How can I remote debug my rcp application?

Question

Because my RCP eclipse application fails when run outside of eclipse, but works correctly when running inside of eclipse, I am attempting to use eclipse to remotely debug my application as it's running outside of the eclipse environment.

I am using 32 bit Eclipse 3.6.1 on a 64 bit Windows 7 machine. I am using 32 bit Java 1.6 update 37. I use the Eclipse Product export wizard to package the app, and I end up with an eclipse.exe. I have created a Remote Debug Configuration and set it to use port 8765 (random number). For debugging purposes, I start the app from the command line using this line:
eclipse.exe -Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=127.0.0.1:8765

Depending on whether I am attaching or listening via my Eclipse debugger, I will add the server=[y/n] option to this command line but it seems not to make any difference.

For the configuration Connection Type I have tried both Standard (Socket Listen) and Standard (Socket Attach). When I try Socket Listen, my debugger will start listening - "Waiting for vm to connect at port 8765", but when I start my app through the command line, the app starts fine but the debugger never attaches.

When I try Socket Attach, I start the app first using the command line, then when I attempt to attach using eclipse, I get the message "Failed to connect to remote VM. Connection refused"

I've tried all the various combinations of address: localhost, 127.0.0.1, and my local IP address. I get the same result each time.

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

You are missing the -vmargs parameter. Try "eclipse.exe -vmargs -Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=127.0.0.1:8765"

I was searching for the same thing and found the answer in this helpful post http://blog.ankursharma.org/2010/05/remote-debugging-eclipse.html

Answer 2

I think a better way of debugging your RCP application is to launch it with "-console" "-consolelog". This gives you the osgi console, where you can examine which bundles did (not) start, the services that are exported etc. Type help to get a list of commands available.

Answer 3

this is better:

http://exploreeclipse.blogspot.com/2016/05/eclipse-rcp-remote-debugging.html

Defining the server and suspend arguments

$./TOS_BD-macosx-cocoa -vmargs -Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=8989