LLDB vs PonyDebugger

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.

PonyDebugger is a free remote debugging toolset for native iOS apps. An app-side client connects to a gateway server, which presents debugging views through Chrome Developer Tools. Network traffic can be routed through a proxy for inspection in Chrome’s Network tools, including HTTPS; the client automatically proxies requests using NSURLConnection and NSURLSession. Developers can register managed object contexts and browse Core Data entities and objects, though these stores are read-only. The view hierarchy display can highlight matching views, edit displayed attributes, and remove nodes. Remote logging supports text and recursive inspection of object properties. Setup requires integrating the client and connecting it to the gateway; the quick start requires Xcode Command Line Tools. The gateway serves Chrome Developer Tools on localhost port 9000 by default, and can be configured for access from another device or computer. The iOS client requires iOS 5.0 or above. The project is Apache License 2.0; its README warns that automatic forwarding of all network traffic swizzles private API methods and should be limited to debug builds.