microsoft / microsoft/debug-adapter-protocol

Support for non-invasive debuggers?

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Description

I'm working on a non-invasive tracing tool. Basically the idea is to never stop the debugee, as the things I'm interested in debugging are extremely timing sensitive (due to interacting with real world hardware / robotics). Basically I'm doing eBPF based tracing, but want to be able to set it from inside my IDE. DAP seems like a good way to do so.

However, it seems some key commands such as pause are required in the protocol (not gated behind a capability), even though I can't possibly support them. (And info about threads won't be displayed unless the debugee is stopped, if I read the spec correctly?)

Also, while supportsLogPoints exists, the opposite supportsNONLogPoints doesn't, which is also unfortunate, as I can only support various non-invasive actions (logging, histrograms of latency, etc).

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Research direction

Start by reviewing the DAP specification requirements for pause, thread information, and supportsLogPoints. Clarify how a non-invasive adapter could advertise or negotiate unsupported stopping actions and non-invasive capabilities. Done would require an agreed protocol change or documented resolution for these compatibility concerns.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
devtools
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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