probe-run

Runs embedded programs just like native ones

probe-run is a custom Cargo runner that transparently runs Rust firmware on a remote device.

probe-run is powered by probe-rs and thus supports as many devices and probes as probe-rs does.

Features

• Acts as a Cargo runner, integrating into cargo run.
• Displays program output streamed from the device via RTT.
• Exits the firmware and prints a stack backtrace on breakpoints.

Installation

To install probe-run, use cargo install probe-run.

On Linux, you might have to install libudev and libusb from your package manager before installing probe-run.

Setup

1. Set the Cargo runner

The recommend way to use probe-run is to set as the Cargo runner of your application. Add this line to your Cargo configuration (.cargo/config) file:

[target.'cfg(all(target_arch = "arm", target_os = "none"))']
runner = "probe-run --chip ${PROBE_RUN_CHIP}"

Instead of ${PROBE_RUN_CHIP} you can write the name of your microcontroller. For example, one would use nRF52840_xxAA for the nRF52840 microcontroller. To list all supported chips run probe-run --list-chips.

To support multiple devices, or permit overriding default behavior, you may prefer to set the ${PROBE_RUN_CHIP} environment variable, and set runner (or CARGO_TARGET_${TARGET_ARCH}_RUNNER) to probe-run.

If you have several probes connected, you can specify which one to use by adding the --probe option to the runner or setting the ${PROBE_RUN_PROBE} environment variable with a value containing either ${VID}:${PID} or ${VID}:${PID}:${SERIAL}:

probe-run --probe '0483:3748' --chip ${PROBE_RUN_CHIP}
PROBE_RUN_PROBE='1366:0101:123456' cargo run

To list all connected probes, run probe-run --list-probes.

2. Enable debug info

Next check that debug info is enabled for all profiles. If you are using the cortex-m-quickstart template then this is already the case. If not check or add these lines to Cargo.toml.

# Cargo.toml
[profile.dev]
debug = 1 # default is `true`; not needed if not already overridden

[profile.release]
debug = 1 # default is `false`; using `true` is also OK

3. Look out for old dependencies

The cortex-m dependency must be version 0.6.3 or newer. Older versions are not supported. Check your Cargo.lock for old versions. Run cargo update to update the cortex-m dependency if an older one appears in Cargo.lock.

4. Run

You are all set. You can now run your firmware using cargo run. For example,

use cortex_m::asm;
use cortex_m_rt::entry;
use rtt_target::rprintln;

#[entry]
fn main() -> ! {
    // omitted: rtt initialization
    rprintln!("Hello, world!");
    loop { asm::bkpt() }
}

would output

$ cargo run --bin hello
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.07s
     Running `probe-run --chip nRF52840_xxAA target/thumbv7em-none-eabihf/debug/hello`
  (HOST) INFO  flashing program (30.22 KiB)
  (HOST) INFO  success!
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
INFO:hello -- Hello, world!
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  (HOST) INFO  exiting because the device halted.
To see the backtrace at the exit point repeat this run with
`probe-run --chip nRF52840_xxAA target/thumbv7em-none-eabihf/debug/hello --force-backtrace`

Stack backtraces

When the device raises a hard fault exception, indicating e.g. a panic or a stack overflow, probe-run will print a backtrace and exit with a non-zero exit code.

This backtrace follows the format of the std backtraces you get from std::panic! but includes <exception entry> lines to indicate where an exception/interrupt occurred.

#![no_main]
#![no_std]

use cortex_m::asm;
#[entry]
fn main() -> ! {
    // trigger a hard fault exception with the UDF instruction.
    asm::udf()
}

    Finished dev [optimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.04s
     Running `probe-run --chip nRF52840_xxAA target/thumbv7em-none-eabihf/debug/hard-fault`
  (HOST) INFO  flashing program (30.08 KiB)
  (HOST) INFO  success!
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
stack backtrace:
   0: HardFaultTrampoline
      <exception entry>
   1: __udf
   2: cortex_m::asm::udf
        at /<...>/cortex-m-0.6.4/src/asm.rs:104
   3: panic::__cortex_m_rt_main
        at src/bin/hard-fault.rs:12
   4: main
        at src/bin/hard-fault.rs:8
   5: ResetTrampoline
        at /<...>3/cortex-m-rt-0.6.13/src/lib.rs:547
   6: Reset
        at /<...>/cortex-m-rt-0.6.13/src/lib.rs:550

If we look at the return code emitted by this cargo run, we'll see that it is non-0:

$ echo $?
134

⚠️ NOTE when you run your application with probe-run, the HardFault handler (default or user-defined) will NOT be executed.

Forcing backtraces

If you'd like to see a backtrace at the end of successful program runs as well, you can enable this by setting the --force-backtrace flag:

$ cargo run --bin hello --force-backtrace

Troubleshooting

probe-run --list-probes says "No devices were found."

Apart from a faulty connection between your computer and the target device, this could be caused by several things:

[Linux only] udev rules haven't been set

In order for probe-run to find the device you'd like to run your code on, your system needs permission to access the device as a non-root user.

In order to grant these permissions, you'll need to add a new set of udev rules.

To learn how to do this for the nRF52840 Development Kit, check out the installation instructions in our embedded training materials.

No external or on-board debugger present

To use probe-run you need a "probe" (also known as "debugger") that sits between your PC and the microcontroller.

Most development boards, especially the bigger ones, have a probe "on-board": If the product description of your board mentions something like a J-Link or ST-Link on-board debugger you're good to go. With these boards, all you need to do is connect your PC to the dev board using a USB cable you are all set to use probe-run!

If this is not the case for your board, check in the datasheet if it exposes exposes SWD or JTAG pins. If they are exposed, you can connect a "stand alone" probe device to the microcontroller and then connect the probe to your PC via USB. Some examples of stand alone probes are: the ST-Link and the J-Link.

Note that this may involve some soldering if your board does not come with a pre-attached header to plug your debugger into.

defmt version mismatch

end-user

Follow the instructions in the error message to resolve the mismatch.

developer

If you are building probe-run from source, you can disable the version check by setting the PROBE_RUN_IGNORE_VERSION environment variable to true or 1 at compile time.

Support Us

probe-run is part of the Knurling project, Ferrous Systems' effort at improving tooling used to develop for embedded systems.

If you think that our work is useful, consider sponsoring it via GitHub Sponsors.

License

Licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)

• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

at your option.

Contribution

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.