CLion debugging project with custom option in PlatformIO fails with MI record processing failure

Advanced Solutions
,
1

This was tested on NRF52840 but I presume it is unrelated to the board.
When using CLion and a PlatformIO project with custom options the debugger will not start. It will fail with message “Failed to process MI Record”.

How to reproduce:

  • In CLion create a new project
  • Add debugging through JLink (debug_tool = jlink)
  • Verify it works (set a break point somewhere)
  • Now add a custom option in platformio.ini (my_custom_option = something)
  • Try debugging, it should now failed with message ‘Failed to process MI record’

Example PlatformIO.ini file

[env:nrf52840_dk]
platform = nordicnrf52
board = nrf52840_dk
framework = arduino
debug_tool = jlink
upload_protocol = jlink

my_fine_option = something

In the CLion IDEA logfiles you can see the following:

2021-11-17 13:25:59,148 [103950772] ERROR - brains.cidr.execution.debugger - com.intellij.execution.ExecutionException: Failed to process MI record:


>

<Warning! Ignore unknown configuration option `my_fine_option` in section [env:nrf52840_dk]

com.intellij.execution.ExecutionException: com.intellij.execution.ExecutionException: Failed to process MI record:

>

<Warning! Ignore unknown configuration option `my_fine_option` in section [env:nrf52840_dk]

at com.jetbrains.cidr.execution.ExecutionResult.get(ExecutionResult.java:53)

at com.jetbrains.cidr.execution.ExecutionResult.get(ExecutionResult.java:37)

at com.jetbrains.cidr.execution.debugger.CidrDebugProcess$2.lambda$processWillTerminate$0(CidrDebugProcess.java:233)

at com.jetbrains.cidr.execution.debugger.CidrDebugProcess$VoidDebuggerCommand.call(CidrDebugProcess.java:973)

Either this is in the platformio plugin or in CLion itself - not sure.

Work around:
Instead of just using debug_tool also specify the debug_server, like this:

debug_server =
    /usr/bin/JLinkGDBServerExe
    -singlerun
    -if
    SWD
    -select
    USB
    -port
    2331
    -device
    NRF52840_XXAA
2

This is a good bug report, please file it in the CLion bugtracker with the tag “platformio” (https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issues?q=tag:%20platformio).

3

Thanks - posted to Jetbrains.
https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/CPP-27422

4

@gnilk I ran into the same issue. Could you also provide the workaround to enable debug for native environment?

5

This is, most probably, PlatformIO bug in the debugger wrapper
cc @ivankravets

1 Like
6

With this platformio.ini, does the PlatformIO-builtin debugger still work in VSCode or when you open a CLI and do a pio debug --interface=gdb -x .pioinit (docs)?

1 Like
7

@maxgerhardt
Never tested this exact setup in VSCode - but a larger project which has the same problem does normally work in VSCode - used to swap in/out of VSCode for debugging. So I would presume it works.

The “pio debug --interface=gdb -x .pioinit” brings up the JLink GDB Server UI (running Linux for this test). So yes - it works.

Also works in VSCode, confirmed on Linux - should be the same on Windows as that was the environment first used to figure out the work-around.

For anyone else reading this:
Another work-around in CLion is to bypass PlatformIO fully by creating another Run/Debug configuration with “Embedded GDB Server” and setup the execution properly (as with the debug_custom_server).

See screenshot:

Screenshot from 2021-11-18 19-58-33
Screenshot from 2021-11-18 19-58-331629×772 98.4 KB

8

I never go through PIO for native dev, sorry…

9

If you need a custom option, please prefix it with custom_:

custom_my_fine_option = something