Vxworks Command Cheat | Sheet

  • Debug a stack overflow:

  • Flash or update image:

    • Since the shell is a C interpreter, you can declare and print variables:

    int x = 42;               // Declare
char * msg = "Hello";     // Declare string
printVal x;               // Print value
printf("Msg: %s\n", msg); // Use stdio functions

    | Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | msgQShow | Show message queues | | msgQSend <qId> <msg> <size> <timeout> | Send a message | | msgQReceive <qId> <buffer> <maxSize> <timeout> | Receive a message | vxworks command cheat sheet

    | Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | version | Show VxWorks version | | sysSuspend | Halt system (debug mode) | | sysResume | Resume from sysSuspend | | reboot | Reboot the system | | printError <errno> | Print description of error number | | errno | Show last error number of current task | | show <kernelObject> | Generic object info (e.g., show tasks, show semaphores) | | checkStack | Check stack usage of all tasks | | spy | Monitor task CPU usage (requires spyLib) |

    VxWorks provides dynamic memory pools and heap inspection commands.

  • malloc, free — Standard allocation functions exist in user code; shell offers mallocShow in some BSPs. Debug a stack overflow:

  • sysMemTop / memPartInfo — Inspect partitions and region sizes (implementation dependent).

  • cacheShow / cacheFlush — Inspect and flush CPU caches when working with DMA or memory-mapped I/O.

    • Best practice: flush caches before handing buffers to DMA; prefer statically allocated buffers where possible in hard real-time paths. Flash or update image:

    You are a low-level engineer. You need to peek and poke at physical memory.

    | Command | Description | Example | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | d | Display (dump) memory in hex and ASCII. | d 0x00100000, 100 (dump 100 bytes) | | d.b | Display bytes. | d.b 0x80001000 | | d.w | Display words (2 bytes). | d.w 0x80001000 | | d.l | Display long words (4 bytes). | d.l 0x80001000 | | m | Modify memory (interactive). | m 0x80001000 | | m.b / m.w / m.l | Modify bytes/words/longs. | m.l 0x80001000 0xDEADBEEF | | fill | Fill a memory region with a value. | fill 0x80000000, 0x100, 0xFF | | copy | Copy memory region. | copy 0x8000, 0x9000, 0x200 |