GDB-Based Debugging - 2023.2 English

Vitis Unified Software Platform Documentation: Application Acceleration Development (UG1393)

Document ID
UG1393
Release Date
2023-12-13
Version
2023.2 English
Important: Both the host and kernel code must be compiled for debugging using the -g option.

For the GNU debugging (GDB), you can debug the kernel or host code, adding breakpoints, and inspecting variables. This familiar software debug flow allows quick design, compile, and debug to validate the functionality of your application. The Vitis debugger also provides extensions to GDB to let you examine the content of the Xilinx Runtime (XRT) library from the host program. These extensions can be used to debug protocol synchronization issues between the host and the kernel.

The Vitis core development kit supports GDB host program debugging in all flows, but kernel debugging is limited to the software emulation mode. Debugging features need to be enabled in your host and kernel code by using the -g option during compilation and linking.

This section shows how host and kernel debugging can be performed with the help of GDB. Because this flow should be familiar to most software developers, this section focuses on the extensions of host code debugging capabilities for the XRT library and the requirements of kernel debug.