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gdbstub 0.6: An ergonomic, #![no_std] implementation of the GDB Remote Serial Protocol in Rust - now with async support!

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gdbstub is an ergonomic and easy-to-integrate implementation of the GDB Remote Serial Protocol in Rust, with full #![no_std] support.

By implementing just a few basic methods from the gdbstub::Target trait, you can get a rich GDB debugging session up and running in your emulator / hypervisor / debugger / embedded project in no time!

After over a half-year of development, gdbstub 0.6 has finally been released!

This massive update delivers a slew of new protocol extensions, internal improvements, and key API improvements. Some highlights include:

  • A new non-blocking GdbStubStateMachine API, enabling gdbstub to integrate nicely with async event loops!
    • Moreover, on no_std platforms, this new API enables gdbstub to be driven directly via breakpoint/serial interrupt handlers!
    • This API is already being used in several Rust kernel projects, such as vmware-labs/node-replicated-kernel and betrusted-io/xous-core to enable bare-metal, in-kernel debugging.
  • gdbstub is now entirely panic free in release builds!
    • \* subject to rustc's compiler optimizations
    • This was a pretty painstaking effort, but the end result is a substantial reduction in binary size on no_std platforms.
  • Tons of new and exciting protocol extensions, including but not limited to:
    • Support for remote file I/O (reading/writing files to the debug target)
    • Fetching remote memory maps
    • Catching + reporting syscall entry/exit conditions
    • ...and many more!
  • A new license: gdbtsub is licensed under MIT OR Apache-2.0

See the changelog for a comprehensive rundown of all the new features.

While this release does come with quite a few breaking changes, the core IDET-based Target API has remained much the same, which should make porting code over from 0.5.x to 0.6 pretty mechanical. See the transition_guide.md for guidance on upgrading from 0.5.x to 0.6.

And as always, a huge shoutout to the folks who contributed PRs, Issues, and ideas to gdbstub - this release wouldn't have been possible without you! Special shoutouts to gz and xobs for helping me test and iterate on the new bare-metal state machine API, and bet4it for pointing out and implementing many useful API improvements and internal refactors.

Cheers!