zxdb

This extension is for zxdb: The Fuchsia debugger. It provides IDE based debugging support for developers working with the open source Fuchsia operating system.

Setup

After downloading and installing the extension from marketplace, please check the following before using the extension -

• Fuchsia source tree and environment is setup as described here
• fx --help command works in the VSCode terminal (VSCode -> Terminal -> New Terminal)
• fx debug -- --enable-debug-adapter works in the VSCode terminal without any errors

Using the extension

Make sure to have the target device started and fx serve running on the host. Start the debugger by pressing F5 in your workspace. Select zxdb from the list of debuggers. Alternatively, you can go to Run and Debug on the leftmost panel and select zxdb.. from the Start Debugging dropdown.

Launch / Attach

With zxdb, you can attach to an existing process by selecting zxdb: attach debug configuration and providing the process name or process ID.

Alternatively, you can launch a process and debug it by using the zxdb: launch configuration. The launch configuration requires a launch command which will be executed on the VSCode terminal and the process name. Currently, the process name cannot be derived from the launch command and needs to be specified explicitly.

Saving configurations

In order to store frequently used configs, open or create .vscode/launch.json and select Add configuration. From the list select zxdb: attach or zxdb: launch.

{
    "type": "zxdb", // Do not change this.
    "request": "attach", // Request to attach to a process on target for debugging.
    "name": "zxdb attach process", // Can be customized.
    "process": "${command:PickProcess}" // Can be replaced with a string containing process name/PID.
                                        // If not it will ask you to enter the value every time you
                                        // start debugging.
}

If you selected zxdb: launch, the launchCommand will be run the in intergrated VSCode terminal as is. If the command fails, run the command manually on the terminal once and ensure that it works. $SHELL and environment variables might have to be setup for this to work properly.

{
    "type": "zxdb", // Do not change this.
    "request": "launch", // Request to launch to a process on target for debugging.
    "name": "zxdb launch process",  // Can be customized.
    // The below two fields can be replaced with a string containing process name/PID.
    // If not if will ask you to enter the value every time you start debugging.
    "process": "${command:PickProcess}",
    "launchCommand": "${command:EnterLaunchCommand}" // Shell command to launch the debuggee.
},

You can customize the name, process and launchCommand string as per your need and can have multiple configs as well. You can now choose from these config in the Start Debugging dropdown.

Extension configuration

zxdb extension can be configured per workspace for the parameters listed below. Add these to the settings.json found in the .vscode folder in your workspace.

• zxdb.debug : boolean to turn on debug logs. By default it is turned off.
• zxdb.command : Command to launch fx debug. By default fx debug -- --enable-debug-adapter is used.
• zxdb.timeout : Time in milliseconds to wait for the zxdb console to start. By default it waits 30 seconds.

Reload the VSCode window after changing any of these configuration for it to take effect.

Troubleshooting

• I'm getting "Timeout starting zxdb console" error. How to fix it?
  • By default the timeout is set to 30 seconds. If for some reason fx debug is taking more time on your setup, please increase zxdb.timeout extension configuration as described in previous session and try again.

Report issues

All feedbacks are valuable. Please report issues/feedback here.

Please collect logs by following these steps to append to the report:

1. Go to the OUTPUT panel in the bottom half.
2. From the dropdown in the top right of that panel select zxdb.
3. Copy all the text.

For more verbose logs, open/create .vscode/settings.json and add "zxdb.debug": true to it. VSCode must be reloaded for this to take affect. Follow same steps listed above to get logs after reproducing the issue.

Release Notes

See the CHANGELOG