LLDB vs Perl Debugger

LLDB is a free debugger built from reusable components that use LLVM libraries, including Clang's expression parser and the LLVM disassembler. It is the default debugger in Xcode on macOS and supports debugging C, C++, and Objective-C on desktop and iOS devices and simulators. Its tools include breakpoints, watchpoints, process launching, and attaching to programs; remote debugging is also documented for Linux, Windows, Android, and iOS. Expression evaluation uses Clang infrastructure for current C-family language features, multiline expressions, and just-in-time evaluation where supported. Developers can use its shared-library C++ API and Python bindings for scripting, symbolication, disassembly, and inspecting object and symbol files. The lldb-dap adapter connects LLDB functionality to compatible editors and IDEs, including Visual Studio Code, Emacs, vim, and neovim. LLDB is available under the Apache 2.0 License with LLVM exceptions. Windows support remains under active development, with ARM and AArch64 described as more experimental. The lldb-dap interface documents no support for step-back, setting a variable, goto-target, or terminate requests.

Perl Debugger is an interactive debugger included with Perl, not a separate program. Running Perl with the `-d` flag loads the debugger and adds source information, allowing users to inspect code, set breakpoints, view stack backtraces, and change variable values. The program must compile correctly before debugging.

Debugger commands support stepping into subroutine calls, stepping over them, and tracing execution. Conditional breakpoints and watches on global expressions can pause a run when specified conditions or changes occur. The `x` command can pretty-print nested data; displaying lexical variables requires PadWalker version 0.08 or higher. Options can be set interactively, through `PERLDB_OPTS`, or in `.perldb` files. Documentation also describes a GUI option through Devel::ptkdb. The debugger does not provide stack-frame information for functions not compiled by Perl, such as C or C++ extension functions, and compile-time executable statements are not stopped, though some can be traced with AutoTrace. Perl is listed for Linux, macOS, and Windows, and the debugger is free.