VSCode complains in launch.json about "Configured debug type 'cppvsdbg' is installed but not supported in this environment."

Question

I'm trying to run a C program in VSCode. I am working to get a valid launch.json file, but it's complaining about the "type": "cppvsdbg" line, saying that the "Configured debug type 'cppvsdbg' is installed but not supported in this environment."

I tried starting fresh and debugging according to the VSCode website, but they have me using a "type": "cppdbg" option, which won't work for me because it disallows newer options like "console". I also tried searching for keywords in this error, but could only find similar posts using different languages (mostly Python). So here we are!

I'm running a mac, OS Monterey 12.6, on an M1 Max chip. My VSCode version is up-to-date, "1.71.0 (Universal)".

Answer 1

My understanding is that cppvsdbg is Windows only

{
      "name": "Debug (Windows)",
      "type": "cppvsdbg",
      "request": "launch",
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}/build/Debug/MyApp.exe",
      "args": [],
      "stopAtEntry": false,
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "environment": [],
      "console": "integratedTerminal",
      "preLaunchTask": "build_debug"
    },
    {
      "name": "Debug (GDB)",
      "type": "cppdbg",
      "request": "launch",
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}/build/Debug/MyApp.exe",
      "args": [],
      "stopAtEntry": false,
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "environment": [],
      "console": "integratedTerminal",
      "MIMode": "gdb",
      "setupCommands": [
        {
          "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
          "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
          "ignoreFailures": true
        }
      ],
      "preLaunchTask": "build_debug"
    }

in launch.json