There is a good section in bugs.html describing tracking down bugs in _any_ X based app. Don't forget about "cvs log"!!!! The comments on previous commits can be very helpfull, especially if you're new to the game.
DEBUGSOURCES=MainW.c:FileSB.c export DEBUGSOURCESIf your shell is csh or tcsh, you can set DEBUGSOURCES by
setenv DEBUGSOURCES "MainW.c:FileSB.c"
DEBUGSOURCES=MainW.c:FileSB.c ./test1 2>&1 | tee debug.logThe advantage of this is that you also get to see the messages on the screen as well as in a file. DEBUGSOURCES is not limited to file names. In reality it can be any string that matches what is in the source XdbDebug call. For example, DEBUGSOURCES=FOCUS will print debug info related to menu focus events, regardless of the file the statement is in. There are some more in there also. Usually relating to specific problems involving many different files. To find out what is available try:
grep XdbDebug *.c | grep -v __FILE__
In the test/common directory there is a library that is linked with each of the test programs. In here you will find a replacement for XtAppMainLoop. Our version allows the test apps to exit with a status that indicates sucess or failure. This is where the PrintDetails function referred to above lives. Nothing in this library relies on Motif, so that they function the same whether the test apps are linked with LessTif or Motif. This is probably also a good time to mention that all of the tests can be compiled and linked with Motif as well as LessTif. By typing
make motif-testsin any of the test directories all the tests in that directory will be compiled and linked with Motif, assuming it is available. Therefore test1 will be the test compiled and linked with LessTif, test1.motif will be the same code compiled and linked with Motif. You can also build individual tests with
make test1.motifThe test library also includes a bunch of functions to simulate button, presses, pointer movement, and other things necessary for automated testing.
The best thing about the tests is that they tell you whether everything it was meant to test worked. For an example, take a look at rowcolumn/test51. Try remembering to do all that everytime you make a change!!!!
Really, the best way to fix a bug, and have it stay fixed, is to write a test and have it included in the test tree. Once a test has passed, a change to the library will not be accepted if it causes a previously passing test to fail. Well, it won't be accepted easily anyway :)