yocto SDK integration with VSCode

Question

Is there a way or steps to follow to integrate a yocto SDK (standard or extensible) with VSCode? I want to cross-compile, remote connect, and debug a C/C++ application within VSCode for target hardware using a yocto generated Linux image. Is this possible? I know of the bitbake extension but couldn't find one for the SDK. Thank you!

Dilly

Answer 1

Conservatively, I would say it depends on the level of integration you want to achieve but I use regularly VS Code to edit and build, sometime to debug C applications using a Yocto toolchain, that's really easy for Makefile projects for example.

Assuming you do not ask for Yocto integration into VS Code (I don't know if something exists) but really to use the tools generated by the SDK from Yocto and that you already are familiar with Yocto toolchain usage.

I personally compile on Linux server remotely from a Windows PC. The server contains therefore my projects and the Yocto toolchain. I use for that the nice Remote SSH extension from Microsoft on VS Code. From there, I can edit easily the files, compile and a terminal is available (that's out of the scope of your question however).

So if working as me or directly in Linux, you can create a Makefile/CMake project for example. The C/C++ VS Code extension is a must have.

Each time you start working, you source the Yocto SDK toolchain and compile directly using make from the terminal window of VSCode. If you want to automatize the build step, you can use the task feature of VS which allows you to launch build script for example.

Regarding the remote connect, the terminal window of VS can also have multiple sub-windows with various connections like SSH to the target. The build script can also use scp to send the generated binary directly to the target but your question is vague regarding what you want to do.

Finally for the debug aspect, GDB is well supported in VS Code and the official doc is a good start as well as the C++ debugging doc.

On the Yocto side, you need to add gdbserver to the image running on the target, it can be done by adding the following to your conf/local.conf:

EXTRA_IMAGE_FEATURES += "tools-debug"

If you want to have debug information for the shared libs on the target, you also need to add:

EXTRA_IMAGE_FEATURES += "dbg-pkgs"

Finally, the SDK must be generated with the same options as the image running on the target and will contain the cross-gdb tool like -gdb to be used on the host side.

So that's possible but requires some setup especially the debug part. As far as I know, there is not a VS Code extension managing all these steps for you automagically.

Creigh

I need instructions for the the debug part. – Egression

Could you provide some code examples for the vscode tasks? I am having a little trouble with the SDK source env command. – Astonishment

Would be great that it uses the environment-script that the SDK deliver. Any ideas how to convert that into settings for VSC? – Brockman

There is a tutorial here for Variscite SOM but it can be generalized for others as well: variwiki.com/… – Egression