows apps with option -WC.

Pascal

Pascal Riekenberg wrote

Are you sure? I use laz trunk and fpc trunk and for me the issue arises when run within the IDE without debugging. This also applies to Windows apps with option -WC.

Strange... But I checked it again (with the simple WriteLn program above) and confirm the result reported earlier:

- Laz trunk / fpc 3.2.0 / 32 bit --> does NOT show console if run with debugger. Does show it if "run without debugger" (both inside and outside the IDE).
- Laz trunk / fpc 3.2.0 / 64 bit --> same
- Laz trunk / fpc trunk / 32 bit --> same

BUT

- Laz 2.0.10 / fpc 3.2.0 / 32 bit --> does show console if run with or without debugger (as expected)
- Laz 2.0.10 / fpc 3.2.0 / 64 bit --> does show console if run with or without debugger (as expected)
- Laz fixes / fpc fixes / 32 bit --> same

The debugger in each case is the gdb which is distributed with the Lazarus 2.0.10 installation.

I did a bit of testing.

Using FpDebug => fine
Using GDB:
- IDE compiled with console => fine
- IDE compiled without console => app in debugger does not open console.

I tried other Process.Opitons in
components\lazdebuggergdbmi\cmdlinedebugger.pp
function TCmdLineDebugger.CreateDebugProcess(const AOptions: String):
Boolean;
       FDbgProcess.Options:= [poUsePipes, poNoConsole, poStdErrToOutPut,
poNewProcessGroup];

poNewConsole instead of poNoConsole made no diff.
Adding poRunIdle => no diff

       FDbgProcess.ShowWindow := swoNone;
swoNormal made no diff.

Besides those would affect gdb, but maybe they also are seen by Windows when launching the target.
- One possibility is that TProcess changed, and hands something different to windows.
- Another option is, that the change is in how the debugged app communicates to windows that it wants a console.
But I do not know.....

One thing I found
components\lazdebuggergdbmi\gdbmidebugger.pp
line 3545
  // for win32, turn off a new console otherwise breaking gdb will fail   // ignore the error on other platforms
  FSuccess := ExecuteCommand('-gdb-set new-console off', R);

Make that "on" and it works (only tested if IDE has no console).

But it is there, because at the time of creating it, it caused issues. So changing it would likely cause issues on some older systems. There are countless combinations of
- Windows version/bitness
- gdb version
- fpc version
- app and/or ide has console or not
And no idea how many of them may break. Maybe its just some Win95. Maybe its some still supported versions.

So for now, anyone wanting to test this can change that line. If you do, please report your experience, and all versions in your setup.

Didn't noticed that the console window of the IDE was used when run without debugger. I use fpDebug. So everything is fine here. Sorry for the confusion!

Thanks for the investigation everyone.  I still haven't solved the issue on my end, and I forgot to mention my configuration (not very good for a former test engineer!)

Lazarus trunk, FPC 3.2.0, x86-64_win64.

Gareth aka. Kit