Xdebug works by using a protocol known as DBGP over TCP. What makes it slightly confusing, however, is the protocol flow happens in reverse from how most developers are used working: the server makes connections to your "client" (e.g. your IDE). Your debugger actually listens on a port (9000 by default), and Xdebug connects to that. Understanding that makes the setup make a little more sense.

Vagrant generally uses "Host-Only Networking" with an IP for the virtual machine of "33.33.33.10" (see the documentation). In this scenario, your host machine (i.e. where your debugger will be listening on port 9000) is accessible from the VM at 33.33.33.1. That means, we need to tell Xdebug to make it's connections to 33.33.33.1 on port 9000. This can be handled by the following php configuration:

xdebug.default_enable=1
xdebug.remote_enable=1
xdebug.remote_handler=dbgp
xdebug.remote_host=33.33.33.1
xdebug.remote_port=9000
xdebug.remote_autostart=0

I handle this configuration with this xdebug.ini.erb template in my chef-repo.

I have found that this works quite well with my Emacs setup using geben, but I've not yet tested it with other IDEs.

For those of you here in Toronto that are unaware, PHUG is the new local PHP User Group. They have a lot of momentum and are an exciting group - I look forward to more collaboration in the future betweeh PHUG and DUG-TO.

The workshop will be Drupal Basics - a crash course in everyone's favourite CMS. We'll look at the core Drupal concepts, how building sites in Drupal works, and some basic theming tricks.

It's a free event, but space is limited so please register. Looking forward to meeting some new faces!

UPDATE: P.S. this isn't an April Fool's joke ;)

The difference in performance is amazing. I can actually use this tool now as it was meant to be used! With apologies to Sacha and all the emacs people, I've been using Komodo IDE for all of my Drupal development for the past 2 weeks and I like it. I know it's some sort of lost geek cred, but function name completion (not just for PHP functions, but Drupal internal functions as well!), integrated debugging and all that stuff really can make your life easier when it's working well.

But, naturally, wouldn't be a blog post if I didn't have a gripe or two - although these ones are minimal. So dear lazyweb:

I love the 'open/find toolbar' - but I can't for the life of me find a keyboard shortcut to focus the open file box there. (i.e. ctrl-i works for the find part, but what's the equivalent for the "open" box?). The one adjustment in moving from emacs is actually having to use a mouse. :(

The other one I actually asked in the support forum (which runs drupal, of course), but the issue is for all of my client work I have drupal checkouts from CVS managed in subversion repositories. I actually, in these cases, would like Komodo to ignore the CVS meta-files and treat the project as using SVN. Any hints?

Anyway, Shane, Jeff and the whole Komodo crew: I just might be a convert. Congrats on your great work :)

The Good

• Komodo is built on Mozilla technology. Why is that important? Well, it's a platform I believe in - that has to count for something, right? It also means that both projects can benefit each other, and Komodo is inherently cross-platform (something I still believe is important).
• "Just works" debugging for PHP. Komodo works natively with xdebug for PHP debugging, and it works - and works well. As someone who writes a lot of "web services" type software, I see the value in being able to debug things when tools like var_dump() aren't readily accessible.
• Some nice drupal-specific features as well as using drupal for their support site - that's got to win them something ;)
• Emacs key-bindings

The less good

• Performance. I don't know how Firefox does it, but it's the one XUL application on my G4 Powerbook that isn't dog slow (even Thunderbird struggles a bit). I probably just need a faster computer, really.
• Emacs keybindings: there's just lots I can't seem to do from the keyboard. Mice and I have never gotten along, and my powerbook's trackpad is even worse. I try to avoid them as much as possible. For example, I like to periodically CVS/SVN update my working copy. Yes, there is a keybinding for this action, but as far as I can tell, I have to click on the project in the left hand side to make sure the update happens for the whole project (otherwise it only happens on the current file). Region selection is another example.
• Komodo is not free. Again, this is personal belief (religion?), but as much as I appreciate Komodo for using Mozilla, I don't like the fact that the useful version of Komodo is not free. Had I not received a license for free, I'm not sure I could justify the cost.

All that said, I don't know that I've fully made up my mind yet. Because it's built on mozilla, Komodo is fully extensible - perhaps I could write extensions to make it just how I want it. Right now, however, I feel slow and clumsy in Komodo.

I'm going to keep trying - there is part of me that really wants to like it - but I'm not sold yet.

I also led a session on beginning Drupal module development. Those of you who attended the DrupalCon in Brussels may remember this as the infamous pants talk - always a crowd pleaser ;)

Thanks a lot to the organizers and sponsors from Vancouver PHP, I had a great time. Oh, and a special thank to Shane from ActiveState - part of the speaker shwag package was a license to Komodo IDE. I've heard good things about the latest Komodo, can't wait to check it out.

I should also note that fellow bryght guy and drupal ninja, Steven Wittens, will be presenting. But, if that's not enough, there will also be some other PHP developers you may have heard of giving talks like Rasmus, Derick Rethans and more - check the schedule for the complete list. Now, go register.

Anyone out there running php5 in heavy (large scale) production? Is it time to move beyond the safe "known entity" comforts of php4?