title: How to enable Joomla debug mode from the URL
body: <p>I often need performance information from live sites. Since I cannot show debug information to the end users, I need a way to <strong>enable Joomla! debug mode</strong> with a URL parameter, that is,</p>
  
  <pre><code>http://example.com/?debug=1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have only been able to achieve this with a core hack of <code>includes/framework.php</code> at line 91 (Joomla 2.5.9):</p>
  
  <pre><code>define('JDEBUG', $config-&gt;debug  || JRequest::getVar('debug','0')=='1');
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Which alternatively could be played on <code>configuration.php</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public $debug = JRequest::getVar('debug','0')=='1';
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I just tested overriding the configuration with a system plugin following Mark Dexter and Louis Landry's post at <em><a href="http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1858258&amp;seqNum=8" rel="nofollow">Using Plugins to Override Core Classes</a></em>. But a quick-test with Ivan Rajkovic suggestion,</p>
  
  <pre><code>print_r(JLoader::getClassList());
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>shows that the configuration is already loaded, so it cannot be overridden.</p>
  
  <p>Can you suggest <strong>a better way to achieve this without a core hack?</strong></p>
  
  <p>Is there a solution for Joomla! 3?</p>