JPH05250210A - Program trace system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To collect the program traces and to edit and display them with a trace function itself kept unchanged even if the meaning and the type of a passing point are changed. CONSTITUTION:A trace collecting means 10 is set into a program X to be traced which is loaded into a memory from an executable form file A by a program loader and then carried out. Then the means 10 is called out of the program X and works to collect the trace information and to store them in a trace file B. Meanwhile a trace editing means 20 works after the end of the program X to reads the trace information collected by the means 10 out of the file B and also the information on the meaning of the trace information out of the file A respectively, edits these informations and then outputs these information as the trace editing information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program trace method, and more particularly to a trace method for collecting execution history of programs in a computer system and editing and displaying the execution history after execution.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a conventional trace method. The trace collection means 30 for collecting trace information in the trace file B is embedded in the traced program X. The traced program X is loaded into the memory from the executable file A by the program loader and executed. The execution history of the traced program X is accumulated in the trace file B by calling the trace collection means 30 at a point in the traced program X where a trace is desired to be taken. After the execution of the traced program X is completed, the trace editing means 4
0 reads the trace information from trace file B,
This is converted into an easy-to-understand character string and output to the edited trace file C (printer, display, etc.).

Normally, the execution history (trace information) includes information indicating which point has been passed (hereinafter abbreviated as passing point information) and information regarding the system state at that time (hereinafter abbreviated as state information). It However, since the system status is enormous, only a small amount of information is collected.

A program trace is collected to gain an accurate picture of how the program actually behaves. Therefore, it is desirable to collect traces of as many points as possible with low overhead. Therefore, the trace information collected in the trace file B is recorded in a compressed form as much as possible. As a part of this, passing point information, which has only a limited number of types, is usually coded and collected as a passing point code.

The main function of the trace editing means 40 is to interpret the passing point code, which is the encoded passing point information, and convert it into a human-friendly expression. In the conventional method, the editing is realized by having a database inside the trace editing means 40 for converting the passing point code into the passing point information having a human-friendly expression.

[0006]

However, the method described above has a problem that when the type of passing point changes, the trace editing means must be reviewed and changed in some cases.

Program trace is most often used during the debug phase of a program. When debugging a program, the structure and functions of the program change gradually, so the point at which you want to take a trace also changes.
If the trace collection point changes, the meaning of each passing point also changes. That is, if the conventional trace method is used for program debugging, the trace editing means must be changed frequently.

It is inconvenient to obtain a program trace for debugging, but to change the trace editing means according to the change in the program resulting from the debugging.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a program trace method that does not require the trace editing means to be changed even if the program is changed.

The information about the meaning of the passing point may be separated from the trace editing means and used as a database. However, even if such a configuration is adopted, it is necessary to review the database every time the type of passing point changes, and the same problem occurs.

[0011]

The program trace method of the present invention is incorporated into a traced program that is loaded from a executable file into a memory by a program loader and executed, and is called by the traced program to operate. A trace collection unit for collecting trace information in a trace file, and the trace information collected by the trace collection unit operating from the trace file by the trace collection unit that operates after the traced program is terminated. And information relating to the meaning of, and a trace editing means for editing these and outputting them as trace editing information.

[0012]

The trace collection means is implemented so that the conversion information from the passing point code to the meaning of the passing point enters the executable file of the traced program, and the trace editing means edits with reference to this.

First, since the conversion information from the passing point code to the passing point meaning is stored in the executable file of the traced program, the trace editing means does not have to be changed even if the passing point meaning changes. Like

Further, changing the trace point means modifying the traced program, and the executable file of the traced program must be regenerated. In other words, the executable file of the traced program originally needs to be regenerated. At this time, if you also change the conversion information from the passing point code to the meaning of the passing point and put it in the executable file of the traced program, you can edit the trace normally without any other work. Become.

Particularly when the traced program is written in C language, it is easy to change the trace point and the conversion information from the passing point code to the meaning of the passing point at the same time. This will be described with a concrete example.

First, assume that the traced program is as follows. (Processing A) TRACE ("point X"); (Processing B) (Processing C) TRACE is a call to the trace collecting means of the present invention.

The trace collecting means TRACE writes the start address of the character string of the parameter (character string called "point X") in the trace file as the passing point code. In this case, the character string of the parameter becomes the semantic information of the passing point. Then, the trace editing means extracts a character string corresponding to the passing point code recorded in the trace file from the executable format file, edits it, and outputs it as trace editing information.

Now, in the traced program, the trace point is moved between the process B and the process C,
The information to be displayed after editing can be changed to "point Y" as follows. (Processing A) (Processing B) TRACE ("point Y"); (Processing C) When the traced program is written in C language, it is specified that the trace is taken here It is possible to describe the information to be displayed in the trace when passing through and the reverse conversion to the passing point code (start address of the character string) in one line, easily without changing the trace editing means at all. You can change the trace points.

If a sequence of meaning character strings of passing points is defined in a traced program and the suffix is collected as a passing point code in a trace file other than C language, the trace editing means is not changed at all. You will be able to change the tracepoint. However, in this case, in addition to the trace collection means calling line, it is necessary to change the array of meaning character strings of passing points.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the program trace system of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the program trace method of this embodiment is incorporated into a traced program X which is loaded from a executable file A into a memory and executed by a program loader, and the traced program X The trace collection unit 10 that is called and operates to collect the trace information in the trace file B, and the trace collection unit 10 that operates after the traced program X is finished and collects the trace information from the trace file B collected by the trace collection unit 10 into an executable file. The trace editing means 20 reads information about the meaning of each trace from A, converts it into a human-friendly expression, and outputs it to the edited trace file C.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the processing of the trace sampling means 10. The trace sampling means 10 performs step 11
Then, the passing point code is set in the trace buffer, the state information is set in the trace buffer in step 12, and the contents of the trace buffer are written in the trace file B as trace entries in step 13.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the processing of the trace editing means 20. The trace editing means 20 executes step 21.
In step 22, the trace entry is read from the trace file B into the trace buffer, and in step 22, the semantic information of the passing point corresponding to the passing point code in the trace buffer is read into the edit buffer from the executable format file A of the traced program X, In step 23, the target trace edit information is edited and output from the trace information including the pass point code and the status information in the trace buffer and the meaning information of the pass point in the edit buffer, and step 24
Then, it is determined whether all the trace entries of the trace file B have been processed. If there are still remaining entries in step 24, the processing from step 21 is repeated for the next trace entry. Step two
If it is determined in 4 that there are no remaining entries, the process ends.

[0025]

As described above, according to the program trace method of the present invention, even if the trace point is changed due to the change of the program to be traced, the trace edit means is simply changed to change the trace collection means. Will be able to continuously collect traces without any changes.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a program trace system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process of a trace collection unit in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing processing of a trace editing means in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional program trace method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Trace collecting means 20 Trace editing means A Executable format file B Trace file C Edited trace file X Traced program

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A trace collection, which is incorporated into a traced program that is loaded from an executable file into a memory by a program loader and executed, and is called and operated by the traced program to collect trace information in a trace file. Means for operating after completion of the traced program, reading the trace information collected by the trace collecting means from the trace file and information about the meaning of the trace information from the executable file, and editing these. A program trace method comprising: a trace edit means for outputting as trace edit information.