VSCode Remote Assembly Debugging on UCDavis CSIF Computers

Debug your assembly code remotely and graphically on CSIF with VS Code graphic debug interface on your local machine!

• NO local Linux environment (such as WSL or VM) or PuTTY is needed!
• NO makefile is needed for building executables any more!
• NO need to use command-line gdb any more!

What you need:

• VS Code
• VS Code Extension Remote - SSH

5-min Quick Setup

• Open VS Code

• Click the little green button in the bottom-left corner of the window to open Remote - SSH extension

• Click Remote-SSH: Connect to Host...

• Select csif if you configured Passwordless Login to CSIF

  • If not, in the textbox prompted, enter username@pcXX.cs.ucdavis.edu (you need to replace username and XX), press enter, and then enter your password for CSIF

• Wait for VS Code to install VS Code Server on CSIF automatically

  • VS Code Server will be installed in /home/username/.vscode-server so other users don't have access to it
  • Retry if you get any error

• Install VS Code Extension C/C++ by Microsoft

  • This will install the extension on VS Code Server on CSIF instead of your local machine
  • There is no assembly debugger available, but the config of the C/C++ extension will be modified to make it work with assembly

• Open an integrated terminal inside VS Code (Terminal Menu -> New Terminal)

  • You should notice that this terminal is already connected to the CSIF

• Run the following command inside the integrated terminal

  git clone --depth=1 --branch=master https://github.com/HazyFish/ucdavis-csif-vscode-asm-dbg.git assembly

  • This command transfers the folder with configiration files and a sample assembly code file (written by me) to CSIF

• Run command rm -rf ./assembly/.git to remove unnecessary files generated by git

• Run command code ./assembly to open the folder in VS Code

• You are all almost there! Let's try it out!

Try it out

• Click hello.s on the left to open the sample assembly code file

• Go to Terminal Menu -> Run Build Task... to build the executable from the currently opened file

  • You should be able to see the output of assembler and linker in the integrated terminal
  • The executable hello.out is built

• Go to Run Menu -> Start Debugging to start debugging the file you opened

  • You will see a segmentation fault because you haven't set a breakpoint yet
  • You can add breakpoints in the Breakpoints panel on the left of the window, such as _start and done
  • You can add expressions in the Watch panel on the left of the window to watch the values, such as $eax and (int)a

• Go to Terminal Menu -> Run Task... -> clean all to remove all the object files and executables inside the folder

• You are all set! You can put any assembly code files in this folder (or subfolder) to debug in this way!

  • Make sure to open the assembly file you want to build/debug before running the tasks or debugging!

• To disconnect VS Code from CSIF, click the little green button on the bottom left and select Close Remote Connection

Give some Feedback

• Give a star to this if you enjoy it!
• Open up an issue or pull request to report typos, problems, or anything that can help make this better
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