Arduino IDE 2.x Debug feature support

[N0rbert]

Is your feature request/improvement related to a problem? Please describe.

Yes, it is related to debugging problem. I'm unable to debug simple Blink.ino program on Nucleo F446RE board. Arduino IDE 2.0.3 says "Debugging is not supported by 'Nucleo-64'".

Steps to reproduce:

1. Download latest Arduino IDE 2.0.3, extract and launch it.
2. In Arduino IDE go to File → Preferences and set https://github.com/stm32duino/BoardManagerFiles/raw/main/package_stmicroelectronics_index.json as additional board URL for stm32duino.
3. In Boards Manager add STM32 MCU based boards by STMicroelectronics.
4. Select Nucleo-64 board and set Tools → Board part number to Nucleo F446RE.
5. Set Tools → Debug symbols and core logs to Symbols Enabled (-g).
6. Set Tools → Optimize to Debug (-Og).
7. Try to debug the program.

Pressing Debug → Start Debugging open empty template for launch.json instead of normally preconfigured and reproducible file.

It is unclear what user should write in the fields on launch.json file

{
  // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
  // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
  {
    "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}",
    "executable": "./bin/executable.elf",
    "name": "Debug with OpenOCD",
    "request": "launch",
    "type": "cortex-debug",
    "servertype": "openocd",
    "configFiles": [],
    "searchDir": [],
    "runToEntryPoint": "main",
    "showDevDebugOutput": "none"
  }
  ]
}

to get OpenOCD working with STM32.

Describe the solution you'd like

Arduino IDE 2.x detects preconfigured launch.json for well known and mature stm32duino framework.
Debugging is possible using OpenOCD software and embedded ST-Link hardware.

Describe alternatives you've considered

The debugging of STM32F446RE on Nucleo-64 F446RE is actually possible using VSCode with vscode-arduino, cortex-debug and marus25.cortex-debug-dp-stm32f4 extensions by openocd from Debian repository and STM32F446x.svd file from marus25.cortex-debug-dp-stm32f4 extension.

Additional context

The current behavior was observed using latest Arduino IDE
(Version: 2.0.3 ; Date: 2022-12-05T09:27:52.215Z ; CLI Version: 0.29.0 [76251df9] ) and stm32duino 2.3.0.

This issue was originally filed at arduino/arduino-ide#1760 .

[N0rbert]

I have just found this interesting thread - https://www.stm32duino.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&p=10740 by @luca_stm32 .

I adapted this method to my Nucleo F446RE as follows on the same Debian 11 system:

sudo apt-get install openocd
sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

In Arduino IDE 2.0.3 at first I have installed Arduino SAMD Boards (32-bits ARM Cortex-M0+) from Board Manager.
Then I hacked needed files:

cp -v /usr/share/openocd/scripts/board/st_nucleo_f4.cfg ~/.arduino15/packages/STMicroelectronics/hardware/stm32/2.3.0/variants/STM32F0xx/F030R8T/\{build.openocdscript\}
# ^^ note: I do not know why openocd needs above MCU and path! But this works!

cat <<EOF > /tmp/platform.txt.patch
--- /home/d/.arduino15/packages/STMicroelectronics/hardware/stm32/2.3.0/platform.txt
+++ /home/d/.arduino15-hack/packages/STMicroelectronics/hardware/stm32/2.3.0/platform.txt
@@ -215,3 +215,42 @@
 tools.remoteproc_gen.upload.params.verbose=
 tools.remoteproc_gen.upload.params.quiet=
 tools.remoteproc_gen.upload.pattern="{busybox}" sh "{path}/{script}" generate "{build.path}/{build.project_name}.elf" "{build.path}/run_arduino_{build.project_name}.sh"
+
+# Debugger configuration (general options)
+# ----------------------------------------
+# EXPERIMENTAL feature:
+# - this is alpha and may be subject to change without notice
+debug.executable={build.path}/{build.project_name}.elf
+debug.toolchain=gcc
+debug.toolchain.path={runtime.tools.xpack-arm-none-eabi-gcc-10.3.1-2.3.path}/bin/
+debug.toolchain.prefix=arm-none-eabi-
+debug.server=openocd
+debug.server.openocd.path={runtime.tools.openocd-0.10.0-arduino7.path}/bin/openocd
+debug.server.openocd.scripts_dir={runtime.tools.openocd-0.10.0-arduino7.path}/share/openocd/scripts/
+debug.server.openocd.script={runtime.platform.path}/variants/{build.variant}/{build.openocdscript}
+
+#
+# OpenOCD sketch upload - version with configurable bootloader size
+# FIXME: this programmer is a workaround for default options being overwritten by uploadUsingPreferences
+#
+
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.path={runtime.tools.openocd-0.10.0-arduino7.path}
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.cmd=bin/openocd
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.cmd.windows=bin/openocd.exe
+
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.upload.params.verbose=-d2
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.upload.params.quiet=-d0
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.upload.pattern="{path}/{cmd}" {upload.verbose} -s "{path}/share/openocd/scripts/" -f "{runtime.platform.path}/variants/{build.variant}/{build.openocdscript}" -c "telnet_port disabled; program {{build.path}/{build.project_name}.bin} verify reset {bootloader.size}; shutdown"
+
+# Program flashes the binary at 0x0000, so use the linker script without_bootloader
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.program.params.verbose=-d2
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.program.params.quiet=-d0
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.program.pattern="{path}/{cmd}" {program.verbose} -s "{path}/share/openocd/scripts/" -f "{runtime.platform.path}/variants/{build.variant}/{build.openocdscript}" -c "telnet_port disabled; program {{build.path}/{build.project_name}.elf} verify reset; shutdown"
+
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.erase.params.verbose=-d3
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.erase.params.quiet=-d0
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.erase.pattern=
+
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.bootloader.params.verbose=-d2
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.bootloader.params.quiet=-d0
+tools.openocd-withbootsize.bootloader.pattern="{path}/{cmd}" {bootloader.verbose} -s "{path}/share/openocd/scripts/" -f "{runtime.platform.path}/variants/{build.variant}/{build.openocdscript}" -c "telnet_port disabled; init; halt; at91samd bootloader 0; program {{runtime.platform.path}/bootloaders/{bootloader.file}} verify reset; shutdown"

EOF

patch -p1 ~/.arduino15/packages/STMicroelectronics/hardware/stm32/2.3.0/platform.txt < /tmp/platform.txt.patch

And as the result I can debug the program:

[fpistm]

Hi @N0rbert
We are aware of this and commented on the post you referred:
https://www.stm32duino.com/viewtopic.php?p=10740&sid=4664002bf596b3872fb0170d9f3d69a5#p10740
This will probably come.

[fpistm]

Unfortunately, we do not succeed to reproduce the setup. My guess is the update of arduino-cli prevent to have it working.
Could you confirm it always work on your side with Arduino 2.0.3, please ?

[fpistm]

We met some issues/restrictions linked to Arduino IDE 2 which does not help to easily release that:

• {build.openocdscript} recipe is not expanded properly  arduino/arduino-ide#1905
• debug.server.openocd.script should support multiple files arduino/arduino-ide#1906
• Support for Cortex-Debug svdfile available within a core arduino/arduino-ide#1920
• {build.variant} recipe is not expanded properly for debug arduino/arduino-ide#1960

Not an issue for this one but linked to debug:

• When core is not installed in the default location, debug cannot launched properly arduino/arduino-ide#1911