This extension provides source-level debugging of COBOL programs compiled with the GnuCOBOL COBOL compiler.
July 9, 2020
Bob Dubner
August 6, 2020
Bob Dubner
support@cobolworx.com
## Basic methodology
COBOL source code is compiled with the GnuCOBOL compiler. Debugging information and a gdb extension are added to the executable by the COBOLworx cbl-gdb routines. The resulting executable can be debugged directly by the [GNU Project Debugger `gdb`](https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/).
COBOL source code is compiled with the GnuCOBOL compiler. Debugging information and a gdb extension are added to the executable by the COBOLworx cbl-gdb routines. The resulting executable can be debugged directly by the [GNU Project Debugger `gdb`](https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/).
That executable can also be debugged on the source-code level with this extension, which provides a VSC Debug Adapter that is aware of the COBOLworx extensions to gdb that makes source-level debugging possible.
## Prerequisites - GnuCOBOL
In order to debug a COBOL program, it must first be compiled with an appropriate version of the GnuCOBOL compiler. The compiler must be the 3.1 version or later and build with [GCC](https://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/).
In order to debug a COBOL program, it must first be compiled with an appropriate version of the GnuCOBOL compiler. The compiler must be the 3.1 version or later and built with [GCC](https://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/).
GnuCOBOL installation packages for Ubuntu, RedHat, and Windows can be found at [COBOLworx downloads](https://cobolworx.com/pages/downloads.html).
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## Installation
If you didn't install this extension from [Open VSX Registry](https://open-vsx.org/?search=COBOLworx) or the Microsoft marketplace, then you probably downloaded a file named cbl-gdb-3.1.1.vsix, which is a Visual Studio Code extension package. You have a couple of options for loading the extension into VS code:
If you didn't install this extension from [Open VSX Registry](https://open-vsx.org/?search=COBOLworx) or the [Microsoft Visual Studio Code Marketplace](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/vscode), then you probably downloaded a file named cbl-gdb-3.2.1.vsix, which is a Visual Studio Code extension package. You have a couple of options for loading the extension into VS code:
- From inside Visual Studio Code, use the Command Palette `(Ctrl+Shift+P)` to find "Extensions: Load extension from VSIX..." Select that, and point it at the .VSIX file.
- From the command line, execute `code --install-extension cbl-gdb-3.1.1.vsix`
- From the command line, execute `code --install-extension cbl-gdb-3.2.1.vsix`
## Additional extensions
There are a number of COBOL formatting extensions available at the [Open VSX Registry](https://open-vsx.org/?search=cobol) and Microsoft's marketplace. We've found that `Enterprise COBOL for z/OS` seems to coexist with our Debugging Adapter, and does a reasonable job of formatting the COBOL source code.
There are a number of COBOL formatting extensions available at the [Open VSX Registry](https://open-vsx.org/?search=cobol) and [Microsoft's Visual Studio Code Marketplace](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/vscode). We've found that `Enterprise COBOL for z/OS` seems to coexist with our Debugging Adapter, and does a reasonable job of formatting the COBOL source code.
## Additional configuration of Visual Studio Code.
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