JialongWang1201

JialongWang1201 / mkdbg

Public

Hardware-first crash forensics for Cortex-M: staged bring-up, zero-probe UART diagnostics, and causal fault replay for STM32 + FreeRTOS MPU.

bringup cortex-m crash-forensics embedded-debugging fault-telemetry
45
5
100% credibility
Found Mar 26, 2026 at 45 stars -- GitGems finds repos before they trend. Get early access to the next one.
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AI Analysis
C
AI Summary

mkdbg enables quick crash reports for embedded firmware over a serial cable without debug probes.

How It Works

1
🔍 Discover simple crash fixer

You hear about a handy tool that diagnoses microcontroller crashes using only your usual serial cable—no fancy hardware needed.

2
💻 Get the computer helper

Download and install the easy program on your computer in moments.

3
🔧 Add safety snippet to firmware

Paste two tiny functions into your code's error spot and chat routine.

4
🚨 Board crashes unexpectedly

Your device fails, but now it pauses and shares full details over the serial line.

5
🔌 Connect cable and peek

Hook up the serial cable and launch the program to read what went wrong.

✅ See exact crash story

Get a clear report of the fault, location, and call path to fix it quickly.

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Star Growth

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AI-Generated Review

What is mkdbg?

mkdbg delivers hardware-first crash forensics for Cortex-M MCUs like STM32 running FreeRTOS with MPU support. Link a tiny C agent into your firmware; on crash, it dumps registers, backtrace, and fault status over UART—no JTAG probe needed. Run `mkdbg attach --port /dev/ttyUSB0` for instant diagnostics, or `seam analyze` for causal fault replay tracing what led to the failure.

Why is it gaining traction?

It skips debug probes entirely, using your existing serial cable for sub-second crash reports during staged bring-up. The CLI ties into git status, build/flash cycles, and a terminal dashboard for live probe status, plus GDB bridging via UART. Causal analysis stands out, replaying fault chains from event rings to pinpoint root causes beyond basic stack traces.

Who should use this?

Embedded engineers debugging Cortex-M firmware crashes on STM32/FreeRTOS setups, especially MPU-protected kernels during hardware-first bring-up. Ideal for remote diagnostics on production boards with only UART access, or teams needing quick fault forensics without halting on probes. Suits fault replay in CI regressions or field triage.

Verdict

Grab it for UART-only crash diagnostics—works out of the box with minimal porting. At 45 stars and 1.0% credibility, it's early but battle-tested via extensive host tests; solid README and MIT license make it low-risk to try.

(198 words)

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