The Remote Debug configuration

1. Go to Run | Edit Configurations, click , and select Remote Debug from the list of templates.

2. 

   Specify the following settings:

   • Debugger

     Select the client debugger: bundled GDB / bundled LLDB, one of the toolchain GDB debuggers, or a custom GDB binary.

   • 'target remote' args ('process connect' url for LLDB)

     In this field, provide the connection to the remote system.

     For GDB, this is IP address followed by a port number (like in our example) or connection details in another format.

     For LLDB, use the connect://host:port notation, for example, connect://127.0.0.1:1234.

   • Symbol file

     This is the local machine path to the file with debug symbols, which can be a non-stripped copy of the executable running on target or an ELF file containing only the debug info.

     tip

     If you are debugging a shared object library, avoid specifying the .so file as a symbol file. With .so as a symbol file, the debugger resolves the source location to two places: one to the actual address in memory, and the other to a file address within the .so file, which is not a valid memory address. As a result, stepping and other debugging actions do not work correctly.

     GDB

     LLDB

     Recent versions of GDB clients can transfer symbols from gdbserver automatically, so leaving this field empty may also work well if the executable running on target is a non-stripped binary.

     CLion employs lldb-server in the g[dbserver] mode, which requires that you transfer all the files manually.

   • Path mappings

     Use this pane to provide the paths on the target machine (the Remote column) to be mapped to local paths on host (the Local column).

   • Sysroot

     Sysroot is used by GDB/LLDB client to access the copies of target libraries with debug symbols on your local system (in order to set breakpoints and find source lines in the libraries code).

     GDB

     LLDB

     Most of the recent versions of GDB can download the files automatically, so it's not required that you specify this field. However, note that automatic download may slow down the debugging process significantly.

     If you choose to manually copy the libraries into a non-default local directory and want GDB to use it, set its path in this field.

     For LLDB, it is required that you specify the sysroot when debugging a binary built without cross-compilation on a remote platform that differs from the host. For example, if you debug from macOS to remote Linux where the binary is linked to Linux system libraries.

1. To launch your application on the target, you can use the remote terminal or invoke the CLion's built-in SSH terminal (run Tools | Start SSH session and provide the credentials).

   GDB

   LLDB

   Run gdbserver with two arguments:

   • Either a device name (for a serial line connection) or a TCP hostname with the port number (:1234 in the example below).

   • The path and filename of the executable to be debugged, followed by the program input arguments, if any.

   

   For LLDB, start lldb-server with a command like lldb-server g *:1234 ./binary.

   On macOS, use debugserver as lldb-server: debugserver 0.0.0.0:1234 ./binary. By default, debugserver is located either in /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/SharedFrameworks/LLDB.framework/Versions/A/Resources/debugserver (as part of the Xcode distribution) or in /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Library/PrivateFrameworks/LLDB.framework/Versions/A/Resources/debugserver (as part of the command-line tools).

2. Gdbserver/lldb-server then suspends the program at the entry point and waits for the client debugger to connect.

1. in CLion, place breakpoint in your code, then start a debug session for the newly created Remote Debug configuration.

2. CLion’s debugger will connect to the running remote process. The terminal will show the Remote debugging from host.. message, and you can also check the debugger console for the Debugger connected to.. message.

3. Now you can inspect your code as if it was running locally (for example, step through and examine variables as usual):

   

   note

   Normally, your program should stop at breakpoints set from the IDE. In case it does not, double-check that symbol file and path mappings in the Run/Debug configuration settings are specified correctly.

To debug shared libraries, add the following commands in ~/.gdbinit or .lldbinit on the local machine. For more information about accessing and editing the script, refer to Using .gdbinit/.lldbinit configuration files.

• set solib-search-paths for GDB

  However, by default, this command is executed on the debugger startup before attaching to the remote target (see the corresponding issue). As a workaround for this, you can use GDB hooks:

  define target hookpost-remote
  set solib-search-path /path/to/my.so:/path/to/sysroot:/path/to/vendorlibs
  break main  # if you also need the debug sessions to pause at the beginning
  end

  This way, GDB will execute set solib-search-path specified in the hook every time the remote target is connected.

• settings set target.exec-search-paths /path/to/libs for LLDB