{"id":31762,"date":"2023-02-22T18:30:37","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T18:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cppblog\/?p=31762"},"modified":"2023-03-14T17:18:13","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T17:18:13","slug":"cmake-debugger-allows-you-to-debug-your-cmake-scripts-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cppblog\/cmake-debugger-allows-you-to-debug-your-cmake-scripts-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"CMake debugger allows you to debug your CMake scripts and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

The VS <\/span>CMake<\/span> team has been working in close collaboration with <\/span>Kitware<\/span> on <\/span>developing <\/span>a <\/span>debugger <\/span>for <\/span>CMake<\/span> scripts in the Visual Studio IDE <\/span>(<\/span>s<\/span>ee <\/span><\/span>this open Kitware issue for more details<\/span><\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>We <\/span>will be<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>contributing this work back <\/span>upstream<\/span> (targeting the 3.27 release) <\/span>so that the developer community can have it and work to improve it together, by adding new features and <\/span>support f<\/span>or <\/span>additional<\/span> DAP capabilities.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are excited to announce that a preview of the CMake debugger is now available to debug your CMake scripts and CMakeLists.txt file for any CMake project in <\/span>Visual Studio 17.6 Preview 1<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To initiate a CMake debugging session, you can select \u201cConfigure [Project Name] with CMake Debugger\u201d from the context menu when right-clicking on your CMakeLists.txt file in the Solution Explorer or from the \u201cProject\u201d dropdown menu<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\""Configure<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

When CMake cache generation on your project fails, a \u201cDebug\u201d link will also be available<\/span> to start <\/span>a <\/span>CMake<\/span> debugg<\/span>er session<\/span> in the Solution Explorer.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Debug<\/a><\/p>\n

CMake Debugger Functionality<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

You can set breakpoints based on file names, line numbers, or when CMake errors and warnings are triggered in your CMakeLists.txt file by clicking in the margin to the left of the line numbers like normally or by using the Breakpoint and Exception Settings. Using these breakpoints, you can step into, over, and out of them, as well as pause or continue the executing scope like a normal debugger.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\"Adding<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CMake<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can see above, you can use the call stack in the CMake debugger to see filenames and lines associated with your debugging process. You can also decide which types of errors and warnings you\u2019d like the debugger you automatically break on.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can view the state of different CMake Cache variables through the Locals window.\u00a0 Then, you can set a watch on defined variables by right-clicking on them or through the Watch window. For now, this excludes function or macro arguments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Set<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Viewing<\/a><\/p>\n

Additionally, through the Locals window, you can view the state of currently defined targets and tests with their properties.<\/p>\n

\"You<\/a><\/p>\n

Limitations<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Currently, the CMake debugger only works with the version of CMake bundled with Visual Studio. Projects targeting WSL or remote machines are also not supported yet. When our debugger work goes into upstream CMake, we will make this feature available to both WSL and remote machines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Future Work<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

We are working to add functionality to: <\/span><\/p>\n