Debugging With gdb Using A Dell Laptop

When I started out with Qt Creator I had a big show-stopping problem debugging apps on my Dell work laptop. I thought I'd post my original messages to the mailing list in case anyone else suffers from the same problem.

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I have Qt Creator 1.1.1 running on Windows XP and I cannot debug GUI apps. As soon as I start the debugger, it stops with 'signal-received' somewhere in C:\WINDOWS\system32\wxvault.dll. Further up the call stack is 'QGraphicsWidget::paintWindowFrame'. Here is what I am getting:

0 wxvault!??0Cwxvault@@QAE at XZ C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\wxvault.dll 0

1 ?? 0

2 ?? 0

3 ?? 0

4 ?? 0

5 ?? 0

6 ?? 0

7 QGraphicsWidget::paintWindowFrame qgraphicswidget.cpp 2184

8 wxvault!??0Cwxvault@@QAE at XZ C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\wxvault.dll 0

9 ?? 0

10 wxvault!??0Cwxvault@@QAE at XZ C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\wxvault.dll 0

11 ?? 0

This is my first day with Qt Creator and not being able to debug is a show stopper.

My version of gdb is the one that ships with QT Creator, v6.8. I can run my app fine with Ctrl+R.

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OK, I found the problem - a package called 'Embassy Security Center' by 'Wave Systems'. This comes pre-installed on most Dell's. Instead of uninstalling it (which I'm told will cause me a lot of grief) I stopped the wxvault.dll being loaded with other DLLs by editing

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Windows\AppInit_DLLs

(the DLL was in this list). Removing it makes gdb play nicely.

http://lists.trolltech.com/pipermail/qt-creator/2009-May/003178.html