Ircpdb is an adaptation of rpdb that, instead of opening a port and allowing you to debug over telnet, connects to a configurable IRC channel so you can collaboratively debug an application remotely.

import ircpdb
ircpdb.set_trace(
    channel="#debugger_hangout",
)

By default, ircpdb will create the channel you specify on Freenode and randomly select a nickname for itself, but you can feel free to configure ircpdb to connect anywhere:

import ircpdb
ircpdb.set_trace(
    channel="#debugger_hangout",
    nickname='im_a_debugger',
    server='irc.mycompany.org',
    limit_access_to=['mynickname'],
    port=6667,
    ssl=True,
)  # See 'Options' below for descriptions of the above arguments

Upon reaching set_trace(), your script will "hang" and the only way to get it to continue is to access ircpdb by talking to the user that connected to the above IRC channel.

By default, the debugger will enter the channel you've specified using a username starting with the hostname of the computer from which it was launched (in the following example: 'MyHostname'). To interact with the debugger, just send messages in the channel prefixed with "MyHostname:", or simply "!".

For example, the following two commands are equivalent, and each will display the pdb help screen (be sure to replace 'MyHostname' with whatever username the bot selected):

!help

MyHostname: help

• channel (REQUIRED): The name of the channel (starting with #) to connect to on the IRC server.
• nickname: The nickname to use when connecting. Note that an alternate name will be selected if this name is already in use. Defaults to using the hostname of the machine on which the debugger was executed.
• server: The hostname or IP address of the IRC server. Default: chat.freenode.net.
• port: The port number of the IRC server. Default: 6697.
• ssl: Use SSL when connecting to the IRC server? Default: True.
• password: The server password (if necessary) for the IRC server. Default: None.
• limit_access_to: A list of nicknames that are allowed to interact with the debugger. An empty list allows all nicknames to access the debugger. Default: [].
• message_wait_seconds: The number of seconds that the bot should wait between sending messages on IRC. Many servers, including Freenode, will kick clients that send too many messages in too short of a time frame. Default: 0.8 seconds.
• dpaste_minimum_response_length: Try to post messages this length or longer to dpaste rather than sending each line individually via IRC. This is a useful parameter to use if you happen to be connected to a server having very austere limits on the number of lines a client can send per minute. Default: 6 lines.

From pip:

pip install ircpdb

If you do not see the bot entering your specified channel, try increasing the logging level by adding the following lines above your trace to gather a little more information about problems that may have occurred while connecting to the IRC server:

import logging
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)

Adam Coddington <me@adamcoddington.net> - http://adamcoddington.net/

This library is a fork of rpdb, and the underpinnings of this library are owed to Bertrand Janin <b@janin.com> - http://tamentis.com/ and all other contributors to rpdb <https://github.com/tamentis/rpdb> including the following:

• Ken Manheimer - @kenmanheimer
• Steven Willis - @onlynone
• Jorge Niedbalski R <niedbalski@gmail.com>
• Cyprien Le Pannérer <clepannerer@edd.fr>
• k4ml <kamal.mustafa@gmail.com>
• Sean M. Collins <sean@coreitpro.com>