Run-time instrumentation reporting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9280346-B2
Application number	US-201313792290-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2013
Priority date	Mar 16, 2012
Publication date	Mar 8, 2016
Grant date	Mar 8, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate to run-time instrumentation reporting. An instruction stream is executed by a processor. Run-time instrumentation information of the executing instruction stream is captured by the processor. Run-time instrumentation records are created based on the captured run-time instrumentation information. A run-time instrumentation sample point of the executing instruction stream on the processor is detected. A reporting group is stored in a run-time instrumentation program buffer. The storing is based on the detecting and the storing includes: determining a current address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer, the determining based on instruction accessible run-time instrumentation controls; and storing the reporting group into the run-time instrumentation program buffer based on an origin address and the current address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer, the reporting group including the created run-time instrumentation records.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for run-time instrumentation reporting, the method comprising:
executing an instruction stream of a computer program in a multithreaded processing environment, the executing by a processor;
determining, based on contents of an instrumentation control field in a program status word (PSW) dedicated to the computer program, that run-time instrumentation information of said executing instruction stream should be captured, wherein the contents of the PSW dedicated to the computer program persist during context switches by the processor;
capturing, by the processor, the run-time instrumentation information of said executing instruction stream;
based on said captured run-time instrumentation information, creating run-time instrumentation records;
detecting a run-time instrumentation sample point of the executing instruction stream on the processor; and
storing a reporting group in a run-time instrumentation program buffer, the storing based on the detecting a run-time instrumentation sample point, the storing comprising:
determining a current address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer, the determining based on instruction accessible run-time instrumentation controls; and
storing the reporting group into the run-time instrumentation program buffer based on an origin address and the current address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer, the reporting group comprising said created run-time instrumentation records.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reporting group includes a predetermined number of run-time instrumentation records specified by the run-time instrumentation controls.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising executing a program in a supervisor state to set any one of the origin address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer or the current address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer in the run-time instrumentation controls.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the program includes one of a load run-time instrumentation controls (LRIC) instruction and a modify run-time instrumentation controls (MRIC) instruction.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising executing a program in a problem state to set the origin address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer in the run-time instrumentation controls, wherein the program includes a modify run-time instrumentation controls (MRIC) instruction.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the run-time instrumentation controls specify a number of records in each reporting group in the run-time instrumentation program buffer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the run-time instrumentation program buffer is located in an address space that is accessible by an application program.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Farrell Mark S
• Gainey Jr Charles W
• Mitran Marcel
• Shum Chung-Lung K
• Smith Brian L

Classifications

• G06F11/3648

  using additional hardware · CPC title

• G06F9/45504

  Abstract machines for programme code execution, e.g. Java virtual machine [JVM], interpreters, emulators · CPC title

• G06F11/3636

  by tracing the execution of the program · CPC title

• G06F9/30145 Primary

  Instruction analysis, e.g. decoding, instruction word fields · CPC title

• G06F9/3005 Primary

  to perform operations for flow control · CPC title