Common VxWorks Commands and Flash File System Operations

🔧 Essential VxWorks Shell Commands

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The VxWorks shell provides a large collection of diagnostic commands for inspecting tasks, memory, modules, devices, drivers, semaphores, CPU registers, buses, and other system resources.

These commands are especially useful during BSP development, hardware bring-up, driver debugging, system integration, and field diagnostics.

The following table summarizes commonly used commands.

The exact command set depends on the VxWorks version, BSP, processor architecture, and included components. Some commands listed above are BSP-specific rather than standard VxWorks shell commands.

🧵 Task and Process Diagnostics

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Task-related commands are among the most frequently used tools when debugging VxWorks applications.

i

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The i command provides a quick overview of running tasks.

-> i

Passing 0 can be used to request information for all tasks on systems where the command supports the parameter:

-> i 0

This is useful for quickly checking task states, priorities, IDs, and names.

ti

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For more detailed information about a task’s Task Control Block (TCB), use:

-> ti taskId

taskShow

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taskShow provides task-specific diagnostic information and can be useful when investigating task state, priority, stack usage, or synchronization behavior.

-> taskShow taskId

taskRegsShow

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When debugging an exception or abnormal task state, the task’s processor registers can be inspected with:

-> taskRegsShow taskId

Together, these commands provide a useful first step when determining why a task is blocked, suspended, or behaving unexpectedly.

🧠 Memory and Module Inspection

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memShow

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Use memShow to inspect system memory usage:

-> memShow

It can provide information about allocated and available memory and is useful for identifying potential memory leaks or unexpectedly high memory consumption.

memPartShow

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For memory partition details:

-> memPartShow

This command provides additional information about memory partition blocks and their current state.

d

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The d command displays raw memory contents starting at a specified address.

For example:

-> d 0x80000000

This is particularly useful during BSP bring-up when verifying:

• Memory controller initialization
• Flash contents
• Device register mappings
• DMA buffers
• Boot image locations
• Hardware initialization results

moduleShow

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To inspect dynamically loaded modules:

-> moduleShow

This is useful when determining whether a driver or application module has been successfully loaded into the target system.

💾 Device and Driver Inspection

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VxWorks provides several commands for inspecting its I/O subsystem.

devs

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The devs command lists devices currently registered with the system:

-> devs

Typical output may include devices such as:

/null
/tyCo/0
/tyCo/1
/tffs0

This is one of the quickest ways to determine whether a device has been successfully registered.

iosDevShow

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For more detailed device information:

-> iosDevShow

iosDrvShow

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To inspect installed I/O drivers:

-> iosDrvShow

These commands are particularly useful when developing custom device drivers and verifying whether driver initialization has successfully registered the expected device.

🔐 Semaphore Diagnostics

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Semaphore-related problems can cause tasks to remain blocked indefinitely.

Use:

-> semShow

to inspect semaphore information.

This can help identify synchronization problems involving:

• Binary semaphores
• Counting semaphores
• Mutual-exclusion semaphores
• Task synchronization
• Resource contention

When debugging a system that appears to be stalled, checking task states together with semaphore information can often reveal where execution is waiting.

🖥️ CPU and Hardware Diagnostics

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regsShow

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To display processor register information:

-> regsShow

This command is particularly useful during low-level debugging and exception analysis.

coreShow

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Some BSPs provide a coreShow command for inspecting processor and system-level information:

-> coreShow

Depending on the BSP implementation, the output may include:

• CPU frequency
• DDR frequency
• System frequency
• L1 cache information
• L2 cache information
• MSR register values

Because coreShow is typically BSP or architecture dependent, its output can vary significantly between platforms.

coreLbcShow

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On platforms equipped with an applicable Local Bus Controller, the following command can display detailed LBC register information:

-> coreLbcShow

This can be useful when debugging memory-mapped peripherals, Flash devices, or other hardware attached to the local bus.

🚌 VxBus and PCI Diagnostics

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vxBusShow

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For systems using VxBus, use:

-> vxBusShow

to inspect the VxBus device and driver hierarchy.

This is particularly useful when debugging:

• Device discovery
• Driver binding
• Device instances
• Hardware resources
• Bus initialization

pciConfigTopoShow

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PCI configuration topology can be inspected with:

-> pciConfigTopoShow

This is useful for determining how PCI devices and buses were enumerated during system initialization.

pciDevShow

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To inspect a specific PCI device:

-> pciDevShow pciDeviceNumber

For example:

-> pciDevShow 0

The available device numbering and output format depend on the BSP and VxWorks PCI implementation.

🌡️ Temperature Monitoring

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Some BSPs provide a temperature-monitoring command such as:

-> TempratureShow

It displays the current temperature reported by the supported hardware sensor.

Note that TempratureShow is not necessarily a standard VxWorks command. The exact spelling, capitalization, and availability depend on the BSP implementation.

⌨️ Entering VxWorks Command Mode

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The VxWorks shell prompt typically looks like:

->

Commands can be entered directly at this prompt.

For example:

-> version

To enter command mode from an applicable VxWorks environment:

-> cmd

The exact behavior of cmd depends on the shell and BSP configuration.

In environments providing the [ VxWorks ] command interface, the following command may be used to exit command mode:

[ VxWorks ] C

Shell behavior can differ between VxWorks versions, so command availability should be verified against the target image.

📁 Formatting and Restoring a Flash File System

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VxWorks systems commonly use Flash-based file systems for persistent storage of configuration files, application images, startup scripts, and other system data.

A typical workflow involves:

1. Formatting the Flash volume.
2. Navigating to the Flash file-system mount point.
3. Creating a directory.
4. Connecting to an FTP server.
5. Downloading the required file.
6. Verifying the downloaded file size.

1. Format the TFFS Volume

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From the VxWorks shell, execute:

-> sysTffsFormat

This formats the supported TFFS Flash volume.

Warning: Formatting Flash storage destroys the existing file-system contents. Make sure important files have been backed up before performing this operation.

2. Enter the Flash Volume

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After formatting, change to the Flash volume:

-> cd FlashVolume

The actual device or directory name depends on the BSP and TFFS configuration.

3. Create a Directory

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Create a directory for the files to be restored:

-> file create -d FILE_DIR

Replace FILE_DIR with the desired directory name.

For example:

-> file create -d config

4. Enter the New Directory

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Change into the directory:

-> cd FILE_DIR

For example:

-> cd config

5. Connect to the FTP Server

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Start an FTP connection:

-> ftp ip_addr

Replace ip_addr with the address of the FTP server.

The FTP client then prompts for the username and password.

6. Select the Remote Directory

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After logging in, change to the directory containing the file:

ftp> cd directory_of_the_file

For example:

ftp> cd /release/config

7. Select Binary Transfer Mode

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For binary files, especially files such as .ini files that must preserve their exact contents, switch to binary mode:

ftp> binary

Using binary mode avoids unwanted transfer conversions and is the preferred choice when transferring files whose contents must remain byte-for-byte identical.

8. Download the File

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Use get to download the required file:

ftp> get FILE

For example:

ftp> get system.ini

The file is transferred to the current VxWorks directory.

9. Exit FTP

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After the download completes:

ftp> quit

This closes the FTP session and returns control to the VxWorks shell.

10. Verify the Downloaded File

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Finally, inspect the directory:

-> ls -l

Check the downloaded file size against the original file on the FTP server.

For example:

-> ls -l

The size should match the source file. A mismatch may indicate an incomplete transfer, incorrect transfer mode, insufficient storage space, or another communication problem.

🔄 Complete Flash Restore Workflow

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The entire procedure can be summarized as:

                 VxWorks Target
                       │
                       ▼
               sysTffsFormat
                       │
                       ▼
                FlashVolume
                       │
                       ▼
              Create Directory
                       │
                       ▼
                  Start FTP
                       │
                       ▼
              Login to Server
                       │
                       ▼
             Select Remote Path
                       │
                       ▼
                 binary
                       │
                       ▼
                get FILE
                       │
                       ▼
                  quit
                       │
                       ▼
                  ls -l
                       │
                       ▼
              Verify File Size

🛠️ Practical Debugging Workflow

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For day-to-day VxWorks development, these commands can be grouped into a simple diagnostic sequence.

Check the System

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-> version
-> devs
-> iosDevShow
-> iosDrvShow

Check Tasks

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-> i
-> taskShow taskId
-> taskRegsShow taskId

Check Memory

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-> memShow
-> memPartShow
-> d address

Check Hardware

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-> regsShow
-> coreShow
-> coreLbcShow
-> vxBusShow

Check PCI

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-> pciConfigTopoShow
-> pciDevShow pciDeviceNumber

Check Persistent Storage

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-> devs
-> cd FlashVolume
-> ls -l

This grouping makes it easier to narrow down problems systematically rather than running diagnostic commands randomly.

📝 Conclusion

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The VxWorks shell is an important part of BSP and embedded-system development. Commands such as i, taskShow, memShow, devs, vxBusShow, and pciConfigTopoShow provide visibility into the operating system, memory subsystem, device drivers, buses, and hardware.

For Flash-based systems, the combination of sysTffsFormat, file-system navigation, FTP transfer, and ls -l verification provides a straightforward workflow for rebuilding and restoring persistent files.

The most important commands to remember are:

Task inspection:       i, ti, taskShow, taskRegsShow
Memory inspection:     d, memShow, memPartShow
I/O inspection:        devs, iosDevShow, iosDrvShow
Synchronization:       semShow
Hardware inspection:   regsShow, coreShow, coreLbcShow
Bus inspection:        vxBusShow
PCI inspection:        pciConfigTopoShow, pciDevShow
Storage:               sysTffsFormat, cd, ls -l
File transfer:         ftp, binary, get, quit

Having these commands readily available can significantly speed up VxWorks bring-up, driver debugging, system diagnostics, and Flash-based deployment workflows.