VSCode GCC+WSL Configuration

README.md

Build and debug C in VSCode on Windows Subsystem for Linux

This set of launch.json and task.json files allow you to build and debug individual C files from within Windows while using the gcc collection installed within your WSL environment.

Steps

Ensure you have GCC+GDB installed in WSL

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y gcc gdb

Add the launch.json and tasks.json files to your project

Exactly what is says on the tin...

Open a C program's main() file and press F5

This will run the Build (GCC) build task, which can be manually triggered with Ctrl+Shift+B and will then launch the compiled binary within WSL, attaching a gdb debugger to it.

launch.json

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "(gdb) Launch",
            "type": "cppdbg",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${fileBasenameNoExtension}",
            "args": [],
            "stopAtEntry": false,
            "cwd": ".",
            "environment": [],
            "externalConsole": true,
            "pipeTransport": {
                "debuggerPath": "/usr/bin/gdb",
                "pipeProgram": "${env:windir}\\sysnative\\bash.exe",
                "pipeArgs": [
                    "-c"
                ],
                "pipeCwd": "${fileDirname}"
            },
            "logging": {
                "engineLogging": true,
                "trace": true
            },
            "setupCommands": [
                {
                    "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
                    "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
                    "ignoreFailures": true
                }
            ],
            "targetArchitecture": "x64",
            "preLaunchTask": "Build (GCC)",
            "sourceFileMap": {
                "/mnt/c": "c:\\",
                "/mnt/d": "d:\\"
            }
        },
    ]
}

tasks.json

{
    // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
    // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "Build (GCC)",
            "command": "gcc",
            "type": "shell",
            "args": [
                "-o",
                "$(wslpath '${fileDirname}/${fileBasenameNoExtension}')",
                "-g",
                "$(wslpath '${file}')"
            ],
            "problemMatcher": [
                "$gcc"
            ],
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            },
            "options": {
                "shell": {
                    "executable": "${env:windir}\\sysnative\\bash.exe",
                    "args": [
                        "-c"
                    ]
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}