Debug a.out without source and debug symbol?

[zchrissirhcz]

Hi, CodeLLDB developers and users

Question description

I previously use VSCode + CodeLLDB + Clangd for debugging when there is source code, it works fine.
Now I'm wondering if I can use them for debugging that without source code, and without debug symbols?

Example

Take an example, foo.c:

#include <stdio.h>

void f1()
{
    int a = 1, b = 2, c = 3;
}

void f2()
{
    int a, b, c;
    printf("%d, %d, %d\n", a, b, c);
}

int main()
{
    f1();
    f2();
    return 0;
}

Compile it with gcc foo.c to get a.out. Now is it possible to debug this a.out in VSCode with CodeLLDB? Or maybe other plugins?

Trials

Reference: microsoft/vscode-cpptools#2267
Reference: https://stackoverflow.com/a/11568944/2999096

Based on the two references, I think passing arguments to gdb/lldb would be an option.

What I have tried (but failed) is add contents in launch.json:

            "miDebuggerArgs": [
                // "-ex",
                // "\"break main\""
                "-x",
                "/home/zz/work/project/test/gdb.commands"
            ]

[vadimcn]

miDebuggerArgs is not a valid configuration attribute for this extension. Have you tried simply specifying "program": "your/path/a.out" and setting a function breakpoint on "main"?

[zchrissirhcz]

Yeah, I have configured "program": "${workspaceFolder}/a.out" in .vscode/launch.json.

I know when start with gdb a.out, I can set break point in for main function.
But with VSCode, it does not "wait" when start the debugging, it just end in 1 second.

Give the assumption that there is no source code for a.out, I don't know how to set a break point in VSCode.

I think if the VSCode can just stop at the very beginning of the debugging, then I can set break point in the interactive shell.

[vadimcn]

If you binary contains any code symbols, you should be able to set function breakpoints on them. You can also use "preRunCommands" attribute to set breakpoints via lldb commands.

[zchrissirhcz]

Thank you! I finally got it.