Wave viewer eclipse project

This is an example eclipse project adding live wave viewer into an eclipse workspace.

Requirements

An Eclipse CDT (C/C++ development). If is not packaged in your distrbution, you can download it from the eclipse website. Choose Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers. It works with 2019.6 or 2019.9 version.
The XEmbedPlugin into your eclipse installation. It is available in this repository. You can follow the step in the README to install it. This plug-in is optional, see Using this project without the embedded viewer below to use the project without it.
Gtkwave program with tcl support and an additional tcl socket support. It is available in this repository. Follow the step in the README to build and install it. This gtkwave install directory must be in your PATH. It also possible to use this project without special gtkwave, see Using this project without custom gtkwave below for more information.
gdb-multiarch debugger. It can work with any packaged gdb with aarch64 architecture support: see Using this project with another gdb.

Setup

1. Import `wave_viewer` project.

Open an eclipse workspace. You need to add this project into it. First copy the project files into your disk. Then in Eclipse, in the menu File -> Import... window. Select General -> Existing project into workspace and hit Next button. You have to select the directory where this project is. Ensure wave_viewer project is selected in the list then hit Finish button.

2. Import `linux-aarch64` project

This project is configured to go along with a project named linux-aarch64 which should contain a compiled linux kernel source tree with the generated vmlinux elf file.

3. Initialize the trace file

You also need to create a named pipe file that will be used for exchanging data between the simulation and the viewer.

In the directory containing the wave_viewer project (where you cloned or copied it), do:

mkfifo trace.vcd

Launch configurations

The project adds 3 launch configurations:

gtkwave launch the wave viewer,
linux-aarch64 debug the debugger on remote mode for the linux kernel,
and gdb and wave which launch them both.

We use the last one to launch everything at the same time. In the launch configuration dropdown list, select gdb and wave. Then in the dropdown menu at the left, select debug mode. This last step is important.

You launch the configuration using the Launch in 'Debug' mode button (middle button at the left of the drop-down with a small bug icon). Then it starts the debugger session and the viewer.

The viewer is displayed in an eclipse view that is named XEmbedView. At first it is added in a tab with all the other views along with the debugger console. You can then move it to some other place in your persepective. If the tab does not appear the first time you launch it, you need to add it manually using the following steps:

Go in the Window menu -> Show View -> Other...
In General folder, select XEmbedView, then hit Open button.

Using this project without the embedded viewer

It is possible to use this project without having the wave viewer embedded into eclipse perspective. In that case you don't need the XEmbedPlugin.

To disable it, just edit the gtkwave launch configuration. You have to remove the -X ${xembed_window_id} from the argument list. Gtkwave will then open in a separate window in your graphical environment.

Using this project without custom gtkwave

To use this project with standard gtkwave, you need to edit the gtkwave launch configuration. In the argument list, remove the -p 6789 line. You wont'be able to control gtkwave from gdb console.

If your gtkwave does not support tcl. You need also to remove the -S init.tcl arguments.

Using this project with another gdb

This project is configured to use gdb-multiarch. You need to modify the linux-aarcg64 debug launch configuration to change the debugger program if you want to use another one.

When you edit the configuration, select the debugger tab and update the GDB debugger entry.

GDB commands

This project contains the gtkwave-gdb.py file which is loaded by gdb (it is configured in the linux-aarch64 debug launch configuration). This module adds 2 commands.

gtkwave-set-time

It sets the current time displayed in gtkwave view. It takes one argument specifying the timestamp. The timestamp can be the keywords start or end or a number with a time unit.

Examples:

gtkwave-set-time start
gtkwave-set-time end
gtkwave-set-time 32s
gtkwave-set-time 42ms
gtkwave-set-time 18

gtkwave-toggle-dyn-time

It toggles the dynamic displaying in gtkwave view. It take no argument. When it is enabled the view show the last generated trace while generation.

Example:

gtkwave-toggle-dyn-time

Control socket

GTKWave is controlled using a socket. It needs to be configured in gdb so that the new commands work. This project use the default port 6789 but it can be changed.

The module adds a new gdb parameter named gtkwave-socket. It can be displayed and changed using the show gtkwave-socket and set gtkwave-socket host:port commands.

This parameter is initialized with the content of GTKWAVE_CONTROL_SOCKET environment variable or default to 6789.

Note that if you change the port in gdb, you also need to change the port configured in the gtkwave command line.

edgarigl/wave_viewer