Visual Studio Code development with gcc and openocd

Question

Hello, 
 I'm migrating all my projects from Eclipse to VSCode. On Eclipse I used to debug using JLink tools, however I would like to have a more generic tool (not all the devkits I use are equipped with a jlink debugger). I found openocd together with arm-none-eabi-gdb to be a good choice since it supports a number of MCUs and devkits that I use often. 
 Now, I already made it work for a third party manufacturer's MCU (therefore the installed tools look ok) and I'm trying to do the same for the Nordic's ones but I'm facing problems. 
 First of all, if I launch openocd from a terminal with the proper parameters (the same used by VScode) everything looks ok. Here the console: 
 giova@ubuntu-giova:~$ openocd -f board/nordic_nrf52_dk.cfg -c init -c "reset init" Open On-Chip Debugger 0.10.0 Licensed under GNU GPL v2 For bug reports, read openocd.org/.../bugs.html adapter speed: 10000 kHz cortex_m reset_config sysresetreq Info : No device selected, using first device. Info : J-Link OB-SAM3U128-V2-NordicSemi compiled Jul 24 2017 17:30:12 Info : Hardware version: 1.00 Info : VTarget = 3.300 V Info : Reduced speed from 10000 kHz to 1000 kHz (maximum). Info : Reduced speed from 10000 kHz to 1000 kHz (maximum). Info : clock speed 10000 kHz Info : SWD DPIDR 0x2ba01477 Info : nrf52.cpu: hardware has 6 breakpoints, 4 watchpoints target halted due to debug-request, current mode: Thread xPSR: 0x01000000 pc: 0x000008e8 msp: 0x20000400 
 and if I run arm-none-eabi-gdb and then target remote localhost:3333 it connects to openocd without apparent errors. 
 
 However, when I launch the debug configuration from VScode, openocd starts properly (I see the same output of above) but then something goes wrong since gdb doesn't connect and the console tells is: 
 <-logout Send Event AD7MessageEvent 
 
 Any idea on how to fix it? Unfortunately the console output is not really meaningful and I cannot say what component is complaining. 
 Davide 
 
 PS: my launch.json file is as follow: 
 {
 "version": "0.2.0",
 "configurations": [ 
 {
 "name": "Debug Nordic",
 "type": "cppdbg",
 "request": "launch",
 "program": "${workspaceRoot}/pca10040/s132/armgcc/_build/nrf52832_xxaa.out",
 "args": [],
 "stopAtEntry": true,
 "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}/pca10040/s132/armgcc/",
 "environment": [],
 "externalConsole": false,
 "debugServerArgs":"-f board/nordic_nrf52_dk.cfg -c init -c \"reset init\"",
 "serverLaunchTimeout": 20000,
 "filterStderr": false,
 "filterStdout": false,
 "serverStarted": "target halted due to debug-request, current mode: Thread",
 "preLaunchTask": "build",
 "setupCommands": [
 { "text": "-target-select remote localhost:3333", "description": "connect to target", "ignoreFailures": false },
 { "text": "-file-exec-and-symbols ${workspaceRoot}/pca10040/s132/armgcc/_build/nrf52832_xxaa.out", "description": "load file", "ignoreFailures": false},
 { "text": "-interpreter-exec console \"monitor endian little\"", "ignoreFailures": false },
 { "text": "-interpreter-exec console \"monitor reset\"", "ignoreFailures": false },
 { "text": "-interpreter-exec console \"monitor halt\"", "ignoreFailures": false },
 { "text": "-interpreter-exec console \"monitor arm semihosting enable\"", "ignoreFailures": false },
 { "text": "-target-download", "description": "flash target", "ignoreFailures": false }
 ],
 "logging": {
 "moduleLoad": true,
 "trace": true,
 "engineLogging": true,
 "programOutput": true,
 "exceptions": true
 },
 "linux": {
 "MIMode": "gdb",
 "MIDebuggerPath": "/usr/bin/arm-none-eabi-gdb",
 "debugServerPath": "/usr/local/bin/openocd"
 //"debugServerPath":"/opt/SEGGER/JLink/JLinkGDBServer"
 },
 "osx": {
 "MIMode": "gdb",
 "MIDebuggerPath": "/usr/local/bin/arm-none-eabi-gdb",
 "debugServerPath": "/usr/local/Cellar/open-ocd/0.10.0/bin/openocd"
 },
 "windows": {
 "preLaunchTask": "mbed",
 "MIMode": "gdb",
 "MIDebuggerPath": "C:\Program Files (x86)\GNU Tools ARM Embedded\4.9 2015q3\bin\arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe",
 "debugServerPath": "openocd.exe",
 "setupCommands": [
 { "text": "-environment-cd ${workspaceRoot}\DISCO_F413ZH\GCC_ARM\BUILD" }, //what's this?
 { "text": "-target-select remote localhost:3333", "description": "connect to target", "ignoreFailures": false },
 { "text": "-file-exec-and-symbols ${workspaceRootFolderName}.elf", "description": "load file", "ignoreFailures": false},
 { "text": "-interpreter-exec console \"monitor endian little\"", "ignoreFailures": false },
 { "text": "-interpreter-exec console \"monitor reset\"", "ignoreFailures": false },
 { "text": "-interpreter-exec console \"monitor halt\"", "ignoreFailures": false },
 { "text": "-interpreter-exec console \"monitor arm semihosting enable\"", "ignoreFailures": false },
 { "text": "-target-download", "description": "flash target", "ignoreFailures": false }
 ]
 }
 },
 
 ]
 }

Davide · Accepted Answer

So, now it works. 
 I don't know where the problem was because that launch.json was derived from a working one (it was working with third party ARM device). However, I fixed it by using the Cortex-Debug extension of vscode. 
 That extension was actually already installed, however it was not properly used. In fact, in order to use it, the configuration inside the launch.json is required to be "type":"cortex-debug". 
 Now the working launch.json is like this: 
 {
 "version": "0.2.0",
 "configurations": [
 {
 "name": "Debug Nordic",
 "type": "cortex-debug",
 "request": "launch",
 "servertype": "openocd",
 "executable": "${workspaceRoot}/pca10040/s132/armgcc/_build/nrf52832_xxaa.out",
 "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}",
 "preLaunchTask": "build",
 "runToMain": true, //does not look to work for now
 "debuggerArgs": [
 "--directory=/home/giova/workspaces/GIT/time_of_flight_ble/nRF5_SDK_14.0.0_3bcc1f7" //not sure it is required
 ],
 "searchDir": ["/usr/local/share/openocd/scripts"],
 "device":"nRF52832_xxAA", //required if "servertype":"jlink",
 // "svdFile": //used for peripheral view
 // "swoConfig":{ //see https://marcelball.ca/projects/cortex-debug/cortex-debug-swo-decoding-and-graphing/
 // "enabled": false,
 // "swoFrequency": 0,
 // "cpuFrequency": 0,
 // "ports":{ //to populate see https://marcelball.ca/projects/cortex-debug/cortex-debug-swo-decoding-and-graphing/
 // }
 // },

 "graphConfig": [],
 "showDevDebugOutput": true,
 "configFiles": [
 "board/nordic_nrf52_dk.cfg"
 ],
 "linux": {},
 },
 ]
 } 
 
 This file also requires task.json which defines how to build the project: 
 {
 // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
 // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
 "version": "2.0.0",
 "tasks": [
 {
 "label": "build",
 "type": "shell",

 "args": [],
 "linux": {
 "command": "${workspaceRoot}/pca10040/s132/armgcc/build_script.sh" //substitute with "make" for regular builds
 },
 },

 ]
} 
 
 These configuration is just the first one working. Probably there are better ways to configure it (for instance by using only relative paths), nevertheless they can be used as reference.

Visual Studio Code development with gcc and openocd

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