How to Run Kdenlive in Debug Mode

When troubleshooting crashes or unexpected behavior in the Kdenlive video editor, generating verbose terminal output is crucial for creating helpful bug reports. This guide provides a straightforward, step-by-step walkthrough on how to launch Kdenlive in debug mode across Linux, Windows, and macOS, allowing you to capture detailed logs to share with the development team.

Running Kdenlive in Debug Mode on Linux

On Linux, Kdenlive relies on Qt’s logging framework. You can enable verbose debug messages by setting specific environment variables in your terminal before launching the application.

  1. Open your terminal.

  2. Run the following command to launch Kdenlive with all debug messages enabled:

    QT_LOGGING_RULES="kdenlive*=true" kdenlive

  3. If you are using the official AppImage version, navigate to the directory where the AppImage is saved and run:

    QT_LOGGING_RULES="kdenlive*=true" ./Kdenlive-xxxxxx-x86_64.AppImage

    (Replace Kdenlive-xxxxxx-x86_64.AppImage with the actual filename of your downloaded AppImage).

Running Kdenlive in Debug Mode on Windows

To capture console output on Windows, you must run Kdenlive through the Command Prompt (cmd) or PowerShell.

  1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell.

  2. Navigate to the directory where Kdenlive is installed. For example:

    cd "C:\Program Files\kdenlive\bin"

  3. Enable debug logging and launch the application by running:

    set QT_LOGGING_RULES=kdenlive*=true
kdenlive.exe

Running Kdenlive in Debug Mode on macOS

On macOS, you need to execute the binary located inside the application bundle using the Terminal.

  1. Open the Terminal application.

  2. Run the following command to launch Kdenlive with verbose logging:

    QT_LOGGING_RULES="kdenlive*=true" /Applications/Kdenlive.app/Contents/MacOS/kdenlive

Saving the Output to a Log File

To easily share your debug logs in a bug report, you can redirect the terminal output directly to a text file. Append > kdenlive_debug.txt 2>&1 to your command.

For example, on Linux or macOS, use:

QT_LOGGING_RULES="kdenlive*=true" kdenlive > kdenlive_debug.txt 2>&1

This command redirects both standard output and error logs into a file named kdenlive_debug.txt in your current working directory, which you can then attach to your bug report on the KDE Bugtracker.