GNU ARM Eclipse

A family of Eclipse CDT extensions and tools for GNU ARM development

How to build the plug-ins?

Build

  • select the ilg.gnuarmeclipse.parent project
  • right click, select Run AsMaven install
  • wait a while for Maven to load all required modules

The result of a successful build looks like this:

[INFO] --- tycho-p2-plugin:0.25.0:update-local-index (default-update-local-index) @ ilg.gnuarmeclipse.repository ---
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Reactor Summary:
[INFO] 
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse parent ............................. SUCCESS [  0.153 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse core ............................... SUCCESS [  2.347 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse debug core ......................... SUCCESS [  0.276 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse packages core ...................... SUCCESS [  0.405 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse managed build code ................. SUCCESS [  0.655 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse managed build feature .............. SUCCESS [  0.137 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse templates core ..................... SUCCESS [  0.422 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse Cortex-M template .................. SUCCESS [  0.252 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse Cortex-M template feature .......... SUCCESS [  0.097 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse STM32Fx templates .................. SUCCESS [  1.709 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse STM32Fx templates feature .......... SUCCESS [  0.082 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse Freescale Kinetis templates ........ SUCCESS [  0.292 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse Freescale PEx template ............. SUCCESS [  0.268 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse Freescale templates feature ........ SUCCESS [  0.100 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse ADuCM template ..................... SUCCESS [  0.396 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse ADuCM template feature ............. SUCCESS [  0.080 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse GDB debug .......................... SUCCESS [  1.170 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse J-Link debug ....................... SUCCESS [  0.648 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse debugger Restart button ............ SUCCESS [  0.233 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse J-Link debug feature ............... SUCCESS [  0.117 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse OpenOCD debug ...................... SUCCESS [  0.478 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse OpenOCD debug feature .............. SUCCESS [  0.118 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse PyOCD debug ........................ SUCCESS [  0.820 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse PyOCD debug feature ................ SUCCESS [  0.088 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse QEMU debug ......................... SUCCESS [  0.432 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse QEMU debug feature ................. SUCCESS [  0.089 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse packages data ...................... SUCCESS [  0.339 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse debug packs ........................ SUCCESS [  0.268 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse packages ........................... SUCCESS [  0.208 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse packages UI ........................ SUCCESS [  0.431 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse managed build packs ................ SUCCESS [  0.329 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse packages feature ................... SUCCESS [  0.129 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse CodeRed perspective ................ SUCCESS [  0.258 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse CodeRed perspective feature ........ SUCCESS [  0.151 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse documentation ...................... SUCCESS [  0.052 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse documentation feature .............. SUCCESS [  0.043 s]
[INFO] GNU ARM Eclipse repository ......................... SUCCESS [  5.770 s]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 43.399 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2017-02-18T15:18:25+02:00
[INFO] Final Memory: 146M/1424M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

The build result is in the ilg.gnuarmeclipse.repository project

  • the target/ilg.gnuarmeclipse.repository-3.3.1-SNAPSHOT.zip file
  • the target/repository folder, with the p2 update site

Debug

Create a file Eclipse Workspaces/debug.options with the following content:

ilg.gnuarmeclipse.core/debug=true

ilg.gnuarmeclipse.managedbuild.cross/debug=true
#ilg.gnuarmeclipse.managedbuild.packs/debug=true

ilg.gnuarmeclipse.debug.core/debug=true
ilg.gnuarmeclipse.debug.gdbjtag/debug=true

ilg.gnuarmeclipse.debug.gdbjtag.jlink/debug=true
ilg.gnuarmeclipse.debug.gdbjtag.openocd/debug=true
ilg.gnuarmeclipse.debug.gdbjtag.qemu/debug=true

#ilg.gnuarmeclipse.packs/debug=true
#ilg.gnuarmeclipse.packs.core/debug=true
#ilg.gnuarmeclipse.packs.data/debug=true
#ilg.gnuarmeclipse.packs.ui/debug=true

ilg.gnuarmeclipse.codered/debug=true

To run a debug session using the GNU ARM Eclipse plug-ins:

  • RunDebug Configurations
  • select Eclipse Application
  • click New
    • Name: Eclipse GNU ARM Plug-ins
    • Location: ${workspace_loc}/../runtime-Eclipse46
  • Tab: Plug-ins
    • Launch with: plug-ins selected below; the Workspace list should include all ilg.gnuarmeclipse.* plug-ins; the Target Platform list should include all Eclipse, not only CDT, plug-ins; if the Eclipse plug-ins are not in the list, then the Preferences → Plug-in Development -> Target Platform is not Running Platform, and must be changed. The alternative to use all workspace and enabled plug-ins might work in some configurations, and can also be used, but if dependencies are not met, manual selection is required.
    • click the Validate Plug-ins button; most probably the org.apache.xmlrpc plug-in will complain about javax.xml.bind; either install it, or disable the plug-in; validate again and disable a few more plug-ins (org.eclipse.mylyn.bugzilla.core, org.eclipse.mylyn.bugzilla.ui and org.eclipse.mylyn.commons.xmlrpc).
  • Tab: Arguments
    • Program arguments:
      • -consoleLog
      • -debug .../GNU\ ARM\ Eclipse/Eclipse\ Workspaces/debug.options
    • VM arguments:
      • -ea (to enable assertions)
      • -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts (only on macOS)
      • -Xdock:icon=../Resources/Eclipse.icns
    • enable Use the -XstartOnFirstThread argument when launching with SWT
  • click the Apply button
  • click the Debug button

Be sure the target platform is the Running Platform, otherwise starting the debug session fails.

Debug options

as seen before, the debug options are grouped in a file and passed to Eclipse using the -debug <name> option.

Plug-ins cache

When starting debug sessions from within Eclipse, a copy of the run-time is kept under

${workspace_loc}/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.pde.core/Eclipse GNU ARM Plug-ins

For unknown reasons, some changes in the source code (like changing properties files) do not trigger a rebuild, and it is normally not possible to test these changes.

The workaround I found was to remove this folder, and Eclipse will recreate it before the next run.

Debug with CDT sources

A more elaborated configuration is required when willing to run debug sessions using CDT source files from the Git repository, for example to debug issues inside CDT.

Clone the CDT repository:

git clone git://git.eclipse.org/gitroot/cdt/org.eclipse.cdt.git org.eclipse.cdt.git

Create a new working set named CDT

  • in the Package Explorer view, click the down pointing triangle,
  • select Configure Working Sets…
    • click the New… button
    • fill in the Working set name: with CDT
    • click the Finish button

Import all CDT projects

  • in the Eclipse menu → FileImport…Existing Maven Projects
  • click the Next > button
  • browse for the org.eclipse.cdt.git folder
  • keep all projects selected
  • enable Add projects(s) to working set and enter CDT
  • click the Finish button
  • accept the Discover m2e connectors dependency to tycho-eclipserun-plugin and click the Finish button

Create a new debug configuration

  • in the Eclipse menu → RunDebug Configurations…
  • duplicate ‘Eclipse GNU ARM Plug-ins’ into ‘Eclipse GNU ARM Plug-ins CDT’
  • using the Validate Plug-ins button, disable unwanted plug-ins until the validation passes
  • click the Apply button
  • click the Debug buton to start a debug session