In Debugging embedded applications — especially graphical ones — without hardware can be challenging.
Fortunately, emulated environments like QEMU offer an ideal solution for running and debugging cross-compiled ARM64 applications. Using QEMU with IDEs such as Eclipse or VSCode provides a powerful and flexible setup for developers.
Personally, after many years of experience with Eclipse + GDB, I still consider it among the best free solutions for graphical debugging. That said, VSCode has made significant strides recently, offering a smooth and efficient debugging experience.
Why QEMU for LVGL Development?
In this new series of articles, we will explore the fascinating world of QEMU emulation, with a focus on debugging LVGL applications — a library we actively deploy across various hardware platforms.
In this first post, we will cover the basics of how to set up a GDB debugging environment with QEMU (AArch64).
