I depend on this option:
-b or --background: Don't activate the application
to debug Python programs with pdb or ipdb.
While I step throw the sources with pdb, Sublime text “follows” thanks to this plugin:
Under the hood, this is the issued command:
'subl -b "%s:%d"' % (filename, lineno)
However, ST4 grabs the focus despite the “-b” option.
Very annoying … I had to downgrade to ST3.
Any suggestion in welcome.
Thank you for a great editor
I can’t replicate that here; -b works as it always has. What OS are you running on?
I’m using macOS Big Sur
While I step with pdb in the terminal, the cursor moves in ST, and I can follow the source code in the editor.
Since the focus remains on the terminal, I can keep stepping and/or inspecting variables; this is how it works with ST3, and is very effective.
With ST4, after cursor update the focus is stolen by ST
I’m not sure if it will help, but something to double check would be that subl is symlinked to the version that ships with Sublime Text 4. I don’t remember offhand if the folder’s app name changed between the two versions or not.
I checked it: subl is a symlink to “/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl” for both ST3 and ST4.
I replaced ST3 with ST4 to avoid any possible conflict.
So, this doesn’t seem to be the problem 
I tested it above on Linux and it worked as I would expect there, so it’s possible it might be a MacOS related issue of some sort.
Help > Report a Bug will take you to the issue tracker where you can make a report of this regression on MacOS so that the devs can look into it.
I’m also dealing with this behavior after upgrading to ST4 - I, however, am still on Catalina. Let me know if you need any additional information from me.
I confirm this happens for me on Catalina too. I guess it’s not related to the O.S. in any way
Has anybody found a solution here? This one has really put a pinch in my workflow.
I have exactly the same issue. I’m in MacOS and the ‘-b-’ doesn’t work. Any news?
