Debugging SYCL Programs on Heterogeneous Intel® Architectures

Abstract

Intel recently announced a large initiative named oneAPI that provides a direct programming model based on SYCL. As part of the oneAPI distribution, we developed a debugger that can be used for debugging SYCL programs that offload kernels to CPU, GPU, or FPGA emulator devices. The debugger is based on GDB. It allows programmers to inspect the host and kernel portion of their SYCL programs seamlessly in the same debug session. To realize the debugger, we made enhancements to GDB including SIMD-based thread views and C++-related improvements. In this work we present the general architecture of the debugger, provide a sample session of how it can be used to debug a SYCL kernel running on a GPU, and discuss the encountered and anticipated challenges during the development phase. Currently a beta version of the debugger is publicly available.