Xdebug 3.1

I have continued to work on the task list for Xdebug 3.1, with now just one issue outstanding. This means it's nearing a first beta release, which I am hoping to release close to when PHP 8.1 RC1 gets released.

The main thing that I worked on is compression support for profiling and trace files. Previously, I already had added preliminary support for compressed profiling files, but it turned out that QCacheGrind could not read them. Because Xdebug would always use compressed files, if the zlib compression library was available, it would generate non-consumable files.

With the improved feature it is now possible to disable the compression with the xdebug.use_compression=0 setting. And additionally I have also support to compressed trace files. The zlib/gz drastically reduces the size of files. It is currently not yet available for Windows users.

Xdebug Cloud

To help with funding my work on Xdebug, I have a paid-for-service, called Xdebug Cloud.

Xdebug Cloud is the Proxy As A Service platform to allow for debugging in more scenarios, where it is hard, or impossible, to have Xdebug make a connection to the IDE. It is continuing to operate as Beta release.

I have been improving the admin side and I will soon release a new beta that show cases that work.

Packages start at £49/month, and revenue will be used to further the development of Xdebug.

If you want to be kept up to date with Xdebug Cloud, please sign up to the mailinglist, which I will use to send out an update not more than once a month.

Xdebug Videos

I have published two more videos on how to use Xdebug on my YouTube channel.

These are part of a series to explain how to use Xdebug:

• Xdebug 3 Profiling: 3. Analysing Data, where I show how to use KCacheGrind to read and analyse profiling files to find bottlenecks in code.

• Xdebug 3: Activation and Triggers, where I explain how to activate Xdebug's myriad of features with different methods, including cookies, GET/POST parameters, environment variables, and with a browser extension.

I will create more videos in the upcoming month, and if you would like to suggest a topic for a 5 to 10 minute long video, feel free to request them through this Google Form.

Business Supporter Scheme and Funding

In August, no new supporters signed up.

If you, or your company, would also like to support Xdebug, head over to the support page!

Besides business support, I also maintain a Patreon page and a profile on GitHub sponsors.