GDB Debugger - Beyond

Hi all, Beyond Debug is a debug adapter for Visual Studio Code. It implemented through the GDB’s Machine Interface(MI).

Supported Languages

• C, C++,Pascal,ObjectPascal, Fortran, D, Go, Objective-C, Fortran, OpenCL C, Rust, assembly, Modula-2, and Ada.

Supported features

• insert, remove, enable, disable, condition breakpoints
• view local variables
• view watchs
• multi-threaded debugging
• remote, extended-remote debugging
• gdbserver --multi supported
• transfer files from local to remote
• use native commands in debug console
• attach to process

Using the debugger

• Install gdb on your system.
• Install the Beyond Debug extension in VS Code.
• Open your project
• Switch to the debug viewlet and press the gear dropdown.
• Select the debug environment "GDB(Beyond)".
• Press the green 'play' button to start debugging.

You can now debugging your program.

Launch a program

Use launch.json and setting request to "launch". You also need to specify the executable path for the debugger to find the debug symbols.

{
    "type": "by-gdb",
    "request": "launch",
    "name": "Launch(gdb)",
    "program": "${fileBasenameNoExtension}",
    "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}"
}

Attach to process

Attaching to existing processes currently only works by specifying the processId in the launch.json and setting request to "attach". You also need to specify the executable path for the debugger to find the debug symbols. If the argument program arg is not set, a pickprocess window will be displayed. If the argument program is set and only one process is found ,the debugger will start automatically.

{
    "type": "by-gdb",
    "request": "attach",
    "name": "Attach(gdb)",
    "program": "{fileBasenameNoExtension}",
    "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}"
}

This will attach to 5678 which should already run.

Connect to gdbserver

You can use gdbserver as your remote debugger. For that modify the launch.json by setting request to "launch" and set remote section as below:

{
    "type": "by-gdb",
    "request": "launch",
    "name": "Launch(gdb)",
    "program": "${fileBasenameNoExtension}",
    "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}",
    "remote": { 
        "enabled": true,
        "address": ":2345",
        "mode": "remote",
        "execfile": "${fileBasenameNoExtension}"
    }
}

You also need to specify the executable path for the debugger to find the debug symbols.

This will connect to the remote gdbserver on localhost:2345.

Transfer file form local to remote

Often, if doing cross-platform compilation, we need to transfer locally compiled files to the server. To do that, you need set remote - transfer as below:

{
    ...
    "remote": { 
        "enabled": true,
        "address": ":2345",
        "mode": "remote",
        "execfile": "${fileBasenameNoExtension}",
        "transfer": [
            { 
                "from": "${fileBasenameNoExtension}",
                "to":   "${fileBasenameNoExtension}"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Use extended-remote mode

To use extende-remote mode. You must run gdbserver as gdbserver --multi. Then change remote mode to extended-remote in launch.json

{
    
    "remote": { 
        "enabled": true,
        "address": ":2345",
        "mode": "extended-remote",
        "execfile": "[filename]",
    }
}

Use gdb through SSH

To use gdb through SSH. You can use ssh mode like this.

{
    
    "ssh": {
        "enabled": true,
        "address": "123.123.1.1:1234",
        "username": "root",
        "passwordType": "none",
        "timeout":1000,
        //"privateKey":"~/.ssh/id_rsa"
        //"remoteSrcPrefix": "/root/test/src",
        //"loacalSrcPrefix": ""
        // "transfer": [
        //     {"from": "z:/tmp/src/project1","to": "/root/test/project1"}
        // ]
    }
}

If passwordType and privateKey is None, it will try to use .ssh/id_rsa file of system for authentication.

Use gdb's native command

You can use all the GDB commands from the debug console. Just like in the shell.

View Memory

You can view memory data on debug console or Microsoft Hex Editor if it installed. Rignt click in editor on deubgging or use command byeond:View Memory. If no content is selected, you can input address like this:[address or variable]:[address length (default:100) ], e.g. 0x1111:12 or 0x1111 or va:123 or s.c_str():100 ...

Configuration

name	type	default	desc	attach
debuggerPath	string	gdb	The path to the debugger (such as gdb)
debuggerArgs	array	Additional arguments for the debugger
program	string		Full path to program executable
programArgs	string		Command line arguments passed to the program
cwd	string	${workspaceRoot}	The working directory of the target
stopAtEntry	boolean	false	If true, the debugger should stop at the entrypoint of the target
commandsBeforeExec	array		One or more GDB/GDB-MI commands to execute before launch.
varUpperCase	boolean	false	Convert all variables to uppercase. Used in case insensitive language, e.g. pascal.
defaultStringCharset	string		Set the charset of a string variable on display. e.g. utf-8
remote
enabled	boolean	true	If true, the remote mode will be actived.
address	string		Remote address and port. [ip:port]
mode	string	remote	Extended target mode. Can be remote or extended-remote
execfile	string		Remote exec file.
transfer	array		Transfer local file to remote before launch.
ssh
enabled	boolean	true	If true, the ssh mode will be actived.
address	string		Remote address and port. [ip:port]
username	string		User name for login
passwordType	string		How to use password. Can b input or inputAndSave.
privateKey	string		File path of privateKey to login.(eg. id_rsa) \n This will be ignored if password is not empty.
timeout	string		Time out for SSH.(ms)
remoteSrcPrefix	string		Path prefix of remote source code.\n It will be replaced by localSrcPrefix if not empty.
loacalSrcPrefix	string		Path prefix of local source code.
transfer	array		Transfer local file to remote before launch.

Todo List

• Add i18n supports
• lldb-mi support

Thanks

• dbgmits This library used to programmatically control debuggers that implement the GDB/Machine Interface via JavaScript.