Tasks are the fundamental execution units in VxWorks. Here are the essential commands for controlling and monitoring them:
Best practice: prefer mutexes or priority inheritance-aware primitives to avoid priority inversion; monitor semaphore usage and queue depth with show commands.
The VxWorks kernel shell supports two distinct modes: the and the command interpreter .
rtp sh – Attaches the shell to a specific running Real-Time Process. Environment & Help help – Displays a summary of available shell commands. vxworks command cheat sheet
| Command | Description | |---|---| | lkup "string" | Search symbol table for functions/variables containing string | | lkAddr addr | Display symbols whose values are near a specified address | | l addr, [n] | Disassemble n instructions from address (n defaults to 10) | | moduleShow | Display currently loaded object modules |
If commands are missing from your help output, they may not have been compiled into your image. Confirm the missing range, return to your project configuration to include the required components, and rebuild.
The VxWorks shell (typically the C-style interpreter) has unique syntax rules: Tasks are the fundamental execution units in VxWorks
tt – Prints a stack traceback for a specific task to show the sequence of function calls leading to its current state.
Shows active network sockets, connection states, and port mappings. ipattach() ipattach
Shows detailed block-level statistics for specific memory partitions. rtp sh – Attaches the shell to a
: Commands like cd "/ata0" require double quotes.
Before diving into specific commands, you need to know how to explore what's available in your particular VxWorks image. Different builds may have different components included, so always start here:
VxWorks is a popular real-time operating system (RTOS) used in a wide range of industries, including aerospace, automotive, medical, and industrial automation. As a developer working with VxWorks, it's essential to have a solid understanding of the various commands and tools available to you. In this article, we'll provide a comprehensive VxWorks command cheat sheet, covering the most commonly used commands, tools, and techniques.