After installing QtCreator on FreeBSD 9.1, I've tried debugging a simple Qt GUI application.
I set a breakpoint and started debugging. I've got the message:

Debugging Helper Missing

The debugger could not load the debugging helper library.

The debugging helper is used to nicely format the values of some Qt and Standard Library data types. It must be compiled for each used Qt version separately. In the Qt Creator Build and Run preferences page, select a Qt version, expand the Details section and click Build All.

Root cause:

• As stated here Qt Creator's helpers are Python based.

• Python support has been introduced into gdb since gdb 7.

• The default version of gdb (/usr/bin/gdb) is gdb 6.*. This version does not have Python support. To check it:

  $ gdb
  $ (gdb) python print "Hello, World!"
  

  It must print "Hello, World!" if there is Python support.

Solution:

1. Install devel/gdb. It is installed to /usr/local/bin/gdb. Also, try the Python check for this version of gdb as described above.

2. Run QtCreator, go Tools => Options => Build & Run => Kits => Debugger, use Manage... button.

   Use the following settings:

   • Engine: GDB Engine
   • Binary: /usr/local/bin/gdb

After completing these steps, QtCreator stops at breakpoints just fine.

Tags: freebsd gdb python qtcreator