Debugging with RTEMS

RTEMS runs on the 'bare metal' hardware on your target. This complicates the debugging experience for users. For a wide range of target hardware you will need specific external and 3rd party hardware to support debugging. This support can vary in features and price. When combined with custom hardware you will need to carefully select a suitable debugging solution and to integrate with your custom hardware. It is recommended you factor this into your hardware development timeline and integration plan. Having a good working debugging solution for your project can be important when the pressure is on your deliver your application software.

The following debugging support has been used by RTEMS users in real systems:

• BDI2000 (PowerPC)
• OpenOCD (ARM)

An alternative to (expensive) real hardware could be to debug on a simulator:

• SIS (SPARC: erc32/leon2/leon3)

For specific devices and boards:

• Zedboard JTAG with a Xilinx Zynq - Debugging on the Zedboard using JTAG

GDB support for RTEMS types and object using Python has been integrated into the RTEMS Tools repository and is documented in the GDB Scripts Page.

Debugging Help

• Debugging Newlib built by the RSB
• Debugging Heap Protection Error