GDB client does not support HW or SW breakpoints

[JackNWhite]

Hello folks,

I have an ATmegaS64M1 to which I am connecting via debugWire with a PICkit4.

bloom 1.0.0
avr-gdb (AVR_8_bit_GNU_Toolchain_3.7.0_1796) 7.8

I am able to run bloom and have it connect to the chip:

[MT]: [INFO] Selected environment: "default"
[TC]: [INFO] Starting TargetController
[TC]: [INFO] Connecting to debug tool
[TC]: [INFO] Debug tool connected
[TC]: [INFO] Debug tool name: MPLAB PICkit 4
[TC]: [INFO] Debug tool serial:
[TC]: [INFO] Activating target
[TC]: [INFO] Target activated
[TC]: [INFO] Target ID: 0x1e9684
[TC]: [INFO] Target name: ATmega64M1
[TC]: [INFO] Available hardware breakpoints: 0
[DS]: [INFO] Starting DebugServer
[DS]: [INFO] Selected DebugServer: AVR GDB Remote Serial Protocol Debug Server
[DS]: [INFO] GDB RSP address: 127.0.0.1
[DS]: [INFO] GDB RSP port: 1442
[DS]: [INFO] DebugServer ready
[DS]: [INFO] Waiting for GDB RSP connection

I try to connect this way:

avr-gdb myBinary.elf
(gdb) target remote :1442
Remote debugging using :1442
Remote connection closed

Immediately, in the bloom log, I get this:

[DS]: [INFO] Accepted GDP RSP connection from 127.0.0.1
[DS]: [INFO] Handling QuerySupport packet
[DS]: [ERROR] Invalid GDB RSP client - GDB client does not support HW or SW breakpoints - closing connection
[DS]: [INFO] Waiting for GDB RSP connection
[MT]: [INFO] Shutting down Bloom
[DS]: [INFO] Shutting down DebugServer
[TC]: [INFO] Shutting down TargetController
[TC]: [INFO] Deactivating target
[TC]: [INFO] Closing debug tool
[SH]: [INFO] Shutting down SignalHandler

My bloom config is:

environments:
  default:
    shutdownPostDebugSession: true

    tool:
      name: "pickit-4"

    target:
      name: "atmega64m1"
      physicalInterface: "debug-wire"
      # hardwareBreakpoints: true
      manageDwenFuseBit: true

    server:
      name: "avr-gdb-rsp"
      ipAddress: "127.0.0.1"
      port: 1442
      rangeStepping: true

insight:
  activateOnStartup: false

Has anyone had this problem? Have you fixed it?

[navnavnav]

Hi @JackNWhite,

That error is a result of you using an outdated version of GDB. 7.8 is 10 years old, and Bloom only supports version 8.1 and above, so you'll need to upgrade.

I would recommend 12.1 or above, as that's what I use and it works really well.

If you're on a Debian-based distro, you can install a newer version via the APT repository: sudo apt-get install gdb-avr, but you'll need to be on a recent version of Debian. See the "Installing GDB for AVR debugging" section on the Getting Started page for more.

Once you've upgraded GDB, you should be able to connect to Bloom's GDB server.

Let me know how it goes :)

[JackNWhite]

Thanks for the help. I've got a difficulty here though. I'm working on a project where I need to have a stable distribution of the toolchain, preferably something we can keep. That's why I'm using the toolchain available from the Microchip web site, which is very out of date. I've been looking for a more recent tarball from a reliable and reputable source, but I've come up with nothing. Might you be able to offer some advice?

[navnavnav]

The packages provided by Debian are pretty stable and available. I would recommend you use those as they're better maintained and available via the Debian repositories. Once a Debian release is "locked", the packages for that distro version typically remain unchanged and available for as long as the debian version is supported.

BTW if you're using an old version of GCC, that doesn't mean you have to use an older version of GDB. The newer versions of GDB should work fine with binaries built by older versions of GCC.

I'm not sure what you mean by "something we can keep". You can download .deb files from the Debian repository, and store them locally for offline installations. If that's what you mean? See the gdb-avr package page for more: https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/gdb-avr

To download gdb-avr .deb package: https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/amd64/gdb-avr/download (for Debian Bookworm, AMD64)

[JackNWhite]

Thanks. I decided to compile my own.