[SOLVED] Inability to show variable definition/declaration.

sckare · Dec 14th 2023, 5:22am

Hello

Just bumped into strange behaviour of Ozone debugger (I am a new user). I created a project on the base of Keil (v5.30) 'axf' file and tried to navigate thru source project variables and definitions but was unable to do it. Right click and 'Show definition' or 'Show declaration' failed to show anything. The only I could get is 'Show.Declaration ("VarName"): No source code declaration information.' and 'Show.Definition ("VarName"): No source code definition information.'. Some variables have an option 'Show value in Source' but it fails too. The same goes for symbol definitions (#define Something).
In the same time when I hover mouse pointer on specific variable the tooltip appears and shows correct information (see attached picture) but not all #definitions show such tooltip and what is more strange, ver 3.10j shows tooltips while ver 3.30d doesn't for the same definition.
All source files are loaded ('Source File' widget) so entire information is available. Debug and browse information is enabled for this Keil project ('axf' file contains all the symbols). I am a bit confused of this. Maybe I missed something? Google and forum reading couldn't help me.

Regards,
sckare

SEGGER - AlexD · Dec 20th 2023, 3:58pm

Hi sckare,
it appears to be the case that for some symbols Ozone is not capable of identifying the location in the source code. But it appears to be able to find the place where that symbol resides in the target (i.e. the memory address or register), because Ozone is capable of displaying the correct value of that symbol.
So...
If you right-click onto a function invocation in the source window and select "Show Definition" the expected behavior is that Ozone opens the source file where that callee-function is implemented and moves the cursor the 1st line of that function. Ozone can do so only in case that file name is known and exists.
If you experience that this does not work, please open the functions window, navigate to the line containing the information for that callee-function and check the column "Source". Is there a proper file name displayed? If so, please check what happens in case you double-click onto that line. The expected behavior is that the source file is opened and the cursor is moved to the 1st line of that function. Does that happen?
It might be that you built your binary on a remote build server and the file paths in the AXF/ELF file are those from the build server. If debugging takes place on a different machine (e.g. your local desktop PC) the paths for the same source file is likely to be different. Ozone does know only the locations at build time but not those you use at execution time. In that case Section 5.14. of the Ozone user's manual would be worth reading.
Does that help you in resolving your issue(s)?
Best regards.
-- AlexD

sckare · Dec 21st 2023, 1:26pm

Hi Alex. Thank you for your reply.

SEGGER - AlexD wrote:

If you right-click onto a function invocation in the source window and select "Show Definition" the expected behavior is that Ozone opens the source file where that callee-function is implemented and moves the cursor the 1st line of that function. Ozone can do so only in case that file name is known and exists.

"Show Definition" works only if corresponding function definition exists in the same file it is invoked from. Meanwhile "Show Declaration" works regardless where function definition is. Except of those which are macro substitution but it is not a big deal.

SEGGER - AlexD wrote:

please open the functions window, navigate to the line containing the information for that callee-function and check the column "Source". Is there a proper file name displayed? If so, please check what happens in case you double-click onto that line. The expected behavior is that the source file is opened and the cursor is moved to the 1st line of that function. Does that happen?

This feature works right, exactly like you said.

SEGGER - AlexD wrote:

It might be that you built your binary on a remote build server and the file paths in the AXF/ELF file are those from the build server. If debugging takes place on a different machine (e.g. your local desktop PC) the paths for the same source file is likely to be different. Ozone does know only the locations at build time but not those you use at execution time.

No, the project was built locally. I looked into axf file and all the paths seem correct,
Regarding Section 5.14 I found some odd lines in the Ozone project:

Source Code

Project.AddPathSubstitute ("C:/Work/Path", "$(ProjectDir)");
Project.AddPathSubstitute ("c:/work/path", "$(ProjectDir)");

I.e. these lines are almost the same, the only difference that the second one has low case. Is it all right?
There's no other file aliases nor search paths in the Ozone project file. Only File.Open for the axf file.
Anyway, functions resolution works good so it is not sources/paths issue.

SEGGER - AlexD · Jan 3rd 2024, 8:42am

Hi sckare and happy new year!

now I'm a bit confused. In your initial post you stated that "show definition" and "show declaration" do not work at all. In your last post you state that this works for functions that reside in the same source file. So in your AXF there are symbols where everything works well and other symbols where the "show definition" and "show declaration" do not work?

Did you check the functions window working well for symbols where "show definition" and "show declaration" do not work? If so: Can you provide a reproducer project where we can reproduce the issue locally in our labs?

Best regards
-- AlexD

sckare · Jan 4th 2024, 9:50am

Hi Alex. Happy New Year!

Actually, I said that only variables and (macro) definitions couldn't be shown. I didn't mention functions because these are mostly ok (so there's no point to check the functions window). At the same time the global variables window is not working properly - double click doesn't show variable's definition/declaration in source code (Show.Source ("Var"): No source info).
I have prepared a project with same issue (please find in attachment). Not global nor local variables work (No source code definition information etc) as well as macro definitions. The only information I can retrieve of these is tooltip when hovering on it.

Regards,
sckare

SEGGER - AlexD · Jan 10th 2024, 8:17am

Hi Sckare,

thanks for providing the additional information. On which eval board did you perform your tests?

Best regards
-- AlexD

sckare · Jan 10th 2024, 1:10pm

Hi Alex,

That project is based on STM32L496ZG microcontroller. Could be used on Nucleo-L496Z etc. But I think it makes no difference because all what you need is just open the project (no physical board is needed).

Regards
sckare

SEGGER - AlexD · Jan 11th 2024, 3:45pm

Hi Sckare,
thank you. Please provide infos on which steps exactly I need to perform to reproduce the issue. I assume I shall open the Ozone project, bring the "Global Data" window to the front and then double-click on any of the variables listed there. Correct?
Best regards
-- AlexD

sckare · Jan 14th 2024, 4:18am

Hi Alex,

Right. Also you can right click on a variable (or macro definition or enum) in the source code editor and select 'Show Declaration' (or Definition).

Best regards
sckare

SEGGER - AlexD · Jan 15th 2024, 1:45pm

Hi Sckare,
thanks! Will any variable do or do I need to use some special variable for that?
Regards
-- AlexD

sckare · Jan 16th 2024, 10:11am

Hi Alex,

Absolutely any variable (or macro definition or enum). I could not find an exception no matter how hard I tried.

Regards
sckare

SEGGER - AlexD · Jan 31st 2024, 10:19am

Hi Sckare,

Finally I found the time to look into this topic.

Ozone relies on the debug information provided by the build tool chain in the ELF file. This debug information tells Ozone where exactly a symbol is declared. Here's that information for a symbol from a project where everything is fine:

Source Code

< 1><0x0000002a> DW_TAG_variable
DW_AT_name Counters
DW_AT_type <0x0000003b>
DW_AT_external yes(1)
DW_AT_decl_file 0x00000001 C:\Reproducer\ManyCurves/Source/main.c
DW_AT_decl_line 0x00000012
DW_AT_location len 0x0005: 0x0320050020:
DW_OP_addr 0x20000520

And here's the corresponding debug information from the ELF file you provided:

Source Code

< 1><0x00000095> DW_TAG_variable
DW_AT_name SomeArg
DW_AT_type <0x00000091>
DW_AT_const_value 100

As you can see, the information specifying where to find a symbol is missing (i.e. the attributes `DW_AT_decl_file` for the file name and `DW_AT_decl_line` for the line number in that file).

Please adapt your toolchain such that the required debug information is created, and Ozone will be able to navigate your code as expected.

Does that answer your question?

Best regards
-- AlexD

sckare · Feb 5th 2024, 12:31pm

Hi Alex.

Thank you for info. That sheds some light on the issue. But there are some questions remain. I used fromelf utility of Keil bundle and tried to analyze guts of the ELF (axf) file. Indeed, there are no "decl_file", "decl_line" ("decl_column" too) attributes for "DW_TAG_variable" data. So that is clear to me why Ozone doesn't show a variable position. But what I found else:

Source Code

01f7e1: 19 = 0x4 (DW_TAG_enumeration_type)
01f7e2: DW_AT_sibling 0xc6 (0x1f7fe)
01f7e4: DW_AT_byte_size 0x1
01f7e5: 20 = 0x28 (DW_TAG_enumerator)
01f7e6: DW_AT_name AE_0
01f7eb: DW_AT_const_value indirect DW_FORM_data1 0x0
01f7ed: 20 = 0x28 (DW_TAG_enumerator)
01f7ee: DW_AT_name AE_1
01f7f3: DW_AT_const_value indirect DW_FORM_data1 0x64
01f7f5: 20 = 0x28 (DW_TAG_enumerator)
01f7f6: DW_AT_name AE_2
01f7fb: DW_AT_const_value indirect DW_FORM_data1 0xc8
01f7fd: 0 null
01f7fe: 80 = 0x16 (DW_TAG_typedef)
01f7ff: DW_AT_name AnotherEnumT
01f80c: DW_AT_type indirect DW_FORM_ref2 0xa9 (0x1f7e1)
01f80f: DW_AT_decl_file 0x1
01f810: DW_AT_decl_line 0x23
01f811: DW_AT_decl_column 0x3

Display All

Enum AnotherEnumT has data to show its placement but still Ozone refuses to do that. Any suggestion?

Also I tried to find appropriate compiler option to overcome the issue but had no success. Initially, the project has settings like this:

I.e. debug information is already added (this corresponds to compiler option -g) but no file/line data is there as we could see earlier. Armcc User Guide gives no clue (the only option of interest: "--debug" does nothing useful to me).

So could you please give some advice what is possible to do? (as Keil v.5 toolchain is considered as supported, according to this).

P.S. "Browse information" makes it possible navigation in Keil IDE itself (also creates additional crf files) but doesn't affect ELF (axf) file.

Best regards
sckare

SEGGER - AlexD · Feb 7th 2024, 10:33am

Hi sckare,

please find attached a sample project for our Embedded Studio IDE. With this project you can see that Ozone is capable of navigating to the place where an enum is declared.

Kindly understand that SEGGER cannot provide support for 3rd party tools. In case of questions concerning your tool-chain please contact the respective vendor.

Does that answer your questions?

Best regards
-- AlexD

sckare · Feb 11th 2024, 6:26am

Hi Alex.

Thank you for response and the sample project. Enum declaration is really navigable (actually, only variable itself but not enum values like enumValX. As well as Struture_t fields.)

And I understand that it is very difficult to provide support for lots of toolchains. But in that case it would be fair to mention that there is only partial support of Keil/Armcc toolchain (as it has issues due to incomplete DWARF file generation). Because now one might get the impression that it was tested and all features are supported as it is mentioned here.

So, if there is no solution, please close the thread.

Best regards
sckare

SEGGER - AlexD · Feb 13th 2024, 9:35am

Hi sckare,
as stated beforehand: We do not support the 3rd party tool chain. However, so far we did not receive any inquiries by our customers that this quite commonly used feature does not work with Keil/Armcc. So we can assume that this tool chain in general is capable of generating ELF files that contain the required information. The root cause is likely to be found inside your build environment.
Therefore I strongly recommend to get in touch with your tool chain vendor (or a build manager inside your organization) to get that resolved.
Best regards
-- AlexD

[SOLVED] Inability to show variable definition/declaration.

[SOLVED] Inability to show variable definition/declaration.

SEGGER - AlexD wrote:

SEGGER - AlexD wrote:

SEGGER - AlexD wrote:

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