1 files changed, 104 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/docs/development/debugging-tests.md b/docs/development/debugging-tests.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..18407f68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/development/debugging-tests.md
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+# Debugging Tests Tips
+
+## How to run & execute or debug a specific test without anything else to keep the feedback loop short?
+
+There is a script called debug-test.sh in the scripts folder whose parameter takes a REGEX and an optional test number.
+
+For example, running the following command will output an interactive list from which you can select a test. It takes this form:
+
+`debug-test.sh [OPTION]... <test_regex> <test_number>`
+
+It will then build & run in the debugger for you.
+
+To just execute a test and get back a PASS or FAIL message run:
+
+```bash
+./scripts/debug-test.sh test-tokenizer
+```
+
+To test in GDB use the `-g` flag to enable gdb test mode.
+
+```bash
+./scripts/debug-test.sh -g test-tokenizer
+
+# Once in the debugger, i.e. at the chevrons prompt, setting a breakpoint could be as follows:
+>>> b main
+```
+
+To speed up the testing loop, if you know your test number you can just run it similar to below:
+
+```bash
+./scripts/debug-test.sh test 23
+```
+
+For further reference use `debug-test.sh -h` to print help.
+
+&nbsp;
+
+### How does the script work?
+If you want to be able to use the concepts contained in the script separately, the important ones are briefly outlined below.
+
+#### Step 1: Reset and Setup folder context
+
+From base of this repository, let's create `build-ci-debug` as our build context.
+
+```bash
+rm -rf build-ci-debug && mkdir build-ci-debug && cd build-ci-debug
+```
+
+#### Step 2: Setup Build Environment and Compile Test Binaries
+
+Setup and trigger a build under debug mode. You may adapt the arguments as needed, but in this case these are sane defaults.
+
+```bash
+cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DLLAMA_CUDA=1 -DLLAMA_FATAL_WARNINGS=ON ..
+make -j
+```
+
+#### Step 3: Find all tests available that matches REGEX
+
+The output of this command will give you the command & arguments needed to run GDB.
+
+* `-R test-tokenizer` : looks for all the test files named `test-tokenizer*` (R=Regex)
+* `-N` : "show-only" disables test execution & shows test commands that you can feed to GDB.
+* `-V` : Verbose Mode
+
+```bash
+ctest -R "test-tokenizer" -V -N
+```
+
+This may return output similar to below (focusing on key lines to pay attention to):
+
+```bash
+...
+1: Test command: ~/llama.cpp/build-ci-debug/bin/test-tokenizer-0 "~/llama.cpp/tests/../models/ggml-vocab-llama-spm.gguf"
+1: Working Directory: .
+Labels: main
+  Test  #1: test-tokenizer-0-llama-spm
+...
+4: Test command: ~/llama.cpp/build-ci-debug/bin/test-tokenizer-0 "~/llama.cpp/tests/../models/ggml-vocab-falcon.gguf"
+4: Working Directory: .
+Labels: main
+  Test  #4: test-tokenizer-0-falcon
+...
+```
+
+#### Step 4: Identify Test Command for Debugging
+
+So for test #1 above we can tell these two pieces of relevant information:
+* Test Binary: `~/llama.cpp/build-ci-debug/bin/test-tokenizer-0`
+* Test GGUF Model: `~/llama.cpp/tests/../models/ggml-vocab-llama-spm.gguf`
+
+#### Step 5: Run GDB on test command
+
+Based on the ctest 'test command' report above we can then run a gdb session via this command below:
+
+```bash
+gdb --args ${Test Binary} ${Test GGUF Model}
+```
+
+Example:
+
+```bash
+gdb --args ~/llama.cpp/build-ci-debug/bin/test-tokenizer-0 "~/llama.cpp/tests/../models/ggml-vocab-llama-spm.gguf"
+```