Performing diagnostic tracing of an executing application to identify suspicious pointer values

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10423474-B2
Application number	US-201514812659-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2015
Priority date	Dec 14, 2012
Publication date	Sep 24, 2019
Grant date	Sep 24, 2019

Abstract

Arrangements described herein relate to performing diagnostic tracing of an executing application. A trace entry in trace data can be identified, the trace entry comprising a pointer that refers to a memory address. Whether a value that is, or has been, stored at the memory address is an erroneous value can be determined. Responsive to determining that the value that is, or has been, stored at the memory address is an erroneous value, the pointer can be indicated as being a suspicious value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of performing diagnostic tracing of an executing application, comprising:
identifying a trace entry in trace data, the trace entry including a pointer that refers to a memory address;
generating delta core data for at least one trace entry;
determining whether a value itself that is, or has been, stored at the memory address is an erroneous value; and
indicating, responsive to the determination, the pointer as being a suspicious value by specifically identifying the pointer, wherein
the determining includes processing the delta core data, and
the delta core data represents at least a portion of a difference between a first set of core data and a second set of core data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the delta core data is generated during execution of the application.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the delta core data includes
a record of the memory address and
corresponding data content in the memory address that has been modified since the first set of core data was recorded.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the determination is based upon a declared data type of a data field stored within the memory address.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the determination is based upon a range of values expected for the value stored at the memory address.

6. A computer hardware system configured to perform diagnostic tracing of an executing application, comprising:
a hardware processor programmed to initiate the following executable operations:
identifying a trace entry in trace data, the trace entry including a pointer that refers to a memory address;
generating delta core data for at least one trace entry;
determining whether a value itself that is, or has been, stored at the memory address is an erroneous value; and
indicating, responsive to the determination, the pointer as being a suspicious value by specifically identifying the pointer, wherein

the determining includes processing delta core data, and
the delta core data represents at least a portion of a difference between a first set of core data and a second set of core data.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein
the delta core data is generated during execution of the application.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein
the delta core data includes
a record of the memory address and
corresponding data content in the memory address that has been modified since the first set of core data was recorded.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein
the determination is based upon a declared data type of a data field stored within the memory address.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein
the determination is based upon a range of values expected for the value stored at the memory address.

11. A computer program product for performing diagnostic tracing of an executing application, comprising:
a computer readable storage medium having program code stored thereon, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a signal per se;
the program code, which when executed by a computer hardware system, causes the computer hardware system to perform:
identifying a trace entry in trace data, the trace entry including a pointer that refers to a memory address;
generating delta core data for at least one trace entry;
determining whether a value itself that is, or has been, stored at the memory address is an erroneous value; and
indicating, responsive to the determination, the pointer as being a suspicious value by specifically identifying the pointer, wherein
the determining includes processing the delta core data, and
the delta core data represents at least a portion of a difference between a first set of core data and a second set of core data.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein
the delta core data is generated during execution of the application.

13. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein
the delta core data includes
a record of the memory address and
corresponding data content in the memory address that has been modified since the first set of core data was recorded.

14. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein
the determination is based upon a declared data type of a data field stored within the memory address.

15. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein
the determination is based upon a range of values expected for the value stored at the memory address.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Burghard Stephen John
• Harman David J
• Leedham Neil W
• Wright Andrew

Classifications

• G06F11/3636

  by tracing the execution of the program · CPC title

• G06F11/0706 Primary

  the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment · CPC title

• G06F11/366

  using diagnostics (G06F11/0703 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F11/0751

  Error or fault detection not based on redundancy (power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06) · CPC title

• G06F11/0778

  Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis · CPC title