Randomized testing within transactional execution

• US 10,719,415 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2018
• Issued: 07/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Greiner, Dan F., Jacobi, Christian, Slegel, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Metzger, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US16/213,165
• Publication Number:
  US 20190114234A1
• Time in Patent Office: 592 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1474 in transactions G06F16/20 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/366 using diagnostics G06F11/0703 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4068 Electrical coupling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3861 Recovery, e.g. branch miss-prediction, exception handling error detection or correction G06F11/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/466 Transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/467 Transactional memory G06F9/528 takes precedence

Abstract

Task specific diagnostic controls are provided to facilitate the debugging of certain types of abort conditions. The diagnostic controls may be set to cause transactions to be selectively aborted, allowing a transaction to drive its abort handler routine for testing purposes. The controls include, for instance, a transaction diagnostic scope and a transaction diagnostic control. The transaction diagnostic scope indicates when the transaction diagnostic control is to be applied, and the transaction diagnostic control indicates whether transactions are to selectively aborted.

Claims

1. A computer program product for controlling execution of transactions in a computing environment, said computer program product comprising:

at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by at least one processing circuit and storing instructions for performing a method comprising;

initiating a transaction in a computing environment; and

determining, by a processor, whether the transaction is to be aborted, the determining employing one or more controls of a control register used by the processor, the one or more controls to indicate whether transactions are to be randomly selected to be aborted for testing purposes to debug certain types of abort conditions.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the control register comprises a transaction diagnostic control, wherein a first value of the transaction diagnostic control indicates transactions are not to be aborted based on the transaction diagnostic control, a second value of the transaction diagnostic control indicates each transaction is to be aborted based on the transaction diagnostic control, and a third value of the transaction diagnostic control indicates transactions are to be randomly selected to be aborted.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the control register further comprises a transaction diagnostic scope to indicate whether the transaction diagnostic control is to be applied.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein a first value of the transaction diagnostic scope indicates the transaction diagnostic control is to be applied based on the processor being in a problem state or a supervisor state, and a second value of the transaction diagnostic scope indicates the transaction diagnostic control is to be applied exclusive to the processor being in the problem state.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises based on the one or more controls indicating transactions are to be randomly selected to be aborted, determining whether the transaction is to be selected for aborting, and wherein the method further comprises based on the determining indicating the transaction is to be selected for aborting, aborting the transaction.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the determining whether the transaction is to be selected for aborting comprises checking a selection control to determine whether the transaction is selected for aborting.

7. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the aborting comprises aborting the transaction at a selected instruction within the transaction.

8. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the aborting further comprises executing an abort handler to provide testing associated with the aborting.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the one or more controls are task specific in that the one or more controls are for a specific task and are set based on user-provided information, the specific task to include the transaction.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the randomly selected to be aborted for testing purposes is to effectively distribute abort events for testing.

11. A computer system for controlling execution of transactions in a computing environment, said computer system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to perform a method, said method comprising;

determining, by the processor, whether a transaction initiated in the computing environment is to be aborted, the determining employing one or more controls of a control register used by the processor, the one or more controls to indicate whether transactions are to be randomly selected to be aborted for testing purposes to debug certain types of abort conditions.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the control register comprises a transaction diagnostic control, wherein a first value of the transaction diagnostic control indicates transactions are not to be aborted based on the transaction diagnostic control, a second value of the transaction diagnostic control indicates each transaction is to be aborted based on the transaction diagnostic control, and a third value of the transaction diagnostic control indicates transactions are to be randomly selected to be aborted.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the control register further comprises a transaction diagnostic scope to indicate whether the transaction diagnostic control is to be applied.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein a first value of the transaction diagnostic scope indicates the transaction diagnostic control is to be applied based on the processor being in a problem state or a supervisor state, and a second value of the transaction diagnostic scope indicates the transaction diagnostic control is to be applied exclusive to the processor being in the problem state.

15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the determining comprises based on the one or more controls indicating transactions are to be randomly selected to be aborted, determining whether the transaction is to be selected for aborting, and wherein the method further comprises based on the determining indicating the transaction is to be selected for aborting, aborting the transaction.

16. A computer-implemented method of controlling execution of transactions in a computing environment, said method comprising:

initiating a transaction in a computing environment; and

determining, by a processor, whether the transaction is to be aborted, the determining employing one or more controls of a control register used by the processor, the one or more controls to indicate whether transactions are to be randomly selected to be aborted for testing purposes to debug certain types of abort conditions.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the control register comprises a transaction diagnostic control, wherein a first value of the transaction diagnostic control indicates transactions are not to be aborted based on the transaction diagnostic control, a second value of the transaction diagnostic control indicates each transaction is to be aborted based on the transaction diagnostic control, and a third value of the transaction diagnostic control indicates transactions are to be randomly selected to be aborted.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the control register further comprises a transaction diagnostic scope to indicate whether the transaction diagnostic control is to be applied.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein a first value of the transaction diagnostic scope indicates the transaction diagnostic control is to be applied based on the processor being in a problem state or a supervisor state, and a second value of the transaction diagnostic scope indicates the transaction diagnostic control is to be applied exclusive to the processor being in the problem state.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the determining comprises based on the one or more controls indicating transactions are to be randomly selected to be aborted, determining whether the transaction is to be selected for aborting, and wherein the method further comprises based on the determining indicating the transaction is to be selected for aborting, aborting the transaction.