Technology1 min read

Chris Wellons

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Software developer Chris Wellons has developed dcmake, which functions as a graphical debugger designed for multiple platforms. The native application focuses on debugging tasks within software engineering workflows. It provides programmers with a dedicated multi-platform interface to analyze their projects effectively.

Key points

  • Chris Wellons has expanded software development tooling by creating the dcmake debugger.: Chris Wellons has expanded software development tooling by creating the dcmake debugger.
  • The dcmake program provides a native, multi-platform graphical debugging solution for dev…: The dcmake program provides a native, multi-platform graphical debugging solution for developers.
  • Developers across multiple operating platforms can utilize dcmake for visual debugging ca…: Developers across multiple operating platforms can utilize dcmake for visual debugging capabilities.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

CMake has a --debugger

mode since 3.27 (July 2023),

allowing software to manipulate it interactively through the Debugger

Adaptor Protocol (DAP), an HTTP-like protocol passing JSON messages.

Debugger front-ends can start, stop, step, breakpoint, query variables,

etc. a live CMake. When I came across this mode, I immediately conceived a

project putting it to use. Thanks to recent leaps in software engineering

productivity, I had a working prototype in 30 minutes, and by the

end of that same day, a complete, multi-platform, native, GUI application.

I named it dcmake (“debugger for CMake”). I’ve tested it on macOS,

Windows, and Linux. Despite only being couple days old, it’s one of the

coolest things I’ve ever built. Prior to 2026, I estimate it would have

taken me a month to get the tool to this point.

Technology