the following patch was just integrated into master: commit 50a81748fd8db14ad1da5bdb9d43788f1c4173e1 Author: Julius Werner jwerner@chromium.org Date: Thu May 15 11:57:38 2014 -0700
libpayload: Add remote GDB support
This patch adds the ability to attach a GDB host through the UART to a running payload. Libpayload implements a small stub that can parse and respond to the GDB remote protocol and provide the required primitives (reading/writing registers/memory, etc.) to allow GDB to control execution.
The goal of this implementation is to be as small and uninvasive as possible. It implements only the minimum amount of primitives required, and relies on GDB's impressive workaround capabilities (such as emulating breakpoints by temporarily replacing instructions) for the more complicated features. This way, a relatively tiny amount of code on the firmware side opens a vast range of capabilities to the user, not just in debugging but also in remote-controlling the firmware to change its behavior (e.g. through GDBs ability to modify variables and call functions).
By default, a system with the REMOTEGDB Kconfig will only trap into GDB when executing halt() (including the calls from die_if(), assert(), and exception handlers). In addition, payloads can manually call gdb_enter() if desired. It will print a final "Ready for GDB connection." on the serial, detach the normal serial output driver and wait for the commands that GDB starts sending on attach.
Based on original implementation by Gabe Black gabeblack@chromium.org.
BUG=chrome-os-partner:18390 TEST=Boot a GDB enabled image in recovery mode (or get it to hit a halt()), close your terminal, execute '<toolchain>-gdb --symbols /build/<board>/firmware/depthcharge_gdb/depthcharge.elf --directory ~/trunk/src/third_party/coreboot/payloads/libpayload --directory ~/trunk/src/platform/depthcharge --directory ~/trunk/src/platform/vboot_reference --ex "target remote <cpu_uart_pty>"' and behold the magic. (You can also SIGSTOP your terminal's parent shell and the terminal itself, and SIGCONT them in reverse order after GDB exits. More convenient wrapper tools to do all this automatically coming soon.)
Original-Change-Id: Ib440d1804126cdfdac4a8801f5015b4487e25269 Original-Signed-off-by: Julius Werner jwerner@chromium.org Original-Reviewed-on: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/202563 Original-Reviewed-by: Stefan Reinauer reinauer@chromium.org (cherry picked from commit 9c4a642c7be2faf122fef39bdfaddd64aec68b77) Signed-off-by: Marc Jones marc.jones@se-eng.com
Change-Id: I9238b4eb19d3ab2c98e4e1c5946cd7d252ca3c3b Reviewed-on: http://review.coreboot.org/8119 Tested-by: build bot (Jenkins) Reviewed-by: Stefan Reinauer stefan.reinauer@coreboot.org
See http://review.coreboot.org/8119 for details.
-gerrit