vscode-cpp-remote-debug

Project for testing remote debugging of C++ code with gdb and gdbserver in VS Code

Prerequisites

• a remote host reachable via ssh
  • gdbserver should be installed on the remote host
  • no root privileges are required on the remote host, plain user rights are enough
• VisualStudio Code installed on the local machine
  • the C/C++ extension should be installed

Setup

• my local machine is Linux notebook (Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon Edition), denoted by local $

  • the file system of the remote machine has to be mounted on the local machine either using File -> Connect to Server (type: ssh) from the Nemo file browser or using sshfs

• my remote machine is Linux server, denoted by remote $, on which gdbserver is available

Step-by-Step Instructions to Reproduce

• SSH to remote machine and use port forwarding

  local $ ssh -L9091:localhost:9091 user@some.server.org

• Clone repo with

  remote $ git clone https://github.com/dmrauch/vscode-cpp-remote-debug.git

• Out-of-source build with debug symbols

  remote $ cd vscode-cpp-remote-debug/build/debug
  remote $ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ../../source
  remote $ make

• Start gdbserver

  remote $ cd ../.. # going back into vscode-cpp-remote-debug/
  remote $ gdbserver :9091 build/debug/file1

• Mount the remote file system in the file browser as mentioned above, i.e. either in the Nemo file browser do File -> Connect to Server or use sshfs

• Open VisualStudio Code and open the project / repository folder from the mounted location

• Open and possibly edit the code, set breakpoints somewhere in one or both source code files folder1/file1.cxx and folder2/file2.cxx

• Adapt the .vscode/launch.json file to your needs

  • In particular you will have to change the sourceFileMap parameter which needs to contain all information about the mounted remote file system. By hovering the mouse over one of the open code tabs (e.g. file1.cxx) you can read off what should go there in your case.

• Open the debug view, select the Remote Debug configuration and launch the debugger configuration (gdb) Launch Remote Debugging of file1

Happy debugging!

Credits

• The launch.json is based on the following, very helpful article: Debugging C/C++ Programs Remotely Using Visual Studio Code and gdbserver.
• Big thanks go to @pieandcakes for pointing out the sourceFileMap property in .vscode/launch.json (GitHub#834).