DEBUGGING.md

Configuration for Visual Studio Code Debug

NOTE: Please take a look first at ESP-IDF JTAG Debugging. OpenOCD typically uses port 4444 for Telnet communication, port 6666 for TCL communication and port 3333 for gdb.

The Visual Studio Code uses .vscode/launch.json to configure debug as specified in Visual Studio Code Debugging.

We recommend using our ESP-IDF Debug Adapter to debug your ESP-IDF projects, but you can also just configure launch.json for the Microsoft C/C++ Extension.

Use the ESP-IDF Debug Adapter

This extension includes the ESP-IDF Debug Adapter which implement the debug adapter protocol (DAP) to communicate Xtensa's Toolchain and OpenOCD with Visual Studio Code allowing the user to easily debug ESP-IDF applications. Visual Studio Code will:

1. Launch the debug adapter server in port debugPort given in launch.json if mode is auto or
2. Connect to existing debug adapter server in port debugPort if mode is manual.

Default values launch.json for ESP-IDF Debug Adapter:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "type": "espidf",
      "name": "Launch-name",
      "request": "launch"
    }
  ]
}

The ESP-IDF Debug Adapter settings for launch.json are:

• appOffset: Program start address offset from where to start debugging.
• debugPort: Port for ESP-IDF Debug Adapter. Default: 43474.
• env: Environment variables to apply to the ESP-IDF Debug Adapter. It will replace global environment variables and environment variables used by the extension.
• gdbinitFile: Specify the gdbinit file to send to gdb. Example value: "${workspaceFolder}/gdbinit".

  NOTE: By default, the gdbinit file is generated automatically by the ESP-IDF Debug Adapter.

• initGdbCommands: One or more xtensa-esp32-elf-gdb commands to execute in order to setup the underlying debugger.

  NOTE: If gdbinitFile is defined, these commands will be ignored.

• logLevel: Debug Adapter logging level (0-4), 5 - for a full OOCD log. Default: 2.
• mode: Can be either auto, to start the debug adapter and openOCD server within the extension or manual, to connect to existing debug adapter and openOCD session. Default: auto.

  NOTE: If set to manual, openOCD and ESP-IDF Debug Adapter have to be manually executed by the user and the extension will just try to connect to existing servers at configured ports.

• name: The name of the debug launch configuration. This will be shown in the Run view (Menu View -> Run).
• type: Type of debug configuration. It must be espidf.
• skipVerifyAppBinBeforeDebug: (Default true) If disabled the extension will verify that the current workspace folder build/${project-name}.bin is the same of the target device application. ${project-name} is the name of the project (i.e blink) and is obtained from the build/project_description.json. Set this to false to add application binary validation before debug session.

If gdbinitFile or initGdbCommands are defined in launch.json, make sure to include the following commands for debug session to properly work as shown in JTAG Debugging debugging with command line.

target remote :3333
set remote hardware-watchpoint-limit 2
mon reset halt
flushregs
thb app_main
c

Example launch.json for ESP-IDF Debug Adapter:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "type": "espidf",
      "name": "Launch",
      "request": "launch",
      "debugPort": 9998,
      "logLevel": 2,
      "mode": "manual",
      "skipVerifyAppBinBeforeDebug": false,
      "initGdbCommands": [
        "target remote :3333",
        "symbol-file /path/to/program.elf",
        "mon reset halt",
        "flushregs",
        "thb app_main"
      ],
      "env": {
        "CUSTOM_ENV_VAR": "SOME_VALUE"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Output and logs from ESP-IDF Debug Adapter and OpenOCD

Beside the Visual Studio Code Debug console output. You can find the debug adapter output in <project_dir>/debug.log and Menu View -> Output -> ESP-IDF Debug Adapter as well as OpenOCD output in Menu View -> Output -> OpenOCD.

Use Microsoft C/C++ extension to debug

The user can also use Microsoft C/C++ Extension to debug, the community recommend this launch.json configuration:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "GDB",
      "type": "cppdbg",
      "request": "launch",
      "MIMode": "gdb",
      "miDebuggerPath": "${command:espIdf.getXtensaGdb}",
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}/build/${command:espIdf.getProjectName}.elf",
      "windows": {
        "program": "${workspaceFolder}\\build\\${command:espIdf.getProjectName}.elf"
      },
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "environment": [{ "name": "PATH", "value": "${config:idf.customExtraPaths}" }],
      "setupCommands": [
        { "text": "target remote :3333" },
        { "text": "mon reset halt" },
        { "text": "thb app_main" },
        { "text": "flushregs" }
      ],
      "externalConsole": false,
      "logging": {
        "engineLogging": true
      }
    }
  ]
}