Solution: To change a local variable in Pdb

In the previous post, I had mentioned the problem. This is happening because the cache of the current frame gets  overridden by the contents of the real locals which undoes modifications made by the debugging user.

To have a solution for this issue, you need to make changes in your installed python package. Here are the steps.
Note: This change will be effective for Python 2.4 version(Tested with this version only)
1.  Login your mach as a root user.
2.  cd /usr/lib
3.  chmod 777 python2.4/pdb.py
4.  cp python2.4/pdb.py YOUR_BACKUP_LOC (Do not forget to have a backup of this file. We are going to make changes in this file)
5.  Make changes in /usr/lib/python2.4/pdb.py as said below.
6.  chmod 755  python2.4/pdb.py

Changeset for pdb.py.

--- a/Lib/pdb.py
+++ b/Lib/pdb.py
@@ -114,6 +118,10 @@ class Pdb(bdb.Bdb, cmd.Cmd):

 def setup(self, f, t):
        self.forget()
        self.stack, self.curindex = self.get_stack(f, t)
        self.curframe = self.stack[self.curindex][0]
+       # The f_locals dictionary is updated from the actual frame
+       # locals whenever the .f_locals accessor is called, so we
+       # cache it here to ensure that modifications are not overwritten.
+       self.curframe_locals = self.curframe.f_locals
        self.execRcLines()

@@ -202,7 +210,7 @@ class Pdb(bdb.Bdb, cmd.Cmd):
     def default(self, line):
         if line[:1] == '!': line = line[1:]
-        locals = self.curframe.f_locals
+       locals = self.curframe_locals
         globals = self.curframe.f_globals
         try:
             code = compile(line + '\n', '<stdin>', 'single')

@@ -360,7 +368,7 @@ class Pdb(bdb.Bdb, cmd.Cmd):
      def do_break(self, arg, temporary = 0):
                 .........
                 .........
                 try:
                     func = eval(arg,
                                 self.curframe.f_globals,
-                                self.curframe.f_locals)
+                               self.curframe_locals)
                 except:
                     func = arg
                 try:

@@ -681,7 +689,7 @@ class Pdb(bdb.Bdb, cmd.Cmd):
     def do_debug(self, arg):
         sys.settrace(None)
         globals = self.curframe.f_globals
-        locals = self.curframe.f_locals
+       locals = self.curframe_locals
         p = Pdb(self.completekey, self.stdin, self.stdout)
         p.prompt = "(%s) " % self.prompt.strip()
         print >>self.stdout, "ENTERING RECURSIVE DEBUGGER"

@@ -705,9 +713,8 @@ class Pdb(bdb.Bdb, cmd.Cmd):
    def do_args(self, arg):
-        f = self.curframe
-        co = f.f_code
-        dict = f.f_locals
+       co = self.curframe.f_code
+       dict = self.curframe_locals
         n = co.co_argcount
         if co.co_flags & 4: n = n+1
         if co.co_flags & 8: n = n+1

@@ -719,8 +726,8 @@ class Pdb(bdb.Bdb, cmd.Cmd):
     def do_retval(self, arg):
-        if '__return__' in self.curframe.f_locals:
-            print >>self.stdout, self.curframe.f_locals['__return__']
+       if '__return__' in self.curframe_locals:
+           print >>self.stdout, self.curframe_locals['__return__']
         else:
             print >>self.stdout, '*** Not yet returned!'
     do_rv = do_retval

@@ -728,7 +735,7 @@ class Pdb(bdb.Bdb, cmd.Cmd):
     def _getval(self, arg):
         try:
             return eval(arg, self.curframe.f_globals,
-                        self.curframe.f_locals)
+                       self.curframe_locals)
         except:
             t, v = sys.exc_info()[:2]
             if isinstance(t, str):

@@ -797,7 +804,7 @@ class Pdb(bdb.Bdb, cmd.Cmd):
     def do_whatis(self, arg):
         try:
             value = eval(arg, self.curframe.f_globals,
-                            self.curframe.f_locals)
+                           self.curframe_locals)
         except:
             t, v = sys.exc_info()[:2]
             if type(t) == type(''):

Note: This is not exactly a changeSet. You need to manually modify the code. Red code is existing code and should be removed and Green code should be replaced in those places.