How do the kernel shell vxWorks and host shell differ?

Question

RTOS vxWorks has a shell that allows you to issue a command to the embedded system.
The documentation refers to the kernel shell, the host shell, and the target shell. What is the difference between the three?

Answer 1

The target shell and core shell are the same. They relate to a shell that works on purpose. You can connect to the shell using a serial port or telnet session. The task is launched on the target and analyzes all the received commands and acts on them, displaying the data back to the port.

A host shell is a process that runs on a development station. It contacts the debug agent on the target. All commands are actually host-based, and only target agents send only simplified requests:

• Read / write memory
• Set / Remove Breakpoints
• Create / Delete / Pause / Resume Tasks
• Function call

This leads to less impact on the target in real time.

Both shells allow the user to perform low-level debugging (disassembler, breakpoints, etc.) and call functions on the target server.

Answer 2

There are some differences between the host shell and the target shell, you can use the h command to get the actual commands supported by the two shells.

The host shell supports additional command line editing features such as automatic completion and character search, etc.