PROCESSING CORE DATA PRODUCED BY A COMPUTER PROCESS

• US 20150100834A1
• Filed: 10/03/2013
• Published: 04/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GlobalFoundries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hellyer, Howard J., Chamberlain, Richard N., Peters, Matthew F., Pilkington, Adam J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,542,299 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0715 in a system implementing multitasking multitasking per se G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0778 Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3471 Address tracing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program

Abstract

A method, apparatus, computer program and computer program product for processing core data produced by a computer process to identify data relevant to the computer process, the method comprising the steps of: identifying core data for a computer process; identifying trace data comprising sequential trace entries for the computer process; selecting a predetermined number of most recent entries in the trace data; identifying any references to a memory address in each selected trace data entry; dereferencing each identified memory address in the core data; and extracting the data from the dereferenced memory location in the core data.

Claims

1. A method for processing core data produced by a computer process to identify data relevant to the computer process, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying the core data for a computer process;

identifying trace data comprising sequential trace entries for the computer process;

selecting a predetermined number of most recent entries in the trace data;

identifying any references to a memory address in each selected trace data entry;

dereferencing each identified memory address in the core data; and

extracting the data from the dereferenced memory location in the core data.

2. A method according to claim 1 in which the most recent entries in the trace data comprise a predetermined number of entries.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the data from any dereferenced memory location in the core data comprising a further reference to a memory address, dereferencing the further memory address in the core data; and

extracting the data from the dereferenced further memory location in the core data.

4. A method according to claim 3 in which for a given trace entry the extraction of referenced data is limited to a predetermined depth of reference.

5. A method according to claim 1 in which the extracted data may comprise a data structure.

6. A method according to claim 1 in which each reference to a memory address comprises a pointer.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

identifying entries in the core data comprising register data for the process;

identifying any references to a memory address in each selected register entry;

dereferencing each identified register entry memory address in the core data; and

extracting the data from the dereferenced register entry memory location in the core data.

8. A method according to claim 1 in which the extracted data is marked within the core data file.

9. A method according to claim 1 in which remaining data in the core data file excluding the extracted data is replaced with compressible data.

10. A method according to claim 1 in which the extracted data is copied from the core data file into one or more other files.

11. A method according to claim 1 in which the computer process is a system or application program and the method further comprises the steps of:

translating references to memory addresses in the trace data for program to the core data address space so as to enable the steps of;

identifying any references to a memory address in each selected trace data entry;

dereferencing each identified memory address in the core data; and

extracting the data from the dereferenced memory location in the core data.

12. A method according to claim 1 in which the computer process is a virtual machine.

25. A computer program stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and loadable into a memory of a digital computer, comprising software code portions, when said computer program is run on a computer, for performing the method of claim 1.

26. A computer program product for processing core data produced by a computer process to identify data relevant to the computer process, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that are readable by a processing circuit and executable by the processing circuit for performing a method according to claim 1.

13. An apparatus for processing core data produced by a computer process to identify data relevant to the computer process, the apparatus being operable to:

identify the core data for a computer process;

identify trace data comprising sequential trace entries for the computer process;

select a predetermined number of most recent entries in the trace data;

identify any references to a memory address in each selected trace data entry;

dereference each identified memory address in the core data; and

extract the data from the dereferenced memory location in the core data.

14. An apparatus according to claim 13 in which the most recent entries in the trace data comprise a predetermined number of entries.

15. An apparatus according to claim 13, the apparatus being further operable to:

responsive to the data from any dereferenced memory location in the core data comprising a further reference to a memory address, to dereference the further memory address in the core data; and

to extract the data from the dereferenced further memory location in the core data.

16. An apparatus according to claim 15 in which for a given trace entry the extraction of referenced data is limited to a predetermined depth of reference.

17. An apparatus according to claim 13 in which the extracted data may comprise a data structure.

18. An apparatus according to claim 13 in which each reference to a memory address comprises a pointer.

19. An apparatus according to claim 13, the apparatus being further operable to:

identify entries in the core data comprising register data for the process;

identify any references to a memory address in each selected register entry;

dereference each identified register entry memory address in the core data; and

extract the data from the dereferenced register entry memory location in the core data.

20. An apparatus according to claim 13 in which the extracted data is marked within the core data file.

21. An apparatus according to claim 13 in which remaining data in the core data file excluding the extracted data is replaced with compressible data.

22. An apparatus according to claim 13 in which the extracted data is copied from the core data file into one or more other files.

23. An apparatus according to claim 13 in which the computer process is a system or application program, and the apparatus is further operable to:

translate references to memory addresses in the trace data for program to the core data address space so as to enable the apparatus to;

identify any references to a memory address in each selected trace data entry;

dereference each identified memory address in the core data; and

extract the data from the dereferenced memory location in the core data.

24. An apparatus according to claim 13 in which the computer process is a virtual machine.