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Linaro Forge

Linaro Forge is a suite of profiling and debugging tools, that includes the DDT debugger and the MAP performance analysis tool.

Linaro DDT debugger and Linaro MAP performance analysis tool

We have separate user guides for the tools provided by the linaro-forge uenv. The documentation here shows how to download the uenv, and how to set up your environment.

Once you are set up, follow the specific guides:

Quickstart guide

The Linaro uenv is named linaro-forge, and the available versions can be determined using the uenv image find command, as explained in the uenv documentation.

Finding available linaro-forge versions 
$ uenv image find linaro-forge
uenv                    arch   system  id                size(MB)  date
linaro-forge/24.1.1:v1  gh200  daint   e0e79f5c3e6a8ee0  365       2025-02-12

$ uenv image pull linaro-forge/24.1.1:v1
pulling e0e79f5c3e6a8ee0 100.00% --- 365/365 (0.00 MB/s)

This uenv is configured to be mounted in the /user-tools path so that they can be used alongside application and development uenv mounted at /user-environment.

When using alongside another uenv, start a uenv session with both uenv. In the following example, the prgenv-gnu and linaro-forge uenv will be mounted at /user-environment and /user-tools respectively:

$ uenv start prgenv-gnu/24.11,linaro-forge/24.1.1 \
    --view=prgenv-gnu:default,forge

$ uenv status # (1)!

$ ddt --version # (2)!
Linaro DDT Part of Linaro Forge.
Copyright (c) 2023-2024 Linaro Limited. All rights reserved.
Version: 24.1.1
  1. Test that everything has been mounted correctly by looking at uenv status. There will be warnings if there are problems.
  2. Check that the DDT debugger is in the path.

Note

The linaro-forge uenv is always mounted at the /user-tools mount point, and a script /user-tools/activate is provided to load both ddt and map into your environment, without needing to use a view.

$ uenv start linaro-forge/14.1.1
$ source /user-tools/activate
$ ddt --version
Linaro DDT Part of Linaro Forge.
Copyright (c) 2023-2024 Linaro Limited. All rights reserved.
Version: 24.1.1

Install and configure the Linaro client on your local machine

We recommend installing the Linaro desktop client on your local workstation or laptop. It can be downloaded for a selection of operating systems.

Warning

Make sure you download the Linaro desktop client matching the version of the linaro-forge uenv you are planning to use.

Mismatched desktop client and uenv versions

Mismatches between the client and the uenv version will lead to the following error when trying to establish a remote connection:

The local version of Linaro DDT (24.0.6) is not compatible with the remote version (24.1.1).

The client can be configured to connect with the debug jobs running on Alps, offering a better user experience compared to running with X11 forwarding. Once installed, the client needs to be configured to connect to the vCluster on which you are working.

First, start the client on your laptop:

Warning

The path will change if you have installed a different version, or if it has been installed in a non-standard installation location.

$HOME/linaro/forge/24.1.1/bin/ddt

Warning

The path will change if you have installed a different version, or if it has been installed in a non-standard installation location. Please use the appropriate path and version for your installation.

open /Applications/Linaro\ Forge\ Client\ 24.1.1.app/

Next, configure a connection to the target system. Open the Remote Launch menu and click on Configure... then Add. Examples of the settings are below.

Warning

The Remote Installation Directory will change if you are using a different version of the linaro-forge uenv. Please use the appropriate version for your setup.

Field Value
Connection daint
Host Name cscsusername@ela.cscs.ch cscsusername@daint.cscs.ch
Remote Installation Directory uenv run linaro-forge/24.1.1:/user-tools -- /user-tools/env/forge/
Private Key ~/.ssh/cscs-key

Warning

The Remote Installation Directory will change if you are using a different version of the linaro-forge uenv. Please use the appropriate version for your setup.

Field Value
Connection santis
Host Name cscsusername@ela.cscs.ch cscsusername@santis.cscs.ch
Remote Installation Directory uenv run linaro-forge/24.1.1:/user-tools -- /user-tools/env/forge/
Private Key ~/.ssh/cscs-key

Warning

The Remote Installation Directory will change if you are using a different version of the linaro-forge uenv. Please use the appropriate version for your setup.

Field Value
Connection clariden
Host Name cscsusername@ela.cscs.ch cscsusername@clariden.cscs.ch
Remote Installation Directory uenv run linaro-forge/24.1.1:/user-tools -- /user-tools/env/forge/
Private Key ~/.ssh/cscs-key

Warning

The Remote Installation Directory will change if you are using a different version of the linaro-forge uenv. Please use the appropriate version for your setup.

Field Value
Connection eiger
Host Name cscsusername@ela.cscs.ch cscsusername@eiger.cscs.ch
Remote Installation Directory uenv run linaro-forge/24.1.1:/user-tools -- /user-tools/env/forge/
Private Key ~/.ssh/cscs-key

Tip

It is recommended to log into Alps using ela.cscs.ch as a ssh Jump host, as explained here. In that case, you can remove cscsusername@ela.cscs.ch from the Linaro client configuration above.

Some notes on the examples above:

  • SSH forwarding via ela.cscs.ch is used to access the cluster;
  • replace the username cscsusername with your CSCS user name that you would normally use to open an SSH connection to CSCS;
  • Remote Installation Directory is pointing to the install directory of DDT inside the uenv image;
  • private keys should be the ones generated for CSCS MFA, and this field does not need to be set if you have added the key to your SSH agent.

Once configured, test and save the configuration:

  1. check whether the configuration is correct by clicking Test Remote Launch (and then OK when the test is successful),
  2. click on OK and then Close to save the configuration.
  3. You can now connect by going to Remote Launch and choose the entry (Connection name) you added. If the client fails to connect, look at the error message, check your SSH configuration and make sure you can SSH without the client.

Troubleshooting

Notes about known issues.

The proxy type is invalid for this operation

If the tool fails to launch with the following error message: 

Error communicating with Licence Server velan.cscs.ch:
The proxy type is invalid for this operation
Attempting again while ignoring proxies.

Proxy environment variables need to be set to let the tool connect to the license server, as explained in Compute node proxy configuration.

AMD GPU support

CSCS does not currently have a Linaro license for AMD GPUs.