Performing Standalone Application Debug - 2021.2 English

Xilinx® System Command-line Tool (XSCT) can be used to debug standalone applications on one or more processor cores simultaneously. The first step involved in debugging is to connect to hw_server and select a debug target. You can now reset the system/processor core, initialize the PS if needed, program the FPGA, download an elf, set breakpoints, run the program, examine the stack trace, view local/global variables.

An example XSCT session that demonstrates standalone application debug on Zynq®-7000 SoC is as follows. Comments begin with #.

#connect to remote hw_server by specifying its url. 
#If the hardware is connected to a local machine,-url option and the <url> 
#are not needed. connect command returns the channel ID of the connection

xsct% connect -url TCP:xhdbfarmc7:3121 tcfchan#0

# List available targets and select a target through its id. 
#The targets are assigned IDs as they are discovered on the Jtag chain, 
#so the IDs can change from session to session. 
#For non-interactive usage, -filter option can be used to select a target, 
#instead of selecting the target through its ID

xsct% targets
  1  APU
     2  Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore #0 (Running)
     3  Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore #1 (Running)
  4  xc7z020
xsct% targets 2
# Reset the system before initializing the PS and configuring the FPGA

xsct% rst
# Info messages are displayed when the status of a core changes
Info: Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore #0 (target 2) Stopped at 0xfffffe1c (Suspended)
Info: Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore #1 (target 3) Stopped at 0xfffffe18 (Suspended)

# Configure the FPGA. When the active target is not a FPGA device, 
#the first FPGA device is configured

xsct% fpga ZC702_HwPlatform/design_1_wrapper.bit
100%    3MB   1.8MB/s  00:02

# Run loadhw command to make the debugger aware of the processor cores’ memory map   
xsct% loadhw ZC702_HwPlatform/system.xsa
design_1_wrapper

# Source the ps7_init.tcl script and run ps7_init and ps7_post_config commands
xsct% source ZC702_HwPlatform/ps7_init.tcl
xsct% ps7_init
xsct% ps7_post_config

# Download the application program
xsct% dow dhrystone/Debug/dhrystone.elf
Downloading Program -- dhrystone/Debug/dhrystone.elf
     section, .text: 0x00100000 - 0x001037f3
     section, .init: 0x001037f4 - 0x0010380b
     section, .fini: 0x0010380c - 0x00103823
     section, .rodata: 0x00103824 - 0x00103e67
     section, .data: 0x00103e68 - 0x001042db
     section, .eh_frame: 0x001042dc - 0x0010434f
     section, .mmu_tbl: 0x00108000 - 0x0010bfff
     section, .init_array: 0x0010c000 - 0x0010c007
     section, .fini_array: 0x0010c008 - 0x0010c00b
     section, .bss: 0x0010c00c - 0x0010e897
     section, .heap: 0x0010e898 - 0x0010ec9f
     section, .stack: 0x0010eca0 - 0x0011149f
100%    0MB   0.3MB/s  00:00   

Setting PC to Program Start Address 0x00100000

Successfully downloaded dhrystone/Debug/dhrystone.elf

# Set a breakpoint at main()
xsct% bpadd -addr &main
0

# Resume the processor core
xsct% con

# Info message is displayed when the core hits the breakpoint
xsct% Info: Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore #0 (target 2) Stopped at 0x1005a4 (Breakpoint)

# Registers can be viewed when the core is stopped
xsct% rrd
     r0: 00000000       r1: 00000000       r2: 0010e898       r3: 001042dc
     r4: 00000003       r5: 0000001e       r6: 0000ffff       r7: f8f00000
     r8: 00000000       r9: ffffffff      r10: 00000000      r11: 00000000
    r12: 0010fc90       sp: 0010fca0       lr: 001022d8       pc: 001005a4
   cpsr: 600000df      usr                fiq                irq         
    abt                und                svc                mon         
    vfp               cp15            Jazelle

# Memory contents can be displayed
xsct% mrd 0xe000d000
E000D000:   800A0000

# Local variables can be viewed
xsct% locals
Int_1_Loc       : 1113232
Int_2_Loc       : 30
Int_3_Loc       : 0
Ch_Index        : 0
Enum_Loc        : 0
Str_1_Loc       : char[31]
Str_2_Loc       : char[31]
Run_Index       : 1061232
Number_Of_Runs  : 2

# Local variable value can be modified
xsct% locals Number_Of_Runs 100
xsct% locals Number_Of_Runs
Number_Of_Runs  : 100

# Global variables and be displayed, and its value can be modified
xsct% print Int_Glob
Int_Glob  : 0
xsct% print -set Int_Glob 23
xsct% print Int_Glob
Int_Glob  : 23

# Expressions can be evaluated and its value can be displayed
xsct% print Int_Glob + 1 * 2
Int_Glob + 1 * 2  : 25

# Step over a line of source code
xsct% nxt
Info: Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore #0 (target 2) Stopped at 0x1005b0 (Step)

# View stack trace
xsct% bt
    0  0x1005b0 main()+12: ../src/dhry_1.c, line 91
    1  0x1022d8 _start()+88
    2  unknown-pc

# Set a breakpoint at exit and resume execution
xsct% bpadd -addr &exit
1
xsct% con
Info: Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore #0 (target 2) Running
xsct% Info: Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore #0 (target 2) Stopped at 0x103094 (Breakpoint)
xsct% bt
    0  0x103094 exit()
    1  0x1022e0 _start()+96
    2  unknown-pc

While a program is running on A9 #0, you can download another elf onto A9 #1 and debug it, using similar steps. It is not necessary to re-connect to the hw_server, initialize the PS or configure the FPGA in such cases. You can select A9 #1 target and download the elf and continue with further debug.