Break Points / Debugging almost non-functional

To whom it may concern

My name is Chris, I have been using Matlab for over 10 years.

I recently took up a post doc position at the University of Calgary and have been having a major issue with break points and debugging in Matlab.

The version of Matlab we use here is 7.11.0.584 (R2010b) on a Win 7 64 machine.

In past versions I was able to set break points within my routines with no issues. The break points would grey out if editing had taken place and un-grey after a save. Of course a warning would pop up if attempting to save while debugging to inform the user that the process would stop if saved.

With this version of Matlab my break points will be red until an edit is made... then remain greyed even after a save. This of course makes debugging impossible. A minor yet ridiculous solution I discovered was to close and reopen the tab of the routine I am working to have the break points work onces before staying greyed out. If I do not require break points, I can get by without them and sometimes, for an unknown reason, the break points will become red again.

I would have attributed this problem to my machine and reinstalled Matlab, but our system administrator checked his version of Matlab (same version as mine) and he too has the same permanent greyed out break points.

Our systems admin said he was going to look into the issue, but I just reached the end of my patience and needed to start the solution wagon rolling.

If anyone has a solution to this issue please help.

Thank you for your time.

Chris

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

Re-check the file permissions involved. Matlab does strange things with breakpoints if it thinks it does not have permission to write to the file (and sometimes, if it does not have permission to write to the directory since it renames the old file and write a new file with the old name.)

Other people have reported breakpoint problems in 2010b, but they couldn't get the red marks at all.

[Chris Harrison]

I attempted to save to different locations on my hard drive and it appears as if I do not have administrative permission to write to several locations.

I can write to “C:\Users\namehere\Documents\MATLAB”, but breakpoints greyout.

Writing to "desktop" I could save in Matlab, and breakpoints greyed out.

I tried to save to C:\, but Matlab informed me that I do not have admin permissions to do so.

Writing to "my documents" I could save in Matlab, and the same issue of greyed out breakpoints after first edit.

How do I solve this permission issue?

Did previous versions of Matlab have this problem or is this a computer admin issue?

Thank you for your time.

Answer 2

[Gabriele Gualandi]

Close all running gui before try editing the break-points.

[Jan]

Well, if I have to close all GUIs to debug my code, I cannot debug my GUIs.

I still do not see a reason for a write access to the M-files, when a breakpoint is set. Is the M-file changed at all? Does this confuse the Access-time-stamps of the files?

My opinion: If Matlab 2010b needs write-access to M-files for setting break-points and I cannot debug a running GUI, this version is not functional. The absence of a meaningful error message is bewildering.