# What's a bug? What's a debugger?

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2021-06-22
- Length: 1h 06m
- Episode: 7
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/442e7936

## Summary

Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal of Oxide Computer Company discuss the philosophy and mechanics of debugging, arguing that the term 'debugger' is regrettable and that tools should focus on observability and understanding system behavior rather than just fixing reproducible errors. They critique traditional in-situ breakpoint debugging for its fragility ('killing the patient') and advocate for post-mortem analysis, memory forensics, and tools like DTrace and Hubris. The conversation highlights how modern practices like CI/CD and languages like Rust have shifted the debugging landscape, making traditional debuggers less relevant for simple errors but more critical for complex, distributed system pathologies.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger#t=0) Introduction and Twitter Spaces Dynamics
- [3:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger#t=192) Writing a Debugger and Bryan's History
- [8:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger#t=508) Debuggers Written by Compiler Folks
- [12:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger#t=734) libdis and Reverse Engineering Tools
- [15:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger#t=910) Redefining Debugging and Observability
- [18:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger#t=1116) Hubris, Humility, and DTrace Stories
- [22:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger#t=1344) The Cardinal Rule: Don't Kill the Patient
- [27:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger#t=1643) Post-Mortem Debugging and Distributed Systems
- [32:05](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger#t=1925) What is a Bug? Performance vs. Behavior
- [38:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger#t=2286) Testing, Rust, and the Future of Debugging

## Topics

- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Security & privacy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/security-and-privacy)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Oxide Computer Company (company)
- Hubris (product)
- DTrace (tool)
- MDB (tool)
- Ghidra (tool)
- GDB (tool)
- Rust (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [141: Malevolent and Trying to Trick You](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2016-03-02-141-malevolent-and-trying-to-trick-you) (Embedded.fm)
- [422: It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-07-28-422-its-not-a-bug-its-a-feature) (Embedded.fm)
- [215: Heisenbugs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-09-14-215-heisenbugs) (Embedded.fm)
- [Debugger vs Printeffer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2018-01-29-debugger-vs-printeffer) (The Amp Hour)
- [209: Debuggerception](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-08-03-209-debuggerception) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-06-22-whats-a-bug-whats-a-debugger. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.