I've created a plugin by following a tutorial from Gazebo website. Now I'd like to take it further but it is difficult to work without being able to set breakpoints and inspect variables. What steps do I have to do in order to be able to set breakpoints in my code?
Originally posted by lubiluk on Gazebo Answers with karma: 27 on 2017-04-04
Post score: 1
I'll try to answer with an example:
Let's assume that you want to debug some code in the LinearBatteryPlugin that is shipped with Gazebo. You can launch Gazebo with the linear_battery_demo.world for loading the plugin. Let's also assume that your goal is to inspect the member variable LinearBatteryPlugin::q within the function LinearBatteryPlugin::OnUpdateVoltage(). Here are the steps for doing it using gdb:
Make sure that you compiled Gazebo (or your plugin) with debug symbols. See this reference tutorial.
Start gdb specifying gzserver as the executable program:
gdb gzserver
Start gzserver with (assuming that your current directory is the top level directory of the Gazebo repository):
run worlds/linear_battery_demo.world
You should see some gdb messages indicating that the program has started.
Interrupt the execution of gzserver by pressing CTRL-C.
We're going to create a breakpoint on a function. We can double check that gdb has the definition of the function (note that we have to indicate the entire namespace):
list gazebo::LinearBatteryPlugin::OnUpdateVoltage(const gazebo::common::BatteryPtr&)
gdb should show a partial view of the source code:
123 this->Init();
124 }
125
126 /////////////////////////////////////////////////
127 double LinearBatteryPlugin::OnUpdateVoltage(const common::BatteryPtr &_battery)
128 {
129 double dt = this->world->GetPhysicsEngine()->GetMaxStepSize();
130 double totalpower = 0.0;
131 double k = dt / this->tau;
132
Now, you can create your breakpoint:
break gazebo::LinearBatteryPlugin::OnUpdateVoltage(const gazebo::common::BatteryPtr&)
gdb should confirm that the breakpoint was created. It's time to resume the gzserver execution:
continue
Your execution should be interrupted when the code entered OnUpdateVoltage() and gdb should tell you that your breakpoint was hit:
Continuing.
[Switching to Thread 0x7fff797f7700 (LWP 20446)]
Thread 31 "gzserver" hit Breakpoint 1, gazebo::LinearBatteryPlugin::OnUpdateVoltage (this=0x7fff44005a40,
_battery=
std::shared_ptr (count 4, weak 1) 0x180ed20) at
/home/caguero/workspace/gazebo/plugins/LinearBatteryPlugin.cc:128
128 {
Now you can inspect your q variable:
print q
And gdb should tell you the value:
(gdb) print q
$1 = 1.1660311540299606
Hopefully this is what you're looking for. Alternatively, if you're using Gazebo 8 we put in place an introspection system that is described in this tutorial (currently under review).
Originally posted by Carlos Agüero with karma: 626 on 2017-04-04
This answer was ACCEPTED on the original site
Post score: 2
Comment by lubiluk on 2017-04-07:
Thank you for your exhaustive answer. I could only add a clarification for future readers that if we want to debug only the plugin we're working on, we don't need to compile whole gazebo with debug symbols. Just a plugin is enough. We do this by using cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..
I have managed to set breakpoints in my plugin on standard, binary gazebo installation. Graphical debugging through an IDE also works well.
Comment by Malcolm on 2017-04-09:
Hi lubiluk , could you please show how to set the breakpoint in a IDE? I managed to launch gzserver in both VSCode and Qt and compiled my plugin with Debug flag. But seems like the IDE doesn't associate the cpp file with the executable so the breakpoint I set in the code doesn't work.
Thanks, Malcolm
Comment by guru-florida on 2020-10-18:
Try using LD_PRELOAD. Assuming your sharedlib has debug symbols/etc, the source file absolute paths are encoded in the .debug_info section so gdb will find them. It may be that the sharedlibrary is not loaded until your URDF is loaded and the plugin is requested. You can use LD_PRELOAD environment variable to preload your libs (ex. libmyplugin.so) and include the path to your plugin in LD_LIBRARY_PATH. (Separate multiple files/paths by colons.)
Comment by guru-florida on 2020-10-18:
Also ensure gazebo is not finding an alternative version of your plugin. For example, a colcon build version in an install folder, but you are building/debugging elsewhere. Confirm proper files/paths in gdb using:
(gdb) info sharedlibrary
(gdb) info sources
I did get debugging working for my plugin in gzserver after using LD_PRELOAD and this.
