Debugging Rofi

Creating a backtrace.

First make sure you compile rofi with debug symbols:

make CFLAGS="-O0 -g3" clean rofi

Getting a backtrace using GDB is not very handy. Because if rofi get stuck, it grabs keyboard and mouse. So if it crashes in GDB you are stuck. The best way to go is to enable core file. (ulimit -c unlimited in bash) then make rofi crash. You can then load the core in GDB.

gdb rofi core

Then type inside gdb:

thread apply all bt

The output trace is useful when reporting crashes.

Timing traces

To get a timing trace, enable the Timings debug domain.

G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=Timings rofi -show drun

It will show a trace with (useful) timing information at relevant points during the execution. This will help debugging when rofi is slow to start.

Example trace:

(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.335: 0.000000 (0.000000): Started
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.335: 0.000126 (0.000126): ../source/rofi.c:main:786 
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.335: 0.000163 (0.000037): ../source/rofi.c:main:819 
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.336: 0.000219 (0.000056): ../source/rofi.c:main:826 Setup Locale
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.337: 0.001235 (0.001016): ../source/rofi.c:main:828 Collect MODI
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.337: 0.001264 (0.000029): ../source/rofi.c:main:830 Setup MODI
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.337: 0.001283 (0.000019): ../source/rofi.c:main:834 Setup mainloop
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.337: 0.001369 (0.000086): ../source/rofi.c:main:837 NK Bindings
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.337: 0.001512 (0.000143): ../source/xcb.c:display_setup:1177 Open Display
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.337: 0.001829 (0.000317): ../source/xcb.c:display_setup:1192 Setup XCB
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.346: 0.010650 (0.008821): ../source/rofi.c:main:844 Setup Display
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.346: 0.010715 (0.000065): ../source/rofi.c:main:848 Setup abe
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.350: 0.015101 (0.004386): ../source/rofi.c:main:883 Load cmd config 
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.351: 0.015275 (0.000174): ../source/rofi.c:main:907 Setup Modi
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.351: 0.015291 (0.000016): ../source/view.c:rofi_view_workers_initialize:1922 Setup Threadpool, start
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.351: 0.015349 (0.000058): ../source/view.c:rofi_view_workers_initialize:1945 Setup Threadpool, done
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.367: 0.032018 (0.016669): ../source/rofi.c:main:1000 Setup late Display
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.367: 0.032080 (0.000062): ../source/rofi.c:main:1003 Theme setup
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.367: 0.032109 (0.000029): ../source/rofi.c:startup:668 Startup
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.367: 0.032121 (0.000012): ../source/rofi.c:startup:677 Grab keyboard
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.368: 0.032214 (0.000093): ../source/view.c:__create_window:701 xcb create window
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.368: 0.032235 (0.000021): ../source/view.c:__create_window:705 xcb create gc
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.368: 0.033136 (0.000901): ../source/view.c:__create_window:714 create cairo surface
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.369: 0.033286 (0.000150): ../source/view.c:__create_window:723 pango cairo font setup
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.369: 0.033351 (0.000065): ../source/view.c:__create_window:761 configure font
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.381: 0.045896 (0.012545): ../source/view.c:__create_window:769 textbox setup
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.381: 0.045944 (0.000048): ../source/view.c:__create_window:781 setup window attributes
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.381: 0.045955 (0.000011): ../source/view.c:__create_window:791 setup window fullscreen
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.381: 0.045966 (0.000011): ../source/view.c:__create_window:797 setup window name and class
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.381: 0.045974 (0.000008): ../source/view.c:__create_window:808 setup startup notification
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.381: 0.045981 (0.000007): ../source/view.c:__create_window:810 done
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.381: 0.045992 (0.000011): ../source/rofi.c:startup:679 Create Window
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.381: 0.045999 (0.000007): ../source/rofi.c:startup:681 Parse ABE
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.381: 0.046113 (0.000114): ../source/rofi.c:startup:684 Config sanity check
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.384: 0.048229 (0.002116): ../source/dialogs/run.c:get_apps:216 start
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.390: 0.054626 (0.006397): ../source/dialogs/run.c:get_apps:336 stop
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.390: 0.054781 (0.000155): ../source/dialogs/drun.c:get_apps:634 Get Desktop apps (start)
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.391: 0.055264 (0.000483): ../source/dialogs/drun.c:get_apps:641 Get Desktop apps (user dir)
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.418: 0.082884 (0.027620): ../source/dialogs/drun.c:get_apps:659 Get Desktop apps (system dirs)
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.418: 0.082944 (0.000060): ../source/dialogs/drun.c:get_apps_history:597 Start drun history
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.418: 0.082977 (0.000033): ../source/dialogs/drun.c:get_apps_history:617 Stop drun history
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.419: 0.083638 (0.000661): ../source/dialogs/drun.c:get_apps:664 Sorting done.
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.419: 0.083685 (0.000047): ../source/view.c:rofi_view_create:1759 
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.419: 0.083700 (0.000015): ../source/view.c:rofi_view_create:1783 Startup notification
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.419: 0.083711 (0.000011): ../source/view.c:rofi_view_create:1786 Get active monitor
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.420: 0.084693 (0.000982): ../source/view.c:rofi_view_refilter:1028 Filter start
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.421: 0.085992 (0.001299): ../source/view.c:rofi_view_refilter:1132 Filter done
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.421: 0.086090 (0.000098): ../source/view.c:rofi_view_update:982 
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.421: 0.086123 (0.000033): ../source/view.c:rofi_view_update:1002 Background
(process:14942): Timings-DEBUG: 13:47:39.428: 0.092864 (0.006741): ../source/view.c:rofi_view_update:1008 widgets

Debug domains

You can enable debug output for multiple parts in rofi using the glib debug framework. Debug domains can be enabled by setting the G_MESSAGES_DEBUG environment variable. At creation of this page the following debug domains exists:

• all: Show debug information from all domains.
• X11Helper: The X11 Helper functions.
• View: The main rofi_view functions.
• Widgets.Box: The Box widget.
• Dialogs.DMenu: The dmenu dialog.
• Dialogs.Run: The run dialog.
• Dialogs.DRun: The desktop file run dialog.
• Timings: Get timing output.
• Theme: Theme engine debug output. (warning lots of output).
• Helpers.IconFetcher: Information about icon lookup.

For full list see man rofi.

Example: G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=Dialogs.DRun rofi -show drun To get specific output from the Desktop file run dialog.