gstreamer debugging - gstreamer-debug-viewer

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When debugging gstreamer applications, we have this great tool available. Basically, you can generate gstreamer logs & then view them in visual format using the gstreamer-debug-viewer.

The debug-viewer is not available in any package as of now - at least as much as I searched. So you need to build it manually.

The process is mentioned at https://developer.ridgerun.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Use_Gstreamer_Debug_Viewer. We will of course copy - paste the important part as links on internet vanish/break all the time.

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How to Use Gstreamer Debug Viewer

Contents

What is the GStreamer Debug Viewer

GStreamer Debug Viewer, or gst-debug-viewer, is a GUI tool to ease the process of inspecting and analyzing debug logs produced by GStreamer applications.

Installation

Dependencies

Mac OSX

brew install pygobject3 cmake json-glib

Ubuntu / Debian Based

sudo apt install cmake

Install

GST_VERSION=`gst-launch-1.0 --gst-version | awk -F'[ .]' '{print $5 "." $6}'`  git clone https://github.com/GStreamer/gst-devtools -b $GST_VERSION  cd gst-devtools    ## Disable everything except gst-debug-viewer    echo "Your gstreamer version is $GST_VERSION"    # Gst 1.17 and newer  meson build -Dvalidate=disabled -Dgtk_doc=disabled -Dintrospection=disabled -Dtests=disabled -Dnls=disabled  # Gst 1.16 and lower  meson build -Dvalidate=false -Dgtk_doc=disabled -Dintrospection=disabled -Dtests=disabled -Dnls=disabled    # Build and install  ninja -C build  sudo ninja -C build install

Basic Usage

First create a debug trace. For example test.log using the following pipe: 

GST_DEBUG_FILE=test.log GST_DEBUG=4 gst-launch-1.0 videotestsrc num-buffers=150 ! queue ! fakesink

Finally just start gst-debug-viewer with the file as the argument. 

gst-debug-viewer test.log

Alternatively, you may open the GUI and load the file from there.

Functionality

Main View

Main View
1 Overall Timeline
Shows the appearance of debug messages over time. The red translucent box is the current message view. The green plot is the density of the messages.
2 Current View Timeline
Shows the timeline of the debug messages in the current view. The connectors assign each message to it's actual position in time. The connector color shows independent threads.
3 Time Column
Shows the process time at which the message was logged
3.5 Level Column
Shows the message level (ERROR,WARNING,FIXME,INFO,DEBUG,LOG,TRACE)
4 Category Column
Shows the debug message category
5 Code Column
Shows the file and line number where the message was logged
6 Function Column
Shows the function name where the message was logged
7 Object Column
Shows the name of the GstObject that logged the message, if any. (This is why you want to use GST_INFO_OBJECT instead of GST_INFO).
8 Message Column
Shows the actual debug content
9 Message Box
A cleaner view showing only the time and message content.

These are the default columns, you can add (or remove) additional ones by going to 

View->Columns

Filters

The power of the viewer comes from the fact that you can easily filter the current view. To do so:

  1. Select a message you are interested
  2. Open the filter menu by either:
    1. Right click on the message or
    2. Open View
Available filters
Set base time
Sets the time of this message as 0. Previous messages will have negative times. Useful for checking time differences.
Hide log level
Hides all messages that share the same level as this message
Hide this log level and above
Hides all messages that have the same level or above
Show only log level
Hides messages that have levels different to the one in this message
Hide log category
Hides all messages that share the same category as this message
Show only log category
Hides all messages with different categories as the one in this message
Hide thread
Hide messages logged from the same thread as this message
Show only thread
Hides messages logged from threads different than the one in this message
Hide object
Hides all message that were logged by the same object as this message
Show only object
Hides all messages that were logged by objects different than the one in this messages
Hide function
Hides all messages that were logged from the same function as this message
Show only function
Hides all messages that were logged from a function other than the one in this message
Hide filename
Hides all messages that were logged from the same filename as this message
Show only filename
Hides all messages that were logged from a filename other than the one in this message
Hide lines before this point
Hides messages above this one
Hide lines after this point
Hides messages below this one
Show hidden lines
Reset filters

Searching

Searching is another indispensable feature. You may press CTRL+f to perform search. This remains true for Mac OSX, it is CTRL not CMD.

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Now I'm hoping only that I can use this! Cheers!


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