Slow Remote GDB Debugging Due to Excessive -stack-list-frames 0 1000 Requests

Environment

OS and version: Windows 11
VS Code: 1.103.0
C/C++ extension: 1.27.0
OS and version of remote machine: ARMv7(armhf)
GDB / LLDB version: GDB 15.2.90 (arm-none-linux-gnueabihf-gdb.exe)

Bug Summary and Steps to Reproduce

Bug Summary
When debugging a multi-threaded ARM application remotely using the C/C++ extension in VS Code, stepping operations (e.g., next) take ~7 seconds due to excessive -stack-list-frames 0 1000 requests, which take ~3245 ms per step. Despite configuring set backtrace limit 10 in launch.json, the extension issues -stack-list-frames 0 1000, causing GDB to process up to 1000 frames internally before returning only 10. Additionally, stopped-threads="all" in logs indicates all threads are paused, despite set non-stop on and set scheduler-locking step, triggering unnecessary -thread-info queries for all 10 threads. This severely impacts debugging performance on a remote ARM device (192.168.200.63:2345).
Previous attempts to optimize (e.g., set print frame-arguments none, disableVariableAutoUpdate, thread-specific breakpoints) reduced delays from ~9 seconds to ~7 seconds, but the extension’s hardcoded -stack-list-frames 0 1000 remains the primary bottleneck.

Steps to Reproduce

In this environment:

Windows host running VS Code with C/C++ extension.
Remote ARM device (armhf), a multi-threaded application with 10 threads, connected via gdbserver at 192.168.200.63:2345.

With this config:

Use the launch.json provided below.
Binary compiled with arm-none-linux-gnueabihf-gcc -g3 -O0 for full debug info.

Do:

Open VS Code and load the project
Set a breakpoint in for thread 3.
Start debugging using the “Remote Debug ARM” configuration.
Step through code using next (e.g., Debug Console command -exec-next --thread 3).

See error:

Stepping takes ~7 seconds per operation.
Debug Console and gdb.log show -stack-list-frames 0 1000 taking ~3245 ms, despite set backtrace limit 10.
Log shows stopped-threads="all", indicating all threads are paused, triggering -thread-info for all 10 threads.

Debugger Configurations

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Remote Debug ARM",
            "type": "cppdbg",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "D:/y/BUILD/app.outt",
            "miDebuggerPath": "D:/programs/arm-gnu-mingw-64/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabihf-gdb.exe",
            "MIMode": "gdb",
            "useExtendedRemote": false,
            "symbolLoadInfo": {
                "loadAll": false
            },


            "showDisplayString": false,


            "miDebuggerArgs": "-ex 'set substitute-path / ' -ex 'directory ' -ex 'set auto-solib-add off' -ex 'set non-stop on' -ex 'set scheduler-locking on' -ex 'set pagination off' -ex 'set logging on' -ex 'set logging file gdb.log'",
            "targetArchitecture": "arm",
            "miDebuggerServerAddress": "192.168.200.63:2345",
            "stopAtEntry": false,
            "externalConsole": false,
            "sourceFileMap": {
                    // "": "${workspaceFolder}/"
            },
            "setupCommands": [
                { "text": "set sysroot /" },
                { "text": "skip -gfi /opt/gcc-linaro-5.5.0-2017.10-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf/**" },
                { "text": "skip -gfi /home/tcwg-buildslave/**" },
                { "text": "skip -gfi /usr/include/**" },
                { "text": "set auto-load safe-path /"  },
                { "text": "skip -gfi /lib/**" },
                   { "text": "skip -gfi */libc/usr/include/*" },
                                   { "text": "skip -gfi */gcc/*/include/*" },
                { "text": "skip -gfi */buildslave/*" },
                { "text": "skip -gfi */sysdeps/*" },

        
        
             
            
      
   

              

                { "text": "set substitute-path /home ${workspaceFolder}/" },
                  { "text": "set backtrace past-main off" },
                { "text": "set backtrace past-entry off" },

                { "text": "set backtrace limit 10" },
                { "text": "set print thread-events off" },
                { "text": "set print object off" },
                { "text": "set print pretty off" }

            ],
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/",
            "logging": {
                "trace": true,
                "traceResponse": true,
                "engineLogging": true
            }
        },

















       
    ]
}

Debugger Logs

Cannot provide debugger logs currently

Other Extensions

No response

Additional Information

Include a way to reduce the stack query size
(39116) <-1045-stack-list-frames 0 1000

This is default . Include a way to reduce it or change it in config

Start by reproducing the remote ARM debugging case and tracing the C/C++ extension's MI debugger handling around the default -stack-list-frames 0 1000 request. Check how the backtrace limit and thread-stop state are handled, then verify that a configurable smaller query is used and stepping performance improves without breaking existing debugger behavior.