How to run gdb with ROOT macros

Preparation

We are going to run gdb inside Visual Studio Code provided inside our toolbox. One can (not mandatory) update Visual Studio code by command

sudo yum update code

To start debugging (always)

1. enter c7-nica toolbox
2. module add mpddev/v22.12.22-3
3. code
4. Inside terminal of VS Code, source mpdroot file source path_to_mpdroot/config/env.sh

Prepare json files (once)

settings.json

{
  "C_Cpp.default.includePath": [
    "${default}",
    "${env:ROOT_INCLUDE_PATH}"
  ],
  "files.associations": {
    "runMC.C": "cpp",
    "geometry_stage1.C": "cpp"
  },
}

launch.json

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "(gdb) Launch",
      "type": "cppdbg",
      "request": "launch",
      "program": "${env:ROOTSYS}/bin/root.exe",
      "args": [
        "-l",
        "-q",
        "${file}+g"
      ],
      "stopAtEntry": false,
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "environment": [],
      "externalConsole": false,
      "MIMode": "gdb",
      "setupCommands": [
        {
          "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
          "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
          "ignoreFailures": true
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

To debug

1. open macro file
2. place breakpoint
3. start debugging (via (gdb) Launch) - In the beginning launch will fail since header files in macro are missing. All missing header files need to be added as includes.

Further reading

View ROOT files inside VS Code

Run ROOT macros in VS Code

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Last update: March 10, 2023