nRF5340 simultaneously debugging on application and network cores

[kpreiss]

Hi-

I am trying to debug the network and application cores simultaneously using the beacon sample application configured for RPC HOST on the nrf5340DK board.  My configuration is as follows:

- Windows 10

- VSCode with nrf Connect and Cortex-Debug Extensions installed

I have tried opening two instances of VSCode. In the first instance, I flash the app and network cores and debug the app core.  I stop app execution at the top of main().  Here's an image of the first app debug session....

In the second instance, I make the rpc_host build active and attempt to Debug but get some sort of trap error and the debug session aborts....

What do I have to do in order to debug both cores at the same time using the beacon-rpc_host sample?

Thanks!

Kurt

[Marte Myrvold]

Hi Kurt,

Does the SIGTRAP error stop your program for running? Is the device still advertising the Eddystone URL, or has it halted completely? Do you only see this with the Beacon sample, or do you see the same behavior with other samples as well?

Best regards,

Marte

[kpreiss]

Yes, the SIGTRAP error stops the program from running and the development board does not advertise.  I have not tried other samples.  I was trying to use the rpc_host functionality on the network core and it appears only a few samples support this feature.  The beacon sample being one of them.

[Marte Myrvold]

Hi,

I am still investigating this issue. I will come back to you tomorrow.

Best regards,

Marte

[Marte Myrvold]

Hi,

Did you specify that the nRF RPC Host sample should be the child image of the Beacon sample when creating the build configuration in VS Code? If not, the HCI RPMsg sample will become the child image of the sample. In multi-image builds, VS Code automatically programs the child images as well as the main image, so this would cause the HCI RPMsg sample to be programmed on the network core when you select that you want to debug the Beacon sample.

You can specify that the nRF RPC Host should be the child image by adding this as an Extra Cmake argument when creating the build configuration:

-DCONFIG_BT_RPC=y

Using this, I was able to debug both cores and test the application by first starting the debug session on the application core, then the debug session on the network core.

Best regards,

Marte

[kpreiss]

Yes, I did do this.  Are you launching two instances of VSCode to debug?

[Marte Myrvold]

Hi,

Yes, I opened two VS Code windows and used one for the Beacon sample on the application core, and the other for the RPC Host sample on the network core.

Best regards,

Marte

[kpreiss]

can you try disconnecting from both debug sessions, then reconnecting?  I got it to work ONCE after starting vscode, erase and flashing, then debugging.  However, once I stop the debug sessions then try to restart, it doesn't work.....

[kpreiss]

I cannot even connect to the application core again.  I get the following error message when attempting to debug the app core after erasing and flashing....

[kpreiss]

[Marte Myrvold]

Hi,

After my initial testing I see the same as you. It works once in a while, but most of the time I get error.

Debugging multi-core applications is not a feature of the VS Code extension yet, but I will add this as a feature request to the VS Code team.

In the meantime, debugging both cores can be achieved using a compound debug configuration as discussed here: https://github.com/Marus/cortex-debug/issues/404#issuecomment-888594384.

Best regards,

Marte

[kpreiss]

Ok, will it work with Segger Embedded Studio?