tree: 40ec8b8832f77d7af5516197d8529ae2cc38596a [path history] [tgz]
  1. tests/
  2. Debugger-Mutator-Protocol.md
  3. README.md
  4. RWI_ARCHITECTURE.md
  5. testwasmdebugger.cpp
  6. WasmBreakpointManager.cpp
  7. WasmBreakpointManager.h
  8. WasmDebugServer.cpp
  9. WasmDebugServer.h
  10. WasmDebugServerUtilities.cpp
  11. WasmDebugServerUtilities.h
  12. WasmExecutionHandler.cpp
  13. WasmExecutionHandler.h
  14. WasmGDBPacketParser.cpp
  15. WasmGDBPacketParser.h
  16. WasmMemoryHandler.cpp
  17. WasmMemoryHandler.h
  18. WasmModuleDebugInfo.cpp
  19. WasmModuleDebugInfo.h
  20. WasmModuleManager.cpp
  21. WasmModuleManager.h
  22. WasmQueryHandler.cpp
  23. WasmQueryHandler.h
  24. WasmVirtualAddress.cpp
  25. WasmVirtualAddress.h
Source/JavaScriptCore/wasm/debugger/README.md

WebAssembly Debugger for JavaScriptCore

A comprehensive debugging solution that enables LLDB debugging of WebAssembly code running in JavaScriptCore's IPInt (In-Place Interpreter) tier through the GDB Remote Serial Protocol.

Related Documentation:

  • This document: JSC debug server implementation (both Standalone and RWI modes)
  • RWI_ARCHITECTURE.md: WebKit integration architecture (RWI mode details)
  • Debugger-Mutator-Protocol.md: Thread synchronization protocol and control flow diagrams

What is this project?

This project implements a WebAssembly debugger server that bridges the gap between LLDB (the LLVM debugger) and WebAssembly code execution in JavaScriptCore. It allows developers to:

  • Set breakpoints in WebAssembly functions
  • Step through WebAssembly bytecode instruction by instruction
  • Inspect WebAssembly locals, globals, and memory
  • View call stacks across WebAssembly function calls
  • Disassemble WebAssembly bytecode in real-time

The implementation follows the GDB Remote Serial Protocol standard with wasm extension.

Design and Architecture

High-Level Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        LLDB Debugger                            │
│  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  │
│  │   Breakpoints   │  │  Symbol Lookup  │  │ Execution Ctrl  │  │
│  │   Management    │  │   & Modules     │  │   & Stepping    │  │
│  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘
                              │ GDB Remote Protocol (TCP:1234)
                              │
┌─────────────────────────────▼───────────────────────────────────┐
│                      WasmDebugServer                            │
│  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  │
│  │Execution Handler│  │ Memory Handler  │  │ Query Handler   │  │
│  │(Breakpoints)    │  │ (WASM Memory)   │  │(Capabilities)   │  │
│  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  │
│  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  │
│  │ Module Manager  │  │Breakpoint Mgr   │  │                 │  │
│  │ (Virtual Addrs) │  │(Helper Class)   │  │                 │  │
│  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘
                              │ Module Tracking & Execution Hooks
                              │
┌─────────────────────────────▼───────────────────────────────────┐
│                JavaScriptCore WebAssembly Engine                │
│  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  │
│  │JSWebAssemblyMod │  │ IPInt Execution │  │ Debug Info      │  │
│  │(Module Tracking)│  │ (Interpreter)   │  │ (PC Mapping)    │  │
│  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Core Components

1. WasmDebugServer - Main Debug Server

  • Location: WasmDebugServer.h/cpp
  • Purpose: Central coordinator implementing GDB Remote Protocol
  • Two Modes:
    • Standalone Mode: TCP socket server (default port 1234) for JSC shell debugging
    • RWI Mode: IPC-based communication for WebKit/WebContent debugging (see RWI_ARCHITECTURE.md)
  • Key Features:
    • Protocol packet parsing and response generation
    • Contains all protocol handlers and helper classes

2. Protocol Handlers - GDB Command Processing

  • ExecutionHandler: Breakpoints, continue, step, interrupt
  • MemoryHandler: Memory read/write operations
  • QueryHandler: Capability negotiation and queries

3. Helper Classes - Supporting Components

  • ModuleManager: Virtual address space management and module tracking
  • BreakpointManager: Breakpoint storage and management
  • VirtualAddress: 64-bit virtual address encoding for LLDB compatibility

Virtual Address Space Design

The debugger uses a sophisticated virtual address encoding system to present WebAssembly modules and memory to LLDB:

Address Format (64-bit):
- Bits 63-62: Address Type (2 bits)
- Bits 61-32: ID (30 bits) - ModuleID for code, InstanceID for memory  
- Bits 31-0:  Offset (32 bits)

Address Types:
- 0x00 (Memory): Instance linear memory
- 0x01 (Module): Module code/bytecode
- 0x02 (Invalid): Invalid/unmapped regions
- 0x03 (Invalid2): Invalid/unmapped regions

Virtual Memory Layout:
- 0x0000000000000000 - 0x3FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF: Memory regions
- 0x4000000000000000 - 0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF: Module regions  
- 0x8000000000000000 - 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF: Invalid regions

Protocol Implementation

Execution Control

  • [DONE] gdb-remote localhost:1234: Attach to debugger
  • [DONE] process interrupt, ctrl+C: Stop execution at function entry
  • [DONE] continue: Resume WebAssembly execution
  • [DONE] breakpoint set: Set breakpoints at virtual addresses
  • [DONE] step over: Step over function calls
  • [DONE] step in: Step into function calls and exception handlers
  • [DONE] step out: Step out of current function
  • [DONE] step instruction: Single step through bytecode

Inspection

  • [DONE] target modules list: List loaded WebAssembly modules
  • [DONE] disassemble: Display WebAssembly bytecode
  • [DONE] bt (backtrace): Show WebAssembly call stack
  • [DONE] frame variable: List local variables
  • [DONE] memory region --all: List memory regions
  • [DONE] memory read: Read WebAssembly memory and module source
  • [TODO] memory write: Write to memory? source? or both?

Testing

Unit Tests

The debugger includes comprehensive unit tests that validate debug info generation for WebAssembly opcodes:

# Run unit tests via WebKit build system
./Tools/Scripts/run-javascriptcore-tests --testwasmdebugger

Opcode Coverage (Base OpType):

  • [DONE] Special Ops (FOR_EACH_WASM_SPECIAL_OP)
  • [DONE] Control Flow Ops (FOR_EACH_WASM_CONTROL_FLOW_OP)
  • [DONE] Unary Ops (FOR_EACH_WASM_UNARY_OP)
  • [DONE] Binary Ops (FOR_EACH_WASM_BINARY_OP)
  • [DONE] Memory Load Ops (FOR_EACH_WASM_MEMORY_LOAD_OP)
  • [DONE] Memory Store Ops (FOR_EACH_WASM_MEMORY_STORE_OP)

Extended Opcode Coverage:

  • [TODO] Ext1OpType (FOR_EACH_WASM_EXT1_OP)
  • [PARTIAL] ExtGCOpType (FOR_EACH_WASM_GC_OP) - 2 control flow ops fully tested (BrOnCast, BrOnCastFail), 29 non-control-flow ops have stub tests
  • [TODO] ExtAtomicOpType (FOR_EACH_WASM_EXT_ATOMIC_OP)
  • [TODO] ExtSIMDOpType (FOR_EACH_WASM_EXT_SIMD_OP)

Integration Tests

The JSTests/wasm/debugger includes a comprehensive test framework with auto-discovery, parallel execution, and process isolation capabilities:

# Run comprehensive test framework with LLDB and wasm debugger
python3 JSTests/wasm/debugger/test-wasm-debugger.py

For details, see JSTests/wasm/debugger/README.md.

Manual Testing

Standalone Mode (JSC Shell):

Terminal 1 - Start JSC with debugger:

cd JSTests/wasm/debugger/resources/add
VM=<Path-To-WebKitBuild>/Debug && DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH=$VM lldb $VM/jsc -- --verboseWasmDebugger=1 --wasm-debugger --useConcurrentJIT=0 main.js

Terminal 2 - Connect LLDB:

lldb -o 'log enable gdb-remote packets' -o 'process connect --plugin wasm connect://localhost:1234'

RWI Mode (WebKit/WebContent):

See RWI_ARCHITECTURE.md for complete setup instructions including:

  • Starting Safari/MiniBrowser with --wasm-debugger flag
  • Using WasmDebuggerRWIClient to relay LLDB commands
  • Debugging WebContent processes via Remote Web Inspector

Known Issues and Future Improvements

WASM Stack Value Type Support

  • Issue: Current implementation only supports WASM local variable inspection, missing WASM stack value types
  • Current Support: Local variables with types (parameters and locals in function scope)
  • Missing Support: Stack values with types
  • Solution: Extend debugging protocol to expose WASM operand stack contents with proper type information
  • Benefits: Complete variable inspection during debugging, better understanding of WASM execution state

Extended Opcode Test Coverage

  • Issue: Current unit tests only cover base OpType opcodes; ExtGCOpType has partial coverage with stub implementations
  • Complete Coverage:
    • ExtGCOpType control flow: BrOnCast, BrOnCastFail (fully tested)
  • Partial Coverage:
    • ExtGCOpType non-control-flow: 29 opcodes have stub tests that need proper implementation
  • Missing Coverage:
    • Ext1OpType (table operations, saturated truncation)
    • ExtAtomicOpType (atomic operations)
    • ExtSIMDOpType (SIMD operations)

Client Session Management

  • Issue: Client disconnect, kill, and quit commands only stop the client session for debugging purposes
  • Location: WasmDebugServer.cpp:348-349
  • Solution: Introduce various stop states and proper termination handling

Dynamic Module Notifications

  • Issue: LLDB is not notified when new modules are loaded or unloaded
  • Location: WasmDebugServer.cpp:472, 484
  • Solution: Implement proper LLDB notifications for dynamic module loading/unloading

Multi-Thread Display in LLDB

  • Issue: Thread select and stop reply protocol handlers need improvement to correctly display multi-VM data in LLDB
  • Current Status: Multi-VM stop-the-world is implemented, but thread information may not display correctly in LLDB UI

VM Lifecycle and Synchronization Testing

  • Issue: ExecutionHandler stress tests need additional coverage for VM lifecycle edge cases and race conditions
  • Current Test Limitations: Tests wait for VM construction and instance registration, but this doesn't guarantee VMs are actively running code that checks traps
  • Missing Test Coverage:
    • VM lifecycle edge cases (construction, initialization, instance registration)
    • interrupt() race conditions when VMs are not yet executing code
    • Synchronization between VM construction and actual code execution

X86_64 Support

  • Issue: The WebAssembly debugger is currently restricted to ARM64 platforms only
  • Known Problems on Other Platforms:
    • x86_64: VMTraps race condition causes register corruption during interrupt handling
    • ARM32, iOS: Untested

Protocol References

The following references correspond to the numbered citations used throughout the WebAssembly debugger implementation: