Recording and replaying computer programs

• US 7,506,318 B1
• Filed: 06/28/2005
• Issued: 03/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Replay Solutions Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lindo, Jonathan, Daudel, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Wei Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Coyer, Ryan D
• Application Number:
  US11/169,522
• Time in Patent Office: 1,358 Days
• Field of Search: 717130-131
• US Class Current: 717/130
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3644 by instrumenting at runtime

Abstract

A method is disclosed for recording and replaying computer programs. In one embodiment, a method of modifying a computer program to support recording execution, comprises the computer-implemented steps of receiving an executable application binary; modifying the executable application binary by adding one or more proxy code elements to result in creating a modified application binary, wherein upon execution of the modified application binary, the one or more proxy code elements create and store recorded information representing all non-deterministic events that occur during the execution. For example, asynchronous callbacks and thread context switches are recorded and can be replayed.

Claims

1. A method of modifying a computer program to support recording execution, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

receiving an executable application binary;

modifying the executable application binary by adding one or more proxy code elements to result in creating a modified application binary, wherein upon execution of the modified application binary, the one or more proxy code elements create and store recorded information representing all non-deterministic events that cannot be predicted that occur during the execution;

receiving user input requesting replaying the execution;

in response to the user input, replaying the execution of the modified application binary, wherein replaying comprises providing the modified application binary with the recorded information representing the non-deterministic events that cannot be predicted; and

wherein the proxy code elements comprise event handlers to generate and provide the modified application binary with missing non-deterministic event information when a non-deterministic event occurs during the execution but not during the replaying.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the non-deterministic events include network input/output, file input/output, user input events, initiation of threads, interrupts, thread context switches, timer queries, shared memory accesses, and asynchronous system callbacks.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding recording buffer logic to the executable application binary, wherein the recording buffer logic buffers the recorded information in a buffer memory and stores the recorded information in a persistent data store only in response to occurrence of an exception during the execution.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers intercept an asynchronous callback that occurs during the execution and store information associated with the asynchronous callback in the recorded information.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers to the executable application binary;

wherein the one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers intercept an asynchronous callback that occurs during the execution and store information associated with the asynchronous callback in the recorded information;

wherein during the replaying, the one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers allow the asynchronous callback to pass through to the modified application binary only when the asynchronous callback occurs at a same sequential execution point as during the execution.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding one or more proxy exception handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more proxy exception handlers intercept an exception that occurs during the execution and store information associated with the exception in the recorded information.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding one or more proxy exception handlers to the executable application binary;

wherein the one or more proxy exception handlers intercept an exception that occurs during the execution and store information associated with the exception in the recorded information;

wherein during the replaying, the one or more proxy exception handlers allow the exception to pass through to the modified application binary only when the exception occurs at a same sequential execution point as during the execution.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the one or more proxy exception handlers filter out the exception as an extraneous exception when the exception occurs during the replaying but is not in the recorded information.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding one or more hardware access proxy handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more hardware access proxy handlers intercept and suppress requests of the modified application binary to access one or more hardware features that are not within a specified baseline hardware configuration.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the executable application binary comprises:

determining one or more assembler instructions that correspond to one or more machine instructions in the executable application binary;

identifying one or more particular assembler instructions that perform non-deterministic system function calls;

substituting in one or more jump instructions, which reference proxy code for intercepting and recording information associated with the non-deterministic system function calls that occur during the execution, for the particular assembler instructions.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein substituting includes determining that the one or more jump instructions require more space in the executable application binary than occupied by the particular assembler instructions, and moving an atomic block of instructions to another location in the executable application binary to provide room for the one or more jump instructions.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the proxy code is added to an end of the executable application binary.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein moving an atomic block includes adding a return jump instruction to the atomic block that causes execution after the atomic block to resume at a same end point in the modified application binary at which the atomic block ended prior to the moving.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein upon execution of the modified application binary, the one or more proxy code elements create and store recorded information representing all non-deterministic events that occur during the execution, without adversely affecting performance of the modified application binary during the execution.

15. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding a memory request handler to the executable application binary, wherein during the replaying or during the execution, the memory request handler receives a request for a memory allocation from the modified application binary, provides a system memory allocation request to an operating system, receives a copy of memory values associated with memory that the system has allocated in response to the system memory allocation request, initializes the copy of memory values with new memory values, and provides the new memory values to the modified application binary.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the memory request handler initializes the copy of memory values with new memory values by generating a plurality of pseudo-random values based on a deterministic pseudo-random function and a specified seed value.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the specified seed value is stored in the recorded information during the execution.

18. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the proxy code elements generate and provide the modified application binary with modified replay information in response to detecting that a value generated during the replaying is different than another value of the same type that is in the recorded information and that was generated during the execution.

19. A computer-readable medium, comprising volatile or non-volatile media, carrying one or more sequences of instructions for modifying a computer program to support recording execution, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

receiving an executable application binary;

modifying the executable application binary by adding one or more proxy code elements to result in creating a modified application binary, wherein upon execution of the modified application binary, the one or more proxy code elements create and store recorded information representing all non-deterministic events that cannot be predicted that occur during the execution;

receiving user input requesting replaying the execution;

in response to the user input, replaying the execution of the modified application binary, wherein replaying comprises providing the modified application binary with the recorded information representing the non-deterministic events that cannot be predicted;

wherein the proxy code elements comprise event handlers to generate and provide the modified application binary with missing non-deterministic event information when a non-deterministic event occurs during the execution but not during the replaying.

20. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the non-deterministic events include network input/output, file input/output, user input events, initiation of threads, interrupts, thread context switches, timer queries, shared memory accesses, and asynchronous system callbacks.

21. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding recording buffer logic to the executable application binary, wherein the recording buffer logic buffers the recorded information in a buffer memory and stores the recorded information in a persistent data store only in response to occurrence of an exception during the execution.

22. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers intercept an asynchronous callback that occurs during the execution and store information associated with the asynchronous callback in the recorded information.

23. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding one or more proxy exception handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more proxy exception handlers intercept an exception that occurs during the execution and store information associated with the exception in the recorded information.

24. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding one or more hardware access proxy handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more hardware access proxy handlers intercept and suppress requests of the modified application binary to access one or more hardware features that are not within a specified baseline hardware configuration.

25. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein modifying the executable application binary comprises:

determining one or more assembler instructions that correspond to one or more machine instructions in the executable application binary;

identifying one or more particular assembler instructions that perform non-deterministic system function calls;

substituting in one or more jump instructions, which reference proxy code for intercepting and recording information associated with the non-deterministic system function calls that occur during the execution, for the particular assembler instructions.

26. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein upon execution of the modified application binary, the one or more proxy code elements create and store recorded information representing all non-deterministic events that occur during the execution, without adversely affecting performance of the modified application binary during the execution.

27. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding a memory request handler to the executable application binary, wherein during the replaying or during the execution, the memory request handler receives a request for a memory allocation from the executable application binary, provides a system memory allocation request to an operating system, receives a copy of memory values associated with memory that the system has allocated in response to the system memory allocation request, initializes the copy of memory values with new memory values, and provides the new memory values to the modified application binary.

28. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 27, wherein the memory request handler initializes the copy of memory values with new memory values by generating a plurality of pseudo-random values based on a deterministic pseudo-random function and a specified seed value.

29. An apparatus for modifying a computer program to support recording execution, comprising:

means for receiving an executable application binary;

means for modifying the executable application binary by adding one or more proxy code elements to result in creating a modified application binary, wherein upon execution of the modified application binary, the one or more proxy code elements create and store recorded information representing all non-deterministic events that cannot be predicted that occur during the execution;

means for receiving user input requesting replaying the execution;

means for replaying the execution of the modified application binary in response to the user input, wherein replaying comprises providing the modified application binary with the recorded information representing the non-deterministic events that cannot be predicted; and

wherein the proxy code elements comprise event handlers to generate and provide the modified application binary with missing non-deterministic event information when a non-deterministic event occurs during the execution but not during the replaying.

30. The apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein the non-deterministic events include network input/output, file input/output, user input events, initiation of threads, interrupts, thread context switches, timer queries, shared memory accesses, and asynchronous system callbacks.

31. The apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein the means for modifying the executable application binary includes adding means for adding recording buffer logic to the executable application binary, wherein the recording buffer logic buffers the recorded information in a buffer memory and stores the recorded information in a persistent data store only in response to occurrence of an exception during the execution.

32. The apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein the means for modifying the executable application binary includes adding one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers intercept an asynchronous callback that occurs during the execution and store information associated with the asynchronous callback in the recorded information.

33. The apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein the means for modifying the executable application binary includes means for adding one or more proxy exception handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more proxy exception handlers intercept an exception that occurs during the execution and store information associated with the exception in the recorded information.

34. An apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein the means for modifying the executable application binary includes adding one or more hardware access proxy handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more hardware access proxy handlers intercept and suppress requests of the modified application binary to access one or more hardware features that are not within a specified baseline hardware configuration.

35. The apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein the means for modifying the executable application binary comprises:

means for determining one or more assembler instructions that correspond to one or more machine instructions in the executable application binary;

means for identifying one or more particular assembler instructions that perform non-deterministic system function calls;

means for substituting in one or more jump instructions, which reference proxy code for intercepting and recording information associated with the non-deterministic system function calls that occur during the execution, for the particular assembler instructions.

36. The apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein upon execution of the modified application binary, the one or more proxy code elements create and store recorded information representing all non-deterministic events that occur during the execution, without adversely affecting performance of the modified application binary during the execution.

37. The apparatus as recited in claim 29, wherein the means for modifying the executable application binary includes means for adding a memory request handler to the executable application binary, wherein during the replaying or during the execution, the memory request handler receives a request for a memory allocation from the modified application binary, provides a system memory allocation request to an operating system, receives a copy of memory values associated with memory that the system has allocated in response to the system memory allocation request, initializes the copy of memory values with new memory values, and provides the new memory values to the modified application binary.

38. The apparatus as recited in claim 37, wherein the memory request handler initializes the copy of memory values with new memory values by generating a plurality of pseudo-random values based on a deterministic pseudo-random function and a specified seed value.

39. An apparatus for modifying a computer program to support recording execution, comprising:

a network interface that is coupled to the data network for receiving one or more packet flows therefrom;

a processor;

one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of;

receiving an executable application binary;

modifying the executable application binary by adding one or more proxy code elements to result in creating a modified application binary, wherein upon execution of the modified application binary, the one or more proxy code elements create and store recorded information representing all non-deterministic events that cannot be predicted that occur during the execution;

receiving user input requesting replaying the execution;

in response to the user input, replaying the execution of the modified application binary, wherein replaying comprises providing the modified application binary with the recorded information representing the non-deterministic events that cannot be predicted; and

wherein the proxy code elements comprise event handlers to generate and provide the modified application binary with missing non-deterministic event information when a non-deterministic event occurs during the execution but not during the replaying.

40. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein the non-deterministic events include network input/output, file input/output, user input events, initiation of threads, interrupts, thread context switches, timer queries, shared memory accesses, and asynchronous system callbacks.

41. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein the instructions for modifying the executable application binary include instructions for adding recording buffer logic to the executable application binary, wherein the recording buffer logic buffers the recorded information in a buffer memory and stores the recorded information in a persistent data store only in response to occurrence of an exception during the execution.

42. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein the instructions for modifying the executable application binary include instructions for adding one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more proxy asynchronous callback handlers intercept an asynchronous callback that occurs during the execution and store information associated with the asynchronous callback in the recorded information.

43. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein the instructions for modifying the executable application binary includes instructions for adding one or more proxy exception handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more proxy exception handlers intercept an exception that occurs during the execution and store information associated with the exception in the recorded information.

44. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein the instructions for modifying the executable application binary includes instructions for adding one or more hardware access proxy handlers to the executable application binary, wherein the one or more hardware access proxy handlers intercept and suppress requests of the modified application binary to access one or more hardware features that are not within a specified baseline hardware configuration.

45. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein the instructions for modifying the executable application binary comprises sequences of instructions for:

determining one or more assembler instructions that correspond to one or more machine instructions in the executable application binary;

identifying one or more particular assembler instructions that perform non-deterministic system function calls;

substituting in one or more jump instructions, which reference proxy code for intercepting and recording information associated with the non-deterministic system function calls that occur during the execution, for the particular assembler instructions.

46. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein upon execution of the modified application binary, the one or more proxy code elements create and store recorded information representing all non-deterministic events that occur during the execution, without adversely affecting performance of the modified application binary during the execution.

47. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein modifying the executable application binary includes adding a memory request handler to the executable application binary, wherein during the replaying or during the execution, the memory request handler receives a request for a memory allocation from the modified application binary, provides a system memory allocation request to an operating system, receives a copy of memory values associated with memory that the system has allocated in response to the system memory allocation request, initializes the copy of memory values with new memory values, and provides the new memory values to the modified application binary.

48. The apparatus as recited in claim 47, wherein the memory request handler initializes the copy of memory values with new memory values by generating a plurality of pseudo-random values based on a deterministic pseudo-random function and a specified seed value.