<<../../_common/components/_debugging_intro.md>>
<<../../_common/components/_debugging_analyze.md>>
In this exercise, you'll use the Fuchsia debugger (zxdb) to inspect a running
instance of the echo-args component and understand the cause of a crash.
<<../_common/_start_femu_with_packages.md>>
Once the emulator has started up, start a zxdb debugging session with the
ffx debug connect command:
ffx debug connect
Connecting (use "disconnect" to cancel)...
Connected successfully.
👉 To get started, try "status" or "help".
[zxdb]
After successfully connecting, the zxdb prompt is ready to accept commands.
Before launching the component, configure zxdb to attach to an instance of
echo-args. This enables the debugger to attach as soon as the process starts:
[zxdb] attach echo_args
Set a breakpoint on the greeting() function:
[zxdb] break greeting
With the debugger ready, start a new echo-args component instance:
ffx component run fuchsia-pkg://fuchsia.com/echo-args#meta/echo_args.cm
Upon reaching the breakpoint in greeting(), execution stops and the debugger
waits for a new command. Use the list command to show where execution is
currently paused:
-
{Rust}
[zxdb] list 18 19 // Return a proper greeting for the list 20 fn greeting(names: &Vec<String>) -> String { 21 // Join the list of names based on length ▶ 22 match names.len() { 23 0 => String::from("Nobody"), 24 1 => names.join(""), 25 2 => names.join(" and "), 26 _ => names.join(", "), 27 } 28 } 29 -
{C++}
[zxdb] list 17 18 // Return a proper greeting for the list ▶ 19 std::string greeting(std::vector<std::string>& names) { 20 // Join the list of names based on length 21 auto number_of_names = names.size(); 22 switch (number_of_names) { 23 case 0: 24 return "Nobody!"; 25 case 1: 26 return join(names, ""); 27 case 2: 28 return join(names, " and "); 29 default:
The print command will output the state of any variables in the current stack
frame. Print the current value of names:
-
{Rust}
[zxdb] print names vec!["Alice", "Bob", "Spot"]
-
{C++}
[zxdb] print names {"Alice", "Bob", "Spot"}
Step through the greeting() function a few times using the next command:
[zxdb] next
To let the program continue to completion, use the continue command:
[zxdb] continue
Exit the debugging session to return to the terminal:
[zxdb] exit
Next, you'll add some code to src/main.rs to cause the component to crash
(or panic). Simulate this behavior by adding an assert!(false) macro just
after the arguments are collected:
-
{Rust}
echo-args/src/main.rs:#[fuchsia::main(logging = true)] async fn main() -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> { // ... {{ '<strong>' }}// Simulate a crash {{ '</strong>' }} {{ '<strong>' }}assert!(false, "fake crash");{{ '</strong>' }} // Print a greeting to syslog info!("Hello, {}!", greeting(&args)); Ok(()) }
-
{C++}
echo-args/main.cc:int main(int argc, const char* argv[], char* envp[]) { // ... {{ '<strong>' }}// Simulate a crash {{ '</strong>' }} {{ '<strong>' }}std::strlen(nullptr);{{ '</strong>' }} // Print a greeting to syslog FX_LOGS(INFO) << "Hello, " << echo::greeting(arguments) << "!" << std::endl; return 0; }
Run fx build again to rebuild the component:
fx build
Start a new debug session with zxdb:
ffx debug connect
Configure the debugger to attach to the echo-args component:
[zxdb] attach echo_args
Start a new instance of the component:
ffx component run fuchsia-pkg://fuchsia.com/echo-args#meta/echo_args.cm
This time, the debugger detects that an exception was thrown. Use the frame
command to inspect the stack trace at the point of the crash:
-
{Rust}
[zxdb] frame ▶ 0 abort() • abort.c:7 1 panic_abort::__rust_start_panic::abort() • panic_abort/src/lib.rs:43 2 panic_abort::__rust_start_panic(…) • panic_abort/src/lib.rs:38 3 std::panicking::rust_panic(…) • library/std/src/panicking.rs:672 4 std::panicking::rust_panic_with_hook(…) • library/std/src/panicking.rs:642 5 std::panicking::begin_panic::$({closure#0}<&str>)() • rust/library/std/src/panicking.rs:544 6 std::sys_common::backtrace::$(__rust_end_short_backtrace<std::panicking::begin_panic::{closure#0}, !>)(…) • rust/library/std/src/sys_common/backtrace.rs:144 7 std::panicking::begin_panic<…>(…) • rust/library/std/src/panicking.rs:543 {{ '<strong>' }}8 echo_args::main::component_entry_point::$({generator#0})(…) • main.rs:18{{ '</strong>' }} 9 core::future::from_generator::$({impl#1})::$(poll<echo_args::main::component_entry_point::{generator#0}>)(…) • rust/library/core/src/future/mod.rs:80 10 core::future::future::$({impl#1})::$(poll<&mut core::future::from_generator::GenFuture<echo_args::main::component_entry_point::{generator#0}>>)(…) • future/future.rs:119 11 futures_util::future::future::FutureExt::$(poll_unpin<core::pin::Pin<&mut core::future::from_generator::GenFuture<echo_args::main::component_entry_point::{generator#0}>>>)(…) • future/future/mod.rs:562 12 fuchsia_async::runtime::fuchsia::executor::local::MainTask::$(poll<core::pin::Pin<&mut core::future::from_generator::GenFuture<echo_args::main::component_entry_point::{generator#0}>>>)(…) • fuchsia/src/lib/fuchsia-async/src/runtime/fuchsia/executor/local.rs:444 13 fuchsia_async::runtime::fuchsia::executor::local::LocalExecutor::$(run_singlethreaded<core::future::from_generator::GenFuture<echo_args::main::component_entry_point::{generator#0}>>)(…) • fuchsia/src/lib/fuchsia-async/src/runtime/fuchsia/executor/local.rs:73 14 fuchsia::$(main_singlethreaded<fuchsia::init_logging_for_component_with_executor::{closure#0}, core::future::from_generator::GenFuture<echo_args::main::component_entry_point::{generator#0}>, core::result::Result<(), anyhow::Error>>)(…) • fuchsia/src/lib/fuchsia/src/lib.rs:152 15 echo_args::main() • main.rs:7 16 core::ops::function::FnOnce::call_once<…>(…) • /b/s/w/ir/x/w/rust/library/core/src/ops/function.rs:227 17 std::sys_common::backtrace::__rust_begin_short_backtrace<…>(…) • rust/library/std/src/sys_common/backtrace.rs:125 18 std::rt::lang_start::$({closure#0}<core::result::Result<(), anyhow::Error>>)() • rust/library/std/src/rt.rs:63 19 core::ops::function::impls::$({impl#2})::call_once<…>(…) • /b/s/w/ir/x/w/rust/library/core/src/ops/function.rs:259 (inline) 20 std::panicking::try::do_call<…>(…) • library/std/src/panicking.rs:403 (inline) 21 std::panicking::try<…>(…) • library/std/src/panicking.rs:367 (inline) 22 std::panic::catch_unwind<…>(…) • library/std/src/panic.rs:129 (inline) 23 std::rt::lang_start_internal::$({closure#2})() • library/std/src/rt.rs:45 (inline) 24 std::panicking::try::$(do_call<std::rt::lang_start_internal::{closure#2}, isize>)(…) • library/std/src/panicking.rs:403 (inline) 25 std::panicking::$(try<isize, std::rt::lang_start_internal::{closure#2}>)(…) • library/std/src/panicking.rs:367 (inline) 26 std::panic::$(catch_unwind<std::rt::lang_start_internal::{closure#2}, isize>)(…) • library/std/src/panic.rs:129 (inline) 27 std::rt::lang_start_internal(…) • library/std/src/rt.rs:45 28 std::rt::lang_start<…>(…) • rust/library/std/src/rt.rs:62 29 $elf(main) + 0x1f 30 «libc startup» (-r expands) 31 «libc startup» (-r expands) 32 $elf(_start) + 0x11Notice line 8 in the stack trace indicates the point in
src/main.rswhere the crash happened, corresponding to theassert!()macro line of code. -
{C++}
[zxdb] frame ▶ 0 strlen(…) • strlen.c:21 {{ '<strong>' }}1 main(…) • main.cc:27{{ '</strong>' }} 2 «libc startup» (-r expands) 3 «libc startup» (-r expands) 4 $elf(_start) + 0x11Notice line 1 in the stack trace indicates the point in
main.ccwhere the crash happened, corresponding to thenullptrreference.
The current stack frame (frame 0) is deep within the system library, but you can inspect any stack frame by prefixing the command with the frame number from the stack trace.
Print the value of the arguments at the point of the crash by passing the frame number as follows:
-
{Rust}
[zxdb] frame 8 print args vec!["Alice", "Bob", "Spot"]
-
{C++}
[zxdb] frame 1 print arguments {"Alice", "Bob", "Spot"}
Exit the debugging session to return to the terminal:
[zxdb] exit
Clean up the echo-args instance using the following command:
ffx component destroy /core/ffx-laboratory:echo-args