Probably it is time to improve the debug support for ChibiOS/RT, the kernel supports already the required mechanisms but the supporting tools are missing (I am used to do everything using the Eclipse debugger but probably this is not enough for most people).
My idea is to create a ChibiOS/RT-specific plugin for Eclipse that would augment the CDT with RTOS awareness. I am collecting ideas about the functionality to implement, this is the list so far:
- Readback of the trace buffer and representation in table and graphic format (what about an UML sequence-like diagram?).
- Readback of the registry and representation of the active threads in a table (I am also considering a graphical representation using Graphviz, it would look like a connected graph of system objects: threads, sems, mutexes etc).
- Readback of the timers list and representation in a table.
- Access to the common system variables: time, current thread, panic message.
- Add support for "named" threads in order to improve debug.
What else could be useful inside a debugging session?
Giovanni