Trace capture debug interface

Zephelin’s debug interface enables for traces gathering via a GDB link. The traces are stored in memory and can be extracted using a zpl-gdb-capture west command.

Examples on how to capture traces, both on physical hardware and in Renode, are described below.

Physical hardware

Before capturing traces from a board, first make sure it’s flashed with the firmware with CONFIG_ZPL_TRACE_BACKEND_DEBUGGER Kconfig option enabled.

  1. Connect the board via the debug interface to your host

  2. Run the zpl-gdb-capture command and wait for the capture to finish

west zpl-gdb-capture <elf_file> <output_trace>

Note

The zpl-gdb-capture command runs the west debugserver command, so setting up the gdb server is not necessary.

Renode

Before capturing traces in Renode, first make sure firmware has been built with CONFIG_ZPL_TRACE_BACKEND_DEBUGGER Kconfig option enabled.

  1. Run Renode using west simulate

  2. Enable GDB server in Renode’s monitor: machine StartGdbServer 3333

  3. Run the zpl-gdb-capture command and wait for the capture to finish

west zpl-gdb-capture --no-debug-server <elf_file> <output_trace>
Last update: 2025-09-19