Debug for S3 fails with OpenOCD

[abarehh]

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

When installing pioarduino from scratch in a clean VSC using the latest "Arduino Release v3.3.2 based on ESP-IDF v5.5.1.250929" the debugger bins do not get installed even though the package gets installed.

Output from pioarduino on first start of debugger
Downloading...
Unpacking...
Tool Manager: tool-openocd-esp32@2.1200.20250707 has been installed!
undefinedDebugInvalidOptionsError: Could not launch Debug Server 'C:\Users\Developer2.platformio\packages\tool-openocd-esp32\bin/openocd'. Please check that it is installed and is included in a system PATH
See https://docs.platformio.org/page/plus/debugging.html

TO REPRODUCE

1. clean install of VSC in a new windows user
2. install pioarduino extension
3. do all the installation stuff, everything works fine
4. write a simple sketch for a ESP32S3
5. compile and runs work fine
6. start the debugger => get the output above

checking the folder content of C:\Users\Developer2.platformio\packages\tool-openocd-esp32
shows only 3 files

.piopm
package.json
tools.json

EXPECTED BEHAVIOUR

debugger OpenOCD bins and other requeired files gets installed and openOCD can be started

SCREENSHOTS

If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

ADDITIONAL CONTEXT

Add any other context about the problem here.

(Please, remember to close the issue when the problem has been addressed)

[Jason2866]

Is in folder .platformio/dist a zip file with OpenOCD in the file name? If not the download of the package has failed. Close VSC and delete folders .platformio/tool-Openopenocd and .platformio/tools
Start VSC compile the firmware. Mandantory in platformio.ini the debug config needs to be there.
Without the OpenOCD tool will not be installed in folder tool-Openopenocd

[abarehh]

Hi Jason, first of, thx so much for your quick reply !!
That was it. I did not have a debug definition in the platformio.ini .

So I added
debug_tool = esp-builtin
build_type = debug

(When using Platformio I did not need it since its the default in the .json file)

Then deleted ".platformio\packages\tool-openocd-esp32" (the only folder with openocd I had

The the debugger was installed and started. Great!!
However now it stops with the following error... any idea? In Arduino IDE the debugger works fine and in Platformio with the original espressif "old" platform it also works fine.

Info : JTAG tap: esp32s3.tap0 tap/device found: 0x120034e5 (mfg: 0x272 (Tensilica), part: 0x2003, ver: 0x1)
Info : JTAG tap: esp32s3.tap1 tap/device found: 0x120034e5 (mfg: 0x272 (Tensilica), part: 0x2003, ver: 0x1)
Info : [esp32s3.cpu0] Examination succeed
Info : [esp32s3.cpu1] Examination succeed
Info : [esp32s3.cpu0] starting gdb server on pipe
Info : accepting 'gdb' connection from pipe
Info : [esp32s3.cpu0] Debug controller was reset.
Info : [esp32s3.cpu0] Core was reset.
Info : [esp32s3.cpu0] Target halted, PC=0x4037A736, debug_reason=00000000
Info : Set GDB target to 'esp32s3.cpu0'
Info : [esp32s3.cpu1] Debug controller was reset.
Info : [esp32s3.cpu1] Core was reset.
Info : [esp32s3.cpu0] Debug controller was reset.
Info : [esp32s3.cpu0] Core was reset.
Error: [esp32s3.cpu0] not halted
Error: [esp32s3.cpu0] Execution of event gdb-attach failed:
C:/Users/Developer2/.platformio/packages/tool-openocd-esp32/share/openocd/scripts/memory.tcl:87: Error: memread32: failed to read memory
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:/Users/Developer2/.platformio/packages/tool-openocd-esp32/share/openocd/scripts/target/esp_common.cfg", line 230
esp32s3_memprot_is_enabled
File "C:/Users/Developer2/.platformio/packages/tool-openocd-esp32/share/openocd/scripts/target/esp32s3.cfg", line 33, in esp32s3_memprot_is_enabled
get_mmr_bit 0x600C10C0 0
File "C:/Users/Developer2/.platformio/packages/tool-openocd-esp32/share/openocd/scripts/mmr_helpers.tcl", line 79, in get_mmr_bit
memread32 0x600C10C0
File "C:/Users/Developer2/.platformio/packages/tool-openocd-esp32/share/openocd/scripts/memory.tcl", line 87, in memread32
error {memread32: failed to read memory}
Warn : No symbols for FreeRTOS!
Error: Target not halted
Error: auto_probe failed
Error: Connect failed. Consider setting up a gdb-attach event for the target to prepare target for GDB connect, or use 'gdb_memory_map disable'.
Error: attempted 'gdb' connection rejected
Error: error during
.pioinit:11: Error in sourced command file:
Remote communication error. Target disconnected: could not peek into pipe (error 109): Die Pipe wurde beendet.

[Jason2866]

Well, in my experience the S3 was always problematic to debug with the inbuilt jtag. Had this problems with orig. Platformio too. Honestly idk if and how this can be fixed.

[Jason2866]

Maybe change the issue to: Debug for S3 fails with OpenOCD?

[abarehh]

Hi Jason,
yeah on original PlatformIO I had to add the following line in the board.json under extra_flags
"-DARDUINO_USB_CDC_ON_BOOT=1",
this enables the JTAG via BuildIn USB controler. For whatever reason the PlatformIO people did not set it in the .json board definition for my Espressif ESP32S3 board. However after setting it the debugging always works fine.
The same in Arduino IDE where it works right out of the box. Arduino IDE is really a toy, but the debugger chain is great. The Debugger starts up almost instantly, much faster then PlatformIO.

I will keep on trying. If I find a solution I will post it here.
Changed the title.

And one more note: really appreciate your work here. Without pioarduino we would be in great mess, either super slow compiling Arduino toolchain or century old PlatformIO ESP Arduino platform. Thanks so much for all the work you put in!

[Jason2866]

The OpenOCD and GDB versions used are the ones as in ArduinoIDE and IDF 5.5.1

[Jason2866]

Maybe switching to https://github.com/eclipse-cdt-cloud/cdt-gdb-adapter is the way to fix it.
IDF VSCode plugin seems to use. Is this working well? How can the cdt-gdb-adapter be integrated in pioarduino? I think the problem is the Platformio debug adapter.