Visual Studio Code requires some configuration files, and a tailored settings.json
file to understand serenity.
The WSL Remote extension allows you to use VS Code in Windows while using the normal WSL workflow. This works well, but for code comprehension speed you should put the Serenity directory on your WSL root partition.
The recommended extensions for VS Code include:
Clangd has the best support for cross-compiling workflows, especially if configured as noted below. The Microsoft C/C++ tools can work, but require a lot more configuration and may not understand the sysroot in use.
The official clangd extension can be used for C++ comprehension. It is recommended in general, as it is most likely to work on all platforms.
clangd uses compile_commands.json
files to understand the project. CMake will generate these in either Build/x86_64, Build/x86_64clang, and Build/lagom.
Depending on which configuration you use most, set the CompilationDatabase configuration item in the below .clangd
file accordingly. It goes at the root of your checkout (serenity/.clangd
):
CompileFlags:
Add: [-D__serenity__]
CompilationDatabase: Build/x86_64
Run ./Meta/serenity.sh run
at least once to generate the compile_commands.json
file.
In addition to the .clangd
file, the settings.json
file below has a required clangd.arguments
entry for --query-driver
that allows clangd to find the cross-compiler's built-in include paths.
-
Some distribution clangd packages still have issues identifying paths to the serenity cross-compilers' builtin include paths after supplying the
--query-driver
option fromsettings.json
. This has been seen on at least Debian. If the inlay hints suggest that<new>
cannot be found, first triple check your configuration matches the.clangd
file from this section, verify that you've run the OS viaMeta/serenity.sh run
, and quadruple check yourclangd.arguments
section in the project-localsettings.json
file. If all of the above are correct, buildingclangd
from the serenity clang toolchain is known to work. See AdvancedBuildInstructions for steps on how to build it from source. After building from source, be sure to setclangd.path
in yoursettings.json
to${workspaceFolder}/Toolchain/Local/clang/bin/clangd
. -
clangd has a tendency to crash when stressing bleeding edge compiler features. You can usually just restart it via the command palette. If that doesn't help, close currently open C++ files and/or switch branches before restarting, which helps sometimes.
There's a syntax highlighter extension for SerenityOS DSLs called "SerenityOS DSL Syntax Highlight", available here or here. The extension provides syntax highlighting for LibIPC's IPC files, LibGUI's GUI Markup Language (GML), Web IDL, and LibJS's serialization format (no extension) as output by js with the -d option.
This extension can be used as-is, but you need to point it to the custom Serenity compilers. Note that enabling the extension in the same workspace as the
clangd and clang-format extensions will cause conflicts. If you choose to use Microsoft C/C++ Tools rather than clangd and clang-format, use the
following c_cpp_properties.json
to circumvent some errors. Even with the configuration in place, the extension will likely still report errors related to types and methods not being found.
.vscode/c_cpp_properties.json
{
"configurations": [
{
"name": "userland-x86_64-gcc",
"includePath": [
"${workspaceFolder}",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/Userland",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/Userland/Applications",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/Userland/Libraries",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/Userland/Services",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/Root/usr/include/**",
"${workspaceFolder}/Userland",
"${workspaceFolder}/Userland/Libraries",
"${workspaceFolder}/Userland/Libraries/LibC",
"${workspaceFolder}/Userland/Services",
"${workspaceFolder}/Toolchain/Local/x86_64/x86_64-pc-serenity/include/c++/**"
],
"defines": [
"DEBUG",
"__serenity__"
],
"compilerPath": "${workspaceFolder}/Toolchain/Local/x86_64/bin/x86_64-pc-serenity-g++",
"cStandard": "c17",
"cppStandard": "c++20",
"intelliSenseMode": "linux-gcc-x86",
"compileCommands": "Build/x86_64/compile_commands.json",
"compilerArgs": [
"-Wall",
"-Wextra",
"-Werror"
],
"browse": {
"path": [
"${workspaceFolder}",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/Userland",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/Userland/Applications",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/Userland/Libraries",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/Userland/Services",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/Root/usr/include/**",
"${workspaceFolder}/Userland",
"${workspaceFolder}/Userland/Libraries",
"${workspaceFolder}/Userland/Libraries/LibC",
"${workspaceFolder}/Userland/Services",
"${workspaceFolder}/Toolchain/Local/x86_64/x86_64-pc-serenity/include/c++/**"
],
"limitSymbolsToIncludedHeaders": true,
"databaseFilename": "${workspaceFolder}/Build/x86_64/"
}
}
],
"version": 4
}
The clang-format extension works out of the box. clang-format
support is also included with the Microsoft C/C++ tools (see above). The settings below include a key that makes the Microsoft extension use the proper style.
These belong in the .vscode/settings.json
of Serenity.
{
// Excluding the generated directories keeps your file view clean and speeds up search.
"files.exclude": {
"**/.git": true,
"Toolchain/Local/**": true,
"Toolchain/Tarballs/**": true,
"Toolchain/Build/**": true,
"Build/**": true,
"build/**": true,
},
"search.exclude": {
"**/.git": true,
"Toolchain/Local/**": true,
"Toolchain/Tarballs/**": true,
"Toolchain/Build/**": true,
"Build/**": true,
"build/**": true,
},
// Force clang-format to respect Serenity's .clang-format style file. This is not necessary if you're not using the Microsoft C++ extension.
"C_Cpp.clang_format_style": "file",
// Tab settings
"editor.tabSize": 4,
"editor.useTabStops": false,
// format trailing new lines
"files.trimFinalNewlines": true,
"files.insertFinalNewline": true,
// git commit message length
"git.inputValidationLength": 72,
"git.inputValidationSubjectLength": 72,
// Tell clangd to ask the cross-compilers for their builtin include paths
"clangd.arguments": [
"--query-driver=${workspaceFolder}/Toolchain/Local/**/*",
"--header-insertion=never" // See https://github.com/clangd/clangd/issues/1247
]
}
You can create custom tasks (.vscode/tasks.json
) to quickly compile Serenity.
The following three example tasks should suffice in most situations, and allow you to specify the build system to use, as well as give you error highlighting.
Note: The Assertion und KUBSan Problem matchers will only run after you have closed qemu.
.vscode/tasks.json
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"label": "build lagom",
"type": "shell",
"problemMatcher": [
{
"base": "$gcc",
"fileLocation": [
"relative",
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/lagom"
]
}
],
"command": [
"bash"
],
"args": [
"-c",
"\"Meta/serenity.sh build lagom\""
],
"presentation": {
"echo": true,
"reveal": "always",
"focus": false,
"group": "build",
"panel": "shared",
"showReuseMessage": true,
"clear": true
}
},
{
"label": "build",
"type": "shell",
"command": "bash",
"args": [
"-c",
"Meta/serenity.sh build ${input:arch} ${input:compiler}"
],
"problemMatcher": [
{
"base": "$gcc",
"fileLocation": [
"relative",
// FIXME: Clang uses ${input:arch}clang
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/${input:arch}"
]
},
{
"source": "gcc",
"fileLocation": [
"relative",
// FIXME: Clang uses ${input:arch}clang
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/${input:arch}"
],
"pattern": [
{
"regexp": "^([^\\s]*\\.S):(\\d*): (.*)$",
"file": 1,
"location": 2,
"message": 3
}
]
}
],
"group": {
"kind": "build",
"isDefault": true
}
},
{
"label": "launch",
"type": "shell",
"command": "bash",
"args": [
"-c",
"Meta/serenity.sh run ${input:arch} ${input:compiler}"
],
"options": {
"env": {
// Put your custom run configuration here, e.g. SERENITY_RAM_SIZE
}
},
"problemMatcher": [
{
"base": "$gcc",
"fileLocation": [
"relative",
// FIXME: Clang uses ${input:arch}clang
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/${input:arch}"
]
},
{
"source": "gcc",
"fileLocation": [
"relative",
// FIXME: Clang uses ${input:arch}clang
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/${input:arch}"
],
"pattern": [
{
"regexp": "^([^\\s]*\\.S):(\\d*): (.*)$",
"file": 1,
"location": 2,
"message": 3
}
]
},
{
"source": "KUBSan",
"owner": "cpp",
"fileLocation": [
"relative",
"${workspaceFolder}"
],
"pattern": [
{
"regexp": "KUBSAN: (.*)",
"message": 0
},
{
"regexp": "KUBSAN: at ../(.*), line (\\d*), column: (\\d*)",
"file": 1,
"line": 2,
"column": 3
}
]
},
{
"source": "Assertion Failed",
"owner": "cpp",
"pattern": [
{
"regexp": "ASSERTION FAILED: (.*)$",
"message": 1
},
{
"regexp": "^((?:.*)\\.(h|cpp|c|S)):(\\d*)$",
"file": 1,
"location": 3
}
],
"fileLocation": [
"relative",
// FIXME: Clang uses ${input:arch}clang
"${workspaceFolder}/Build/${input:arch}"
]
}
]
}
],
"inputs": [
{
"id": "compiler",
"description": "Compiler to use",
"type": "pickString",
"default": "GNU",
"options": [
"GNU",
"Clang"
]
},
{
"id": "arch",
"description": "Architecture to compile for",
"type": "pickString",
"default": "x86_64",
"options": [
"x86_64",
"aarch64"
]
}
]
}
The following snippet may be useful if you want to quickly generate a license header, put it in .vscode/serenity.code-snippets
:
{
"License": {
"scope": "cpp,c",
"prefix": "license",
"body": [
"/*",
" * Copyright (c) $CURRENT_YEAR, ${1:Your Name} <${2:[email protected]}>.",
" *",
" * SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause",
" */"
],
"description": "License header"
}
}