Help in debugging an Audio Server Plugin

Question

Created Aug ’22

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I followed apple's demo application to create an audio server plugin named NullAudio. However, since the code is written in C with some COM interfaces, it is hard for a Swift Programmer. So I want to attach XCode to the Null Audio Plugin to take a look at the method calls.

I googled and found the audio server plugin maybe debug in this way:

Screen Shot 2022-08-16 at 4.07.44 PM.png Note the BGMDevice is another audio server plugin they created.

So I followed, xcode attaches to coreaudiod process.

Screen Shot 2022-08-16 at 4.10.20 PM.png

But any breakpoint in the code just go grey, how can I make the break point active?

Screen Shot 2022-08-16 at 4.10.32 PM.png

Answered by DTS Engineer in 724224022

Those instructions are out of date by several years. In current macOS versions, your ASP runs in its own process. Once you've installed the plugin, you should be able to find its process ID in (e.g.) Activity Monitor, by filtering on the plugin name. Then you should be able to attach directly to that process from Xcode.

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Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Aug ’22

Accepted Answer

Those instructions are out of date by several years. In current macOS versions, your ASP runs in its own process. Once you've installed the plugin, you should be able to find its process ID in (e.g.) Activity Monitor, by filtering on the plugin name. Then you should be able to attach directly to that process from Xcode.

1

Answer 2

kakaiikaka OP

Aug ’22

Updated my successful debug setup, hoping to help someone sometime.

With Activity Monitor opened, one important thing to do is toggle the All Process option. Then you will see your target process. The user of this process is _coreaudiod.

Screen Shot 2022-08-17 at 8.39.12 AM.png

Screen Shot 2022-08-17 at 8.41.07 AM.png

Once you get the PID, you can attach it to the process with its PID. No need to kick restart the coreaudiod service.

Screen Shot 2022-08-17 at 8.44.46 AM.png

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Answer 3

Gschiidli OP

Dec ’22

Hello I also was testing the NullAudio example and could not get XCode to attach to the PID. I found out that I had to disable SIP (system integrity protection) to make it work successfully.

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