microsoft / microsoft/vscode-cpptools
[Visual C++] Allow child process debugging
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 6.2k
- Forks
- 1.7k
- Avg merge
- 14h 46m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 61
Description
WinDbg has the .childdbg option which will automatically cause the debugger to attach to child processes when the parent calls CreateProcess.
GDB has a similar option, where you can set it to follow forks. #511 is related, and a workaround is offered in the comments to enable setting the follow fork mode to on. But this is not the ideal solution, because it doesn't provide any solution for the Windows Debug Engine, cppvsdbg. It would be nice if the launch.json configuration supported a simple boolean variable, debugChildProcess which you could set to true or false. By default it's false, and the user can override it.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by tracing how launch.json options are parsed and passed to the Windows Debug Engine (cppvsdbg), with the follow-fork workaround in #511 as context. Done means a boolean debugChildProcess option is supported, defaults to false, and enables child-process debugging for the relevant debugger engines without changing the default behavior.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp, typescript
- Domain
- devtools, tooling
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100