I have just installed XAMP for Windows and PHPed. I made all the changes that dbg-wizard.php requested, Apache starts then immediately aborts. If I disable the dbg-php-5.2.dll extension everything works just fine. Any ideas?

you installed module intended for different platform.
There are 5 different debugger modules are available for Windows Platform. Which one did you install?

If you install incompatible module, PHP may crash and debugger has absolutely nothing to do with this behaviour. It's php crash.

I am running Vista 32. I tried every .dbg file in the Debugger/Server/Windows folder. When I tried the x86_NTS or x86_NTS_VC8 versions, Appache didn't crash but instead said it could not start as php5.dll was not found.

Here is the dbg-diag output:
I noticed that DBG (PHP DEBUGGER) is NOT INSTALLED on your server localhost.

Your DBG Module is: <PhpED install path>\debugger\server\Windows\x86\dbg-php-5.2.dll
To install it, please do the following:

Copy <PhpED install path>\debugger\server\Windows\x86\dbg-php-5.2.dll into C:\xampp\php\ext\ on your server localhost.
Add the following lines to C:\xampp\apache\bin\php.ini
zend_extension_ts=C:\xampp\php\ext\dbg-php-5.2.dll
Note: if debugger module is loaded using this way, please make sure extension=dbg-php-5.2.dll line is removed or commented out.
[debugger]
debugger.hosts_allow= 127.0.0.1 localhost
debugger.hosts_deny=ALL
debugger.ports=7869
debugger.hosts_allow has should be in format debugger.hosts_allow= host1 host2 host3, where host1, host2 and host3are host names or IP or network addresses allowed to start debug sessions.
Restart web server
Launch phpinfo and check its output. Make sure that one of the topmost headers contains
Zend Engine vX.X.0, Copyright (c) 1998-200x Zend Technologies with DBG v 3.4.1, (C) 2000, 2008 by Dmitri Dmitrienko

I tried XAMPP under Vista32, did not encounter any problems with debugger module from debugger\server\Windows\x86\dbg-php-5.2.dll.
Probably you did something wrong. Please follow instructions.

i'm sure I did do something wrong, but apparently have done it the same way 3 times.

Previously I did have a standalone version of php on the machine but I did uninstall it to ensure it did not interfere with Xampp.

Any suggestions for debugging? As soon as the dbg module goes in the ext folder Apache crashes on startup. Can you share your dbg-diag output?

Hi andy,

Actually Xampp ships with zend optimizer which looks like conflicting with the debugger, Try commenting out the following code in your php.ini

;zend_extension_manager.optimizer_ts="D:\xampp\php\zendOptimizer\lib\Optimizer"
;zend_optimizer.enable_loader=0
;zend_optimizer.optimization_level=15
;zend_optimizer.license_path =
; Local Variables:
; tab-width: 4
; End:

leaving
zend_extension_ts="D:\xampp\php\zendOptimizer\lib\ZendExtensionManager.dll"

Thanks Raxy. You were right the Optimizer was loading. This didn't fix all though. Now Apache erros out saying it can't find php5.dll. I used the standard XAMPP install.

Are you sure that it prints php5.dll not php5ts.dll?

php5.dll is not thread-safe php and Apache can run it only through fastCGI or CGI.
and debugger module in this case
a) should be loaded with zend_extension=path\to\debugger\dbg-php-5.2.dll, not zend_extension_ts=
b) should be taked from either \debugger\server\Windows\x86_NTS or \debugger\server\Windows\x86_NTS_VC8 depending on php5.dll dependencies. It it uses msvcr80.dll you need debugger from x86_NTS_VC8, otherwise from x86_NTS.

I had exactly the same issue.

I'm running Vista Home premium, XAMPP 1.6.8 and PHPEd 5.6.
Couldn't get PHPEd to stop on break or cursor.

(1)
Then I tried NU Techplat (after removal of XAMPP) and this did run, however the dbg wizard
-complained with "warning (-53) subminor version of the installed debugger (3.6.0) doe not match the expected one"
-second window debugger sessions completed succesfully
PHPEd stopped on break and cursor

(2)
I replaced dbg-php-5.2.dll with the one which came with phpED (server/windows/x86).
dgb wizard
-got through the first check without the warning (-53). reporting debugger version 3.6.3
-in the debugger session window is gave then errors:
*debug session started
*stepped into dbg-sample.php(2) line
*error 126 unexpected debugger break at line 4 reason 0x4
*debug session finished
*error 128 break point did not trigger
*error 128 debugger failed to perform "run to cursor" command

(3)
I then removed NU techplat and installed Xampp again
Made sure that the correct dbg-php-5.2.dll was loaded and commented out the XAMPP zend lines (see raxy post above)
I got the same dbg wizard errors as reported with NU techplat. (2 above)

(4)
Then I replaced the dbg-php-5.2.dll with the one which came with NU techplat.
The debug errors (126,128) where gone except that it now only complained about the subversion (3.6.0) - same as under 1 above for NU Techplat


It seems to run now but with the wrong(?) 3.6.0 debugger. What other issues there are with PHEd with this debugger, I do not know as I just started to use PHPEd.

I would appreciate if anybody can shed some light on this and help to resolve

you may safely ignore this warning and continue using version 3.6.0.
As of 3.6.3 it will be fixed in the next few days.

@dmitri



Does this mean that you confirm that current version 3.6.3 cannot be used (with NU Techplat and Xampp under Vista) and that 3.6.0 should be used until the update of 3.6.3?

in fact, 3.6.3 can be used too. The only problem with this version is that breakpoints will trigger after the line is executed, not before as would expected.