Run pike under GDB

gdb /path/to/pike
gdb> set args -arg1 val1 program.pike
gdb> run

Pike should start and run; when it hits a point where it crashes, you'll be returned to the gdb prompt.

If you have the broken pike running in a gdb, you can try running

call gdb_backtraces()

as well as

thread apply all bt

The latter should also work when examining a core dump.

If it isn't possible to call gdb_backtraces(), you'll probably want to examine the stack frames by hand. The top-most frame is available as

p *Pike_interpreter_pointer->frame_pointer

Also, if you're running pike using machine code (which is the default under 7.9 on intel, sparc and powerpc platforms), you might not get useful information from the backtraces. In that case, you might have better luck running a pike that's been compiled with "--without-machine-code". If the problem goes away, it might mean a problem with the machine code generator. If not, hopefully the backtraces in gdb will make more sense.

Finally, if the bug is a sleeper whose effects show up long after the bug occurs, you might try running the program under valgrind.

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