probe_rs/
rtt.rs

1//! Host side implementation of the RTT (Real-Time Transfer) I/O protocol over probe-rs
2//!
3//! RTT implements input and output to/from a microcontroller using in-memory ring buffers and
4//! memory polling. This enables debug logging from the microcontroller with minimal delays and no
5//! blocking, making it usable even in real-time applications where e.g. semihosting delays cannot
6//! be tolerated.
7//!
8//! This crate enables you to read and write via RTT channels. It's also used as a building-block
9//! for probe-rs debugging tools.
10//!
11//! ## Example
12//!
13//! ```no_run
14//! use probe_rs::probe::list::Lister;
15//! use probe_rs::Permissions;
16//! use probe_rs::rtt::Rtt;
17//!
18//! // First obtain a probe-rs session (see probe-rs documentation for details)
19//! let lister = Lister::new();
20//!
21//! let probes = lister.list_all();
22//!
23//! let probe = probes[0].open()?;
24//! let mut session = probe.attach("somechip", Permissions::default())?;
25//! // Select a core.
26//! let mut core = session.core(0)?;
27//!
28//! // Attach to RTT
29//! let mut rtt = Rtt::attach(&mut core)?;
30//!
31//! // Read from a channel
32//! if let Some(input) = rtt.up_channel(0) {
33//!     let mut buf = [0u8; 1024];
34//!     let count = input.read(&mut core, &mut buf[..])?;
35//!
36//!     println!("Read data: {:?}", &buf[..count]);
37//! }
38//!
39//! // Write to a channel
40//! if let Some(output) = rtt.down_channel(0) {
41//!     output.write(&mut core, b"Hello, computer!\n")?;
42//! }
43//!
44//! # Ok::<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>>(())
45//! ```
46
47mod channel;
48pub use channel::*;
49
50use crate::Session;
51use crate::{Core, MemoryInterface, config::MemoryRegion};
52use std::ops::Range;
53use std::thread;
54use std::time::Duration;
55use std::time::Instant;
56use zerocopy::{FromBytes, IntoBytes};
57
58/// The RTT interface.
59///
60/// Use [`Rtt::attach`] or [`Rtt::attach_region`] to attach to a probe-rs [`Core`] and detect the
61///     channels, as they were configured on the target. The timing of when this is called is really
62///     important, or else unexpected results can be expected.
63///
64/// ## Examples of how timing between host and target effects the results
65///
66/// 1. **Scenario: Ideal configuration**: The host RTT interface is created **AFTER** the target
67///    program has successfully executing the RTT initialization, by calling an api such as
68///    [`rtt_target::rtt_init_print!()`](https://docs.rs/rtt-target/0.5.0/rtt_target/macro.rtt_init_print.html).
69///
70///    At this point, both the RTT Control Block and the RTT Channel configurations are present in
71///    the target memory, and this RTT interface can be expected to work as expected.
72///
73/// 2. **Scenario: Failure to detect RTT Control Block**: The target has been configured correctly,
74///    **BUT** the host creates this interface **BEFORE** the target program has initialized RTT.
75///
76///    This most commonly occurs when the target halts processing before initializing RTT. For
77///    example, this could happen ...
78///       * During debugging, if the user sets a breakpoint in the code before the RTT
79///         initialization.
80///       * After flashing, if the user has configured `probe-rs` to `reset_after_flashing` AND
81///         `halt_after_reset`. On most targets, this will result in the target halting with
82///         reason `Exception` and will delay the subsequent RTT initialization.
83///       * If RTT initialization on the target is delayed because of time consuming processing or
84///         excessive interrupt handling. This can usually be prevented by moving the RTT
85///         initialization code to the very beginning of the target program logic.
86///
87///     The result of such a timing issue is that `probe-rs` will fail to initialize RTT with an
88///    [`Error::ControlBlockNotFound`]
89///
90/// 3. **Scenario: Incorrect Channel names and incorrect Channel buffer sizes**: This scenario
91///    usually occurs when two conditions coincide. Firstly, the same timing mismatch as described
92///    in point #2 above, and secondly, the target memory has NOT been cleared since a previous
93///    version of the binary program has been flashed to the target.
94///
95///    What happens here is that the RTT Control Block is validated by reading a previously
96///    initialized RTT ID from the target memory. The next step in the logic is then to read the
97///    Channel configuration from the RTT Control block which is usually contains unreliable data
98///    at this point. The symptoms will appear as:
99///       * RTT Channel names are incorrect and/or contain unprintable characters.
100///       * RTT Channel names are correct, but no data, or corrupted data, will be reported from
101///         RTT, because the buffer sizes are incorrect.
102#[derive(Debug)]
103pub struct Rtt {
104    /// The location of the control block in target memory.
105    ptr: u64,
106
107    /// The detected up (target to host) channels.
108    pub up_channels: Vec<UpChannel>,
109
110    /// The detected down (host to target) channels.
111    pub down_channels: Vec<DownChannel>,
112}
113
114#[repr(C)]
115#[derive(FromBytes)]
116struct RttControlBlockHeaderInner<T> {
117    id: [u8; 16],
118    max_up_channels: T,
119    max_down_channels: T,
120}
121
122impl From<RttControlBlockHeaderInner<u32>> for RttControlBlockHeaderInner<u64> {
123    fn from(value: RttControlBlockHeaderInner<u32>) -> Self {
124        Self {
125            id: value.id,
126            max_up_channels: u64::from(value.max_up_channels),
127            max_down_channels: u64::from(value.max_down_channels),
128        }
129    }
130}
131
132enum RttControlBlockHeader {
133    Header32(RttControlBlockHeaderInner<u32>),
134    Header64(RttControlBlockHeaderInner<u64>),
135}
136
137impl RttControlBlockHeader {
138    pub fn try_from_header(is_64_bit: bool, mem: &[u8]) -> Option<Self> {
139        if is_64_bit {
140            RttControlBlockHeaderInner::<u64>::read_from_prefix(mem)
141                .map(|(header, _)| Self::Header64(header))
142                .ok()
143        } else {
144            RttControlBlockHeaderInner::<u32>::read_from_prefix(mem)
145                .map(|(header, _)| Self::Header32(header))
146                .ok()
147        }
148    }
149
150    pub const fn minimal_header_size(is_64_bit: bool) -> usize {
151        if is_64_bit {
152            std::mem::size_of::<RttControlBlockHeaderInner<u64>>()
153        } else {
154            std::mem::size_of::<RttControlBlockHeaderInner<u32>>()
155        }
156    }
157
158    pub fn header_size(&self) -> usize {
159        Self::minimal_header_size(matches!(self, Self::Header64(_)))
160    }
161
162    pub fn id(&self) -> [u8; 16] {
163        match self {
164            RttControlBlockHeader::Header32(x) => x.id,
165            RttControlBlockHeader::Header64(x) => x.id,
166        }
167    }
168
169    pub fn max_up_channels(&self) -> usize {
170        match self {
171            RttControlBlockHeader::Header32(x) => x.max_up_channels as usize,
172            RttControlBlockHeader::Header64(x) => x.max_up_channels as usize,
173        }
174    }
175
176    pub fn max_down_channels(&self) -> usize {
177        match self {
178            RttControlBlockHeader::Header32(x) => x.max_down_channels as usize,
179            RttControlBlockHeader::Header64(x) => x.max_down_channels as usize,
180        }
181    }
182
183    pub fn channel_buffer_size(&self) -> usize {
184        match self {
185            RttControlBlockHeader::Header32(_x) => RttChannelBufferInner::<u32>::size(),
186            RttControlBlockHeader::Header64(_x) => RttChannelBufferInner::<u64>::size(),
187        }
188    }
189
190    pub fn total_rtt_buffer_size(&self) -> usize {
191        let total_number_of_channels = self.max_up_channels() + self.max_down_channels();
192        let channel_size = self.channel_buffer_size();
193
194        self.header_size() + channel_size * total_number_of_channels
195    }
196
197    pub fn parse_channel_buffers(&self, mem: &[u8]) -> Result<Vec<RttChannelBuffer>, Error> {
198        let buffers = match self {
199            RttControlBlockHeader::Header32(_) => {
200                <[RttChannelBufferInner<u32>]>::ref_from_bytes(mem)
201                    .map_err(|_| Error::ControlBlockNotFound)?
202                    .iter()
203                    .cloned()
204                    .map(RttChannelBuffer::from)
205                    .collect::<Vec<RttChannelBuffer>>()
206            }
207            RttControlBlockHeader::Header64(_) => {
208                <[RttChannelBufferInner<u64>]>::ref_from_bytes(mem)
209                    .map_err(|_| Error::ControlBlockNotFound)?
210                    .iter()
211                    .cloned()
212                    .map(RttChannelBuffer::from)
213                    .collect::<Vec<RttChannelBuffer>>()
214            }
215        };
216
217        Ok(buffers)
218    }
219}
220
221// Rtt must follow this data layout when reading/writing memory in order to be compatible with the
222// official RTT implementation.
223//
224// struct ControlBlock {
225//     char id[16]; // Used to find/validate the control block.
226//     // Maximum number of up (target to host) channels in following array
227//     unsigned int max_up_channels;
228//     // Maximum number of down (host to target) channels in following array.
229//     unsigned int max_down_channels;
230//     RttChannel up_channels[max_up_channels]; // Array of up (target to host) channels.
231//     RttChannel down_channels[max_down_channels]; // array of down (host to target) channels.
232// }
233impl Rtt {
234    /// The magic string expected to be found at the beginning of the RTT control block.
235    pub const RTT_ID: [u8; 16] = *b"SEGGER RTT\0\0\0\0\0\0";
236
237    /// Tries to attach to an RTT control block at the specified memory address.
238    pub fn attach_at(
239        core: &mut Core,
240        // Pointer from which to scan
241        ptr: u64,
242    ) -> Result<Rtt, Error> {
243        let is_64_bit = core.is_64_bit();
244
245        let mut mem = [0u32; RttControlBlockHeader::minimal_header_size(true) / 4];
246        // Read the magic value first as unordered data, and read the subsequent pointers
247        // as ordered u32 values.
248        core.read(ptr, &mut mem.as_mut_bytes()[0..Self::RTT_ID.len()])?;
249        core.read_32(
250            ptr + Self::RTT_ID.len() as u64,
251            &mut mem[Self::RTT_ID.len() / 4..],
252        )?;
253
254        let rtt_header = RttControlBlockHeader::try_from_header(is_64_bit, mem.as_bytes())
255            .ok_or(Error::ControlBlockNotFound)?;
256
257        // Validate that the control block starts with the ID bytes
258        let rtt_id = rtt_header.id();
259        if rtt_id != Self::RTT_ID {
260            tracing::trace!(
261                "Expected control block to start with RTT ID: {:?}\n. Got instead: {:?}",
262                String::from_utf8_lossy(&Self::RTT_ID),
263                String::from_utf8_lossy(&rtt_id)
264            );
265            return Err(Error::ControlBlockNotFound);
266        }
267
268        let max_up_channels = rtt_header.max_up_channels();
269        let max_down_channels = rtt_header.max_down_channels();
270
271        // *Very* conservative sanity check, most people only use a handful of RTT channels
272        if max_up_channels > 255 || max_down_channels > 255 {
273            return Err(Error::ControlBlockCorrupted(format!(
274                "Unexpected array sizes at {ptr:#010x}: max_up_channels={max_up_channels} max_down_channels={max_down_channels}"
275            )));
276        }
277
278        // Read the rest of the control block
279        let channel_buffer_len = rtt_header.total_rtt_buffer_size() - rtt_header.header_size();
280        let mut mem = vec![0; channel_buffer_len / 4];
281        core.read_32(ptr + rtt_header.header_size() as u64, &mut mem)?;
282
283        let mut up_channels = Vec::new();
284        let mut down_channels = Vec::new();
285
286        let channel_buffer_size = rtt_header.channel_buffer_size();
287
288        let up_channels_start = 0;
289        let up_channels_len = max_up_channels * channel_buffer_size;
290        let up_channels_raw_buffer = &mem.as_bytes()[up_channels_start..][..up_channels_len];
291        let up_channels_buffer = rtt_header.parse_channel_buffers(up_channels_raw_buffer)?;
292
293        let down_channels_start = up_channels_start + up_channels_len;
294        let down_channels_len = max_down_channels * channel_buffer_size;
295        let down_channels_raw_buffer = &mem.as_bytes()[down_channels_start..][..down_channels_len];
296        let down_channels_buffer = rtt_header.parse_channel_buffers(down_channels_raw_buffer)?;
297
298        let mut offset = ptr + rtt_header.header_size() as u64 + up_channels_start as u64;
299        for (channel_index, buffer) in up_channels_buffer.into_iter().enumerate() {
300            let buffer_size = buffer.size() as u64;
301
302            if let Some(chan) = Channel::from(core, channel_index, offset, buffer)? {
303                up_channels.push(UpChannel(chan));
304            } else {
305                tracing::warn!("Buffer for up channel {channel_index} not initialized");
306            }
307            offset += buffer_size;
308        }
309
310        let mut offset = ptr + rtt_header.header_size() as u64 + down_channels_start as u64;
311        for (channel_index, buffer) in down_channels_buffer.into_iter().enumerate() {
312            let buffer_size = buffer.size() as u64;
313
314            if let Some(chan) = Channel::from(core, channel_index, offset, buffer)? {
315                down_channels.push(DownChannel(chan));
316            } else {
317                tracing::warn!("Buffer for down channel {channel_index} not initialized");
318            }
319            offset += buffer_size;
320        }
321
322        Ok(Rtt {
323            ptr,
324            up_channels,
325            down_channels,
326        })
327    }
328
329    /// Attempts to detect an RTT control block in the specified RAM region(s) and returns an
330    /// instance if a valid control block was found.
331    pub fn attach_region(core: &mut Core, region: &ScanRegion) -> Result<Rtt, Error> {
332        let ptr = Self::find_contol_block(core, region)?;
333        Self::attach_at(core, ptr)
334    }
335
336    /// Attempts to detect an RTT control block anywhere in the target RAM and returns an instance
337    /// if a valid control block was found.
338    pub fn attach(core: &mut Core) -> Result<Rtt, Error> {
339        Self::attach_region(core, &ScanRegion::default())
340    }
341
342    /// Attempts to detect an RTT control block in the specified RAM region(s) and returns an
343    /// address if a valid control block location was found.
344    pub fn find_contol_block(core: &mut Core, region: &ScanRegion) -> Result<u64, Error> {
345        let ranges = match region.clone() {
346            ScanRegion::Exact(addr) => {
347                tracing::debug!("Scanning at exact address: {:#010x}", addr);
348
349                return Ok(addr);
350            }
351            ScanRegion::Ram => {
352                tracing::debug!("Scanning whole RAM");
353
354                core.memory_regions()
355                    .filter_map(MemoryRegion::as_ram_region)
356                    .map(|r| r.range.clone())
357                    .collect()
358            }
359            ScanRegion::Ranges(regions) if regions.is_empty() => {
360                // We have no regions to scan so we cannot initialize RTT.
361                tracing::debug!(
362                    "ELF file has no RTT block symbol, and this target does not support automatic scanning"
363                );
364                return Err(Error::NoControlBlockLocation);
365            }
366            ScanRegion::Ranges(regions) => {
367                tracing::debug!("Scanning regions: {:#010x?}", region);
368                regions
369            }
370        };
371
372        let mut instances = ranges
373            .into_iter()
374            .filter_map(|range| {
375                let range_len = range.end.checked_sub(range.start)?;
376                let Ok(range_len) = usize::try_from(range_len) else {
377                    // FIXME: This is not ideal because it means that we
378                    // won't consider a >4GiB region if probe-rs is running
379                    // on a 32-bit host, but it would be relatively unusual
380                    // to use a 32-bit host to debug a 64-bit target.
381                    tracing::warn!("Region too long ({} bytes), ignoring", range_len);
382                    return None;
383                };
384
385                let mut mem = vec![0; range_len];
386                core.read(range.start, &mut mem).ok()?;
387
388                let offset = mem
389                    .windows(Self::RTT_ID.len())
390                    .position(|w| w == Self::RTT_ID)?;
391
392                let target_ptr = range.start + offset as u64;
393
394                Some(target_ptr)
395            })
396            .collect::<Vec<_>>();
397
398        match instances.len() {
399            0 => Err(Error::ControlBlockNotFound),
400            1 => Ok(instances.remove(0)),
401            _ => Err(Error::MultipleControlBlocksFound(instances)),
402        }
403    }
404
405    /// Returns the memory address of the control block in target memory.
406    pub fn ptr(&self) -> u64 {
407        self.ptr
408    }
409
410    /// Returns a reference to the detected up channels.
411    pub fn up_channels(&mut self) -> &mut [UpChannel] {
412        &mut self.up_channels
413    }
414
415    /// Returns a reference to the detected down channels.
416    pub fn down_channels(&mut self) -> &mut [DownChannel] {
417        &mut self.down_channels
418    }
419
420    /// Returns a particular up channel.
421    pub fn up_channel(&mut self, channel: usize) -> Option<&mut UpChannel> {
422        self.up_channels.get_mut(channel)
423    }
424
425    /// Returns a particular down channel.
426    pub fn down_channel(&mut self, channel: usize) -> Option<&mut DownChannel> {
427        self.down_channels.get_mut(channel)
428    }
429
430    /// Returns the size of the RTT control block.
431    pub fn control_block_size(core: &Core) -> usize {
432        let is_64_bit = core.is_64_bit();
433        RttControlBlockHeader::minimal_header_size(is_64_bit)
434    }
435}
436
437/// Used to specify which memory regions to scan for the RTT control block.
438#[derive(Clone, Debug, Default)]
439pub enum ScanRegion {
440    /// Scans all RAM regions known to probe-rs. This is the default and should always work, however
441    /// if your device has a lot of RAM, scanning all of it is slow.
442    #[default]
443    Ram,
444
445    /// Limit scanning to the memory addresses covered by all of the given ranges. It is up to the
446    /// user to ensure that reading from this range will not read from undefined memory.
447    Ranges(Vec<Range<u64>>),
448
449    /// Tries to find the control block starting at this exact address. It is up to the user to
450    /// ensure that reading the necessary bytes after the pointer will no read from undefined
451    /// memory.
452    Exact(u64),
453}
454
455impl ScanRegion {
456    /// Creates a new `ScanRegion` that scans the given memory range.
457    ///
458    /// The memory range should be in a single memory block of the target.
459    pub fn range(range: Range<u64>) -> Self {
460        Self::Ranges(vec![range])
461    }
462}
463
464/// Error type for RTT operations.
465#[derive(thiserror::Error, Debug, docsplay::Display)]
466pub enum Error {
467    /// There is no control block location given. This usually means RTT is not present in the
468    /// firmware.
469    NoControlBlockLocation,
470
471    /// RTT control block not found in target memory.
472    /// - Make sure RTT is initialized on the target, AND that there are NO target breakpoints before RTT initialization.
473    /// - For VSCode and probe-rs-debugger users, using `halt_after_reset:true` in your `launch.json` file will prevent RTT
474    ///   initialization from happening on time.
475    /// - Depending on the target, sleep modes can interfere with RTT.
476    ControlBlockNotFound,
477
478    /// Multiple control blocks found in target memory: {display_list(_0)}.
479    MultipleControlBlocksFound(Vec<u64>),
480
481    /// The control block has been corrupted: {0}
482    ControlBlockCorrupted(String),
483
484    /// Attempted an RTT operation against a Core number that is different from the Core number against which RTT was initialized. Expected {0}, found {1}
485    IncorrectCoreSpecified(usize, usize),
486
487    /// Error communicating with the probe.
488    Probe(#[from] crate::Error),
489
490    /// Unexpected error while reading {0} from target memory. Please report this as a bug.
491    MemoryRead(String),
492
493    /// Some uncategorized error occurred.
494    Other(#[from] anyhow::Error),
495
496    /// The read pointer changed unexpectedly.
497    ReadPointerChanged,
498
499    /// Channel {0} does not exist.
500    MissingChannel(usize),
501}
502
503fn display_list(list: &[u64]) -> String {
504    list.iter()
505        .map(|ptr| format!("{ptr:#010x}"))
506        .collect::<Vec<_>>()
507        .join(", ")
508}
509
510fn try_attach_to_rtt_inner(
511    mut try_attach_once: impl FnMut() -> Result<Rtt, Error>,
512    timeout: Duration,
513) -> Result<Rtt, Error> {
514    let t = Instant::now();
515    let mut attempt = 1;
516    loop {
517        tracing::debug!("Initializing RTT (attempt {attempt})...");
518
519        match try_attach_once() {
520            err @ Err(Error::NoControlBlockLocation) => return err,
521            Err(_) if t.elapsed() < timeout => {
522                attempt += 1;
523                tracing::debug!("Failed to initialize RTT. Retrying until timeout.");
524                thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(50));
525            }
526            other => return other,
527        }
528    }
529}
530
531/// Try to attach to RTT, with the given timeout.
532pub fn try_attach_to_rtt(
533    core: &mut Core<'_>,
534    timeout: Duration,
535    rtt_region: &ScanRegion,
536) -> Result<Rtt, Error> {
537    try_attach_to_rtt_inner(|| Rtt::attach_region(core, rtt_region), timeout)
538}
539
540/// Try to attach to RTT, with the given timeout.
541pub fn try_attach_to_rtt_shared(
542    session: &parking_lot::FairMutex<Session>,
543    core_id: usize,
544    timeout: Duration,
545    rtt_region: &ScanRegion,
546) -> Result<Rtt, Error> {
547    try_attach_to_rtt_inner(
548        || {
549            let mut session_handle = session.lock();
550            let mut core = session_handle.core(core_id)?;
551            Rtt::attach_region(&mut core, rtt_region)
552        },
553        timeout,
554    )
555}
556
557#[cfg(test)]
558mod test {
559    use super::*;
560
561    #[test]
562    fn test_how_control_block_list_looks() {
563        let error = Error::MultipleControlBlocksFound(vec![0x2000, 0x3000]);
564        assert_eq!(
565            error.to_string(),
566            "Multiple control blocks found in target memory: 0x00002000, 0x00003000."
567        );
568    }
569}