Question

For debugging php code I use MacGDBp but it has its quirks: it shows only the top frame variables of the stack, it sometimes refuses to display any variable at all and last version has decorates the source text with non ascii characters.
Is there any alternative that is native OS X? (ie. not Eclipse, I can’t stand it).

Answer 1

I have also used MacGDBp and became frustrated with the limitations you mentioned. While it is not a native app per say, NetBeans 6.5 and higher is free and includes a decent PHP debugger that works with XDebug.

http://netbeans.org/kb/docs/php/debugging.html

It is not without it’s own set of issues, but it does seem to be more reliable than MacGDBp.

If you are not opposed to paying, the Komodo IDE (My IDE of choice) also has a PHP debugger.

http://www.activestate.com/komodo-ide?src=AScom&type=bn&X=HP&campaign=KMD

Also, though slightly off topic, you may find the easy Xdebug FireFox extension useful:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/58688/

Lastly, the XDebug website has a list of additional clients, browser plugins and instructions on how to use them:

http://www.xdebug.org/docs/remote#browser_session