debugbreak ☆

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Description:
Break into the debugger programmatically

Type: Formula | Latest Version: 1.0@0 | Tracked Since: Dec 17, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Developer tools

Tags: debugging c c++ header-only cross-platform developer-tools

Install: brew install debugbreak

About:
debugbreak is a header-only C/C++ library that provides a cross-platform `debug_break()` function. It allows developers to programmatically insert breakpoints into source code, which will trigger a debugger if attached. This is particularly useful for debugging in environments where manual breakpoint setting is difficult or for conditional debugging scenarios.

Key Features:

Header-only library (no linking required)
Cross-platform support (Linux, macOS, Windows, BSD)
Supports multiple compilers (GCC, Clang, MSVC)
Works with GDB, LLDB, and Visual Studio debuggers
Minimal overhead when not debugging

Use Cases:

Debugging conditional logic that is hard to reproduce manually
Halting execution in automated test environments
Debugging embedded systems or remote processes
Adding assertions that break into the debugger

Alternatives:

raise(SIGTRAP) – Unix-specific and requires signal handling; debugbreak is cross-platform and easier to use.
__debugbreak() – MSVC-specific intrinsic; debugbreak provides a portable equivalent for other compilers.

License: BSD-2-Clause

Bottles available for: all

Version History

Detected	Version	Rev	Change	Commit
Aug 4, 2024 4:23am		0	VERSION_BUMP	313de9ec
May 15, 2023 2:42pm		0	VERSION_BUMP	b9696abe