Automatic switch to debugging mode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9836386-B2
Application number	US-201414575849-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2014
Priority date	Dec 18, 2014
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

A system includes a processor and a memory comprising machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the system to receive command line instructions associated with execution of a Java virtual machine, the command line instructions associated with a set of rules for switching the Java virtual machine to a debugging mode, start execution of the Java virtual machine, start execution of an application on the Java virtual machine in a standard mode, during execution of the application, detecting an event that triggers a rule within the set of rules, and in response to the event, automatically switching the Java virtual machine from the standard mode to the debugging mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a processor;
a memory store; and
a Java virtual machine configured to utilize the processor and the memory store,
the Java virtual machine being configured to operate in a standard mode and a debugging mode;
wherein the memory includes a set of rules that define a plurality of events, and wherein the memory includes machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the system to:
receive command line instructions associated with execution of the Java virtual machine, the command line in associated with the set of rules;
start execution of the Java virtual machine: start execution of an application on the Java virtual machine while the Java virtual machine is in a standard mode;
during execution of the application, detect an event that corresponds to a rule within the set of rules;
in response to the event, automatically switch the Java virtual machine from the standard mode to a debugging mode; and
executing a script that manipulates a memory heap to fix a problem associated with the event while keeping the Java virtual machine in production;
wherein the event comprises one of: detecting an error, detecting that an unhandled exception is thrown, detecting that two or more threads are dead-locked, detecting that memory consumption has exceeded a predefined threshold, or detecting that a critical error has been logged.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the event comprises detecting an error.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the error comprises an out of memory error.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the event comprises detecting that an unhandled exception is thrown.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the event comprises detecting that two or more threads have become dead-locked.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the event comprises detecting that memory consumption has exceeded a predefined threshold.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the event comprises detecting that a critical error has been logged.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising, while in the debugging mode, receiving instructions from a human user to handle an issue associated with the event.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the system is further to switch back from the debugging mode to the standard mode after receiving the instructions from the human user.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is further to, in response to switching to the debugging mode, executing a script that provides an analysis of the event that triggered the switching.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the script is further to manipulate a memory heap.

12. A method performed by a computing system, the method comprising:
with the computing system, starting a Java virtual machine with command line arguments, the command line arguments indicating a set of rules, the rules defining conditions under which the Java virtual machine is to switch from a standard mode to a debugging mode;
with the computing system executing an application on the Java virtual machine while the virtual machine is in the standard mode;
with the computing system, while executing the application, detecting an event;
with the computing system, comparing the event to the set of rules;
with the computing system, automatically switching from the standard mode to the debugging mode in response to detecting that the event corresponds to a rule within the set of rules, the event comprising one of:
detecting an error, detecting that an unhandled exception is thrown, detecting that two or more threads are dead-locked, detecting that memory consumption has exceeded a predefined threshold, or detecting that a critical error has been logged; and
with the computing system, executing a script that manipulates a memory heap to fix a problem associated with the event while keeping the Java virtual machine in production.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the set of rules are stored in a configuration file, the command line arguments referencing the set of rules.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, while in the debugging mode, receiving a change to code associated with the event that triggered the switching from the standard mode to the debugging mode.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, switching back from the debugging mode to the standard mode.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising, resuming execution of the application after switching back to the standard mode.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, executing an automated script, the script providing a preliminary analysis of a state of the application.

18. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising machine readable instructions that when executed by a processor of a computing system, cause the system to:
start a Java virtual machine with command line arguments, the command line arguments indicating a set of rules, the rules defining conditions under which the Java virtual machine is to switch from a standard mode to a debugging mode;
execute an application on the Java virtual machine while the virtual machine is in the standard mode;
automatically switch from the standard mode to the debugging mode in response to detecting one of the conditions, the conditions comprising one of; detecting an error, detecting that an unhandled exception is thrown, detecting that two or more threads are dead-locked, detecting that memory consumption has exceeded a predefined threshold, or detecting that a critical error has been logged; and
execute a script that manipulates a memory heap to fix a problem associated with the event while keen the Java virtual machine in production.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the error is an out of memory error.

20. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the machine readable instructions are further to cause the system to, in response to switching to the debugging mode, providing a preliminary analysis of a condition that triggered the switch.

Assignees

• Red Hat Inc
• Red Hat Israel Ltd

Inventors

• Vecera Martin
• Pechanec Jiri

Classifications

• G06F11/3664 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/45591

  Monitoring or debugging support · CPC title

• G06F11/3698 Primary

  Environments for analysis, debugging or testing of software · CPC title