Debugging Techniques

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Overview

Effective debugging is essential for plugin development. This guide covers logging, error handling, and tools for troubleshooting Unraid plugins.

📷 Screenshot needed: DevTools Network tab

DevTools

Logging

Using logger (syslog)

The logger command writes messages to the system log (/var/log/syslog). Use the -t flag to tag messages with your plugin name for easy filtering. Priority levels like local7.error affect how messages are categorized.

#!/bin/bash
# Log to syslog
logger -t "yourplugin" "This is a log message"
logger -t "yourplugin" -p local7.error "This is an error"

PHP Logging 

<?
// Log to syslog
openlog("yourplugin", LOG_PID, LOG_LOCAL7);
syslog(LOG_INFO, "Plugin started");
syslog(LOG_ERR, "An error occurred");
closelog();

// Simple file logging
function pluginLog($message, $level = 'INFO') {
    $logFile = '/var/log/yourplugin.log';
    $timestamp = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
    file_put_contents($logFile, "[$timestamp] [$level] $message\n", FILE_APPEND);
}

pluginLog("Operation completed");
pluginLog("Something went wrong", "ERROR");
?>

Viewing Logs 

# View syslog
tail -f /var/log/syslog | grep yourplugin

# View specific log file
tail -f /var/log/yourplugin.log

# View all recent logs
dmesg | tail -50

📷 Screenshot needed: Syslog output with plugin messages

Syslog

PHP Error Handling

Display Errors (Development Only) 

<?
// At the top of your page file (remove in production!)
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);
?>

Try-Catch Blocks 

<?
try {
    // Risky operation
    $result = someFunctionThatMightFail();
} catch (Exception $e) {
    // Log the error
    pluginLog("Exception: " . $e->getMessage(), "ERROR");
    
    // Show user-friendly message
    echo "<p class='error'>An error occurred. Check logs for details.</p>";
}
?>

Custom Error Handler 

<?
function pluginErrorHandler($errno, $errstr, $errfile, $errline) {
    $message = "Error [$errno]: $errstr in $errfile on line $errline";
    pluginLog($message, "ERROR");
    return false; // Let PHP handle it too
}

set_error_handler("pluginErrorHandler");
?>

Browser Developer Tools

Console Logging 

// Debug JavaScript
console.log('Debug info:', variable);
console.warn('Warning message');
console.error('Error message');
console.table(arrayOrObject); // Nice table format

Network Tab

  • Monitor AJAX requests
  • Check response codes
  • View request/response data
  • Identify slow requests

Debugging AJAX 

$.ajax({
    url: '/plugins/yourplugin/action.php',
    method: 'POST',
    data: { action: 'test' },
    success: function(response) {
        console.log('Success:', response);
    },
    error: function(xhr, status, error) {
        console.error('Error:', status, error);
        console.log('Response:', xhr.responseText);
    }
});

Command Line Debugging

Test PHP Scripts

Run PHP scripts directly from the command line to see output and errors without going through the web interface. Use -l (lint) mode to check for syntax errors without executing the code.

# Run PHP directly
php /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/yourplugin/test.php

# Check PHP syntax
php -l /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/yourplugin/file.php

Test Bash Scripts

Debug bash scripts with the -x flag to print each command before execution (trace mode). Use -n to check syntax without running the script—useful for catching errors before deployment.

# Run with debug output
bash -x /path/to/script.sh

# Check syntax
bash -n /path/to/script.sh

Common Issues

Windows Line Endings (CRLF vs LF)

Scripts developed on Windows will have CRLF line endings (\r\n) which cause “bad interpreter” errors on Unraid’s Linux system.

Symptom:

bash: /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/myplugin/event/started: /bin/bash^M: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

Fix during build:

# Convert all scripts to Unix line endings
find build/ -type f \( -name "*.sh" -o -name "*.page" \) -exec sed -i 's/\r$//' {} \;
find build/usr/local/emhttp/plugins/myplugin/event -type f -exec sed -i 's/\r$//' {} \;

Fix on server:

cd /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/myplugin/event
sed -i 's/\r$//' *
chmod 755 *

See the validation plugin build script for a working example that handles line ending conversion automatically.

Permission Problems 

# Check file permissions
ls -la /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/yourplugin/

# Fix permissions
chmod 755 /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/yourplugin/scripts/*.sh

Path Issues 

<?
// Always use absolute paths
$path = '/usr/local/emhttp/plugins/yourplugin/data.txt';

// Debug path issues
if (!file_exists($path)) {
    pluginLog("File not found: $path");
}
?>

CSRF Token Issues 

<?
// Debug CSRF
global $var;
pluginLog("CSRF Token: " . $var['csrf_token']);
pluginLog("POST Token: " . ($_POST['csrf_token'] ?? 'missing'));
?>

Debug Mode Toggle 

<?
// Add debug mode to your plugin
$cfg = parse_plugin_cfg('yourplugin');
$debugMode = ($cfg['debug'] ?? 'no') === 'yes';

function debug($message) {
    global $debugMode;
    if ($debugMode) {
        pluginLog("[DEBUG] $message");
    }
}

debug("This only logs when debug mode is enabled");
?>

Helpful Commands 

# Watch for file changes
inotifywait -m /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/yourplugin/

# Monitor resource usage
htop

# Check running processes
ps aux | grep yourplugin

# Network debugging
netstat -tlnp | grep LISTEN