The Debugger library works as follows: User View: For the example, your component is Comp. In your component's header file, put lines such as: #include DECLARE_DEBUG2(Comp); #if DBG #define DebugLog(x) CompDebugPrint x #else #define DebugLog(x) #endif #define TRACE_STUFF 0x00000008 The DECLARE macro sets up a prototype for a function called CompDebugOut. This function is a wrapper to a function in the library, called _DebugOut. It also declares a variable called CompInfoLevel, which is treated as a bitmask for different things to report on. Finally, it declares a pointer that is used by the debug library called CompControlBlock. In *one* file in your component, put in something like this: DEFINE_DEBUG2(Comp); DEBUG_KEY MyDebugKeys[] = { {DEB_ERROR, "Error"}, {DEB_WARN, "Warning"}, {DEB_TRACE, "Trace"}, {TRACE_STUFF, "Stuff"}, {0, NULL } }; The keys here are pairs of (bitmask, text), and are used when determining what flags are set, and what to display on a debug output. This also defines the CompDebugOut function, and the CompInfoLevel variable. Then, when you are initializing, do this: main/DllMain: #if DBG CompInitDebug( MyDebugKeys ); #endif This will determine which flags have been set in the win.ini file, and update the info level mask accordingly. It will also link up with the other dsysdbg components in the process so that they share certain global flags. Now, whenever you are in the middle of something interesting, you can make this call: DebugLog((TRACE_STUFF, "Wow, I got this status back! %x\n", Status)); This will only be present on debug builds, and is filtered by the common code in the dsysdbg library. Common Flags: These flags are specified on the DsysDebug section (see below). NoDebugger No Debug I/O, unless we are running in ntsd. Thus, no output is sent to the kernel debugger, unless you have started NTSD on the process. TimeStamp Add a time/date stamp to every message. DebuggerOk [Used internally] Means a debugger has been started on this process. Logfile[:path] Echo all output to a log file. A log file is created either as the specified path, or as executable_name.LOG. AutoDebug Automatically start up in the debugger. Not supported yet. UseKD Use the kernel debugger (-d option) when starting the debugger for AutoDebug or Asserts. HeapCheck Does HeapValidate() on every call to _DebugOut. MultiThread Enabled synchronization around the debug header. Not used by default. DisableAssert Disables all dsys asserts NoPrompts Automatically start the debugger on assert, as opposed to prompting on the kernel debugger. Details View: A shared memory segment is created, and is accessed through the DbgpHeader variable in the library. This segment has a header, and one or more debug modules, arranged in a chain. Each module has two parts, a bunch of fields, and a string table. The string table is each flag description, and the fields are all described in debugp.h As each module that has separate debugging initializes, a debug module is allocated from the shared memory. The strings are loaded into the string table, and the flags are calculated as follows (for app SAMPLE.EXE, with modules DSYS and Sec): First, during shared memory init, we look in win.ini for a section [DsysDebug] SAMPLE=Flag1,Flag2,Flag3 DebugFlags=Flag1,Flag2, Flag3 If they exist, they are or'd together. These are the DSYS Debug Flags, which control output (to a logfile, for example), or heap checking or whatever. Then, as Sec and DSYS are initialized, they look in win.ini for a section like: [Sec] DebugFlags=ModFlag1, ModFlag2 SAMPLE=ModFlag1, ModFlag2 then [DsysDebug] Sec=ModFlag1, ModFlag2 and [DSYS] DebugFlags=ModFlagX, ModFlagY SAMPLE=ModFlagX, ModFlagY then [DsysDebug] Dsys=ModFlagX, ModFlagY This gives several orders of granularity, allowing you to specify flags for whenever your module is loaded, or only for a specific executable.