CLion 2016.1 Help

Attaching to Local Process

Basics

Attach to local process feature allows you to debug a project which you are developing in CLion, but (for some reasons) are not able to launch directly from your IDE. Currently in CLion you can attach to local process with GDB on Windows and Linux or LLDB on OS X for the C/C++ applications and Python debugger for the Python scripts and use all the debugging instruments available in CLion.

Prerequisites for Ubuntu users

If you are using CLion on Ubuntu (or probably, on some other Linux distribution), upon the first attempt to attach to the local process you can get the ptrace: Operation not permitted. error message. To disable it and enable attach to the local process feature, do the following:

  • To disable this restriction temporarily, enter the command:
    echo 0 | sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope
  • To disable this restriction permanently, open the file /etc/sysctl.d/10-ptrace.conf for editing and change the line kernel.yama.ptrace_scope = 1 to kernel.yama.ptrace_scope = 0. To apply the changes, enter sudo service procps restart or restart your system, at your choice.
You can find more details here.

Attaching to local process

  1. Launch the process intended for debugging. You can do it from operating system or using the CLion terminal. Note, that your project shall exist in CLion (as created or imported).
  2. To find the process to attach to, do one of the following:
    • On the main menu, select the Run | Attach to Local Process option.
      cl_attachMainMenu
      .
    • On the main menu, select the Help | Find Action option (or press Ctrl+Shift+A). In the list of actions that appears, find the desired action by typing the first letters and select it.
      cl_attachFindAction
  3. From the list of available processes that appears, select the desired process. Simplify your search by typing the first letters of its name or PID
    cl_attachGDB
    or for the Python script:
    cl_attachPython
  4. Proceed with debugging in the same way as you usually do it in CLion.
  5. When finished, detach the process: select the Run | Stop menu option or click the Stop the process button of the Debug Tool Window
Last modified: 20 July 2016