Attaching gdb (C++ debugger) to remote python process in VSCode

Question

I need to debug a C++ library function invoked by a Python module in VSCode on a remote server.

I'm using VSCode Remote Development extensions, and debugging C++ code using gdb inside vscode on the remote server works fine, as does debugging Python on the remote.

I've tried both attaching to a paused (waiting for input) python process started from the terminal, and attaching to a python process at a breakpoint launched using the python (remote) debugger in vscode.

In both cases, I attach to the process ID using this launch.json config:

{
            "name": "GDB Attach proc 0",
            "type": "cppdbg",
            "request": "attach",
            "program": "/home/nfs/mharris/anaconda3/envs/cudf_dev/bin/python",
            "processId": "${command:pickProcess}",
            "linux": {
                "MIMode": "gdb",
                "setupCommands": [
                    {
                        "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
                        "description": "enable pretty printing",
                        "ignoreFailures": true
                    },
                    {
                        "text": "handle SIGPIPE nostop noprint pass",
                        "description": "ignore SIGPIPE",
                        "ignoreFailures": true
                    }
                ]
            },
        },

It prints the following in the gdb terminal window:

==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.policykit.exec ===
Authentication is needed to run `/usr/bin/gdb' as the super user
Authenticating as: aseadmin,,, (aseadmin)
Password: [1] + Stopped (tty output)       /usr/bin/pkexec /usr/bin/gdb --interpreter=mi --tty=${DbgTerm} 0</tmp/Microsoft-MIEngine-In-bydexniu.cf5 1>/tmp/Microsoft-MIEngine-Out-mo618uzc.30l
You have stopped jobs.

I believe aseadmin is an admin user on the server. I don't know why it's trying to run gdb as the superuser. I'm connected to the remote using VSCode remote - SSH using ssh key authentication (my username is not aseadmin, so I'm not sure why it's using that).

I'm running vscode-insider (Version: 1.37.0-insider) with the remote development extensions (0.15.0), on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

mechanic · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-29 11:32:26Z

If you try to attach to Python process with GDB from the terminal using gdb --pid=XXX, you might see the output that can help you to resolve authentication issue in one way:

...
Attaching to process 30428
Could not attach to process.  If your uid matches the uid of the target
process, check the setting of /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope, or try
again as the root user.  For more details, see /etc/sysctl.d/10-ptrace.conf
ptrace: Operation not permitted.

Thus, ptrace setting kernel.yama.ptrace_scope=1 is not permitting GDB to attach to the process to not direct childs (see /etc/sysctl.d/10-ptrace.conf for explanation).

To avoid authentication, either:

change config setting (requires reboot)
and/or set value in /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope to 0 (reboot is not required, but not permanent), e.g. sudo echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope

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