Debugging applications at resource constrained virtual machines using dynamically installable lightweight agents

• US 7,669,186 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2005
• Issued: 02/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Nolan, John S., Horan, Bernard
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri; Anil
• Application Number:
  US11/281,708
• Publication Number:
  US 20070113218A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,560 Days
• Field of Search: 717124-130, 717/148
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/362 Software debugging

Abstract

A system for debugging applications at resource-constrained virtual machines may include a target device configured to host a lightweight debug agent to obtain debug information from one or more threads of execution at a virtual machine executing at the target device, and a debug controller. The lightweight debug agent may include a plurality of independently deployable modules. The debug controller may be configured to select one or more of the modules for deployment at the virtual machine for a debug session initiated to debug a targeted thread, to deploy the selected modules at the virtual machine for the debug session, and to receive debug information related to the targeted thread from the lightweight debug agent during the session.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a target computer device configured to host a lightweight debug agent configured to facilitate debugging of one or more threads of execution at a virtual machine executing at the target device, wherein the lightweight debug agent is capable of pausing execution of the thread at a given point during debugging; and

a debug controller configured to;

receive a request to initiate a debug session to debug a targeted thread of the one or more threads, wherein the request identifies the target device and the targeted thread;

in response to receiving the request, determine that an independently deployable module for the lightweight debug agent usable in performing the debug session is not deployed at the virtual machine;

in response to said determining that the module is not deployed, deploy the module of the lightweight debug agent at the virtual machine for the debug session;

initiate the debug session of the targeted thread, wherein the debugging session comprises pausing execution of the targeted thread at a given point; and

receive, from the lightweight debug agent, debug information obtained from the targeted thread of execution during at least a portion of the debug session;

provide the debug information to a debugger.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the debug controller is further configured to:

in response to determining that said debug session has terminated, initiate an undeployment of the module from the virtual machine.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the debug information obtained from the targeted thread of execution is in a format that is not recognizable by the debugger, and wherein the debug controller is further configured to:

prior to transmitting said debug information to the debugger, translate said debug information into a format recognizable by the debugger.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein, in said translating, the debugger is further configured to:

generate a representation of the debug information formatted in accordance with a standard debug information protocol specification utilizing an intermediate version of a program corresponding to the targeted thread of execution, wherein the intermediate version is generated during a derivation of an executable version of the program from a source code version of the program.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the module is deployed to the virtual machine after the targeted thread of execution starts executing.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual machine comprises a plurality of isolates, wherein each isolate of the plurality of isolates comprises one or more threads of execution with an address space that is not directly accessible from any other isolate of the plurality of isolates, wherein the targeted thread of execution is executed within a first isolate of the plurality of isolates, and wherein the lightweight debug agent is executed within a second isolate of the plurality of isolates.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the module includes:

a communication driver module configured to provide an interface to a hardware or wireless communication link coupling the lightweight debug agent to the debug controller;

or

a transport module configured to format the debug information for transmission from the virtual machine to a corresponding module within the debug controller in accordance with a debug transport protocol;

or

a debugging interfaces module configured to provide a plurality of interfaces through which the debug information is obtained from the targeted thread of execution.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the module comprises a communication driver module configured to support communication between the target device and the debug controller over a respective type of communication link, wherein the debug controller is further configured to:

select the module from among a plurality of communication driver modules, each usable for communicating debug information during the debug session.

9. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein at least one communication driver module of the plurality of communication driver modules is configurable for use by a plurality of threads of execution at the virtual machine including the targeted thread of execution, wherein said selecting the module comprises:

identifying one communication driver module of the plurality of communication driver modules that is in use by the targeted thread of execution; and

selecting an other communication driver module of the plurality of communication modules as the particular communication driver module.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

performing by a computer;

receiving an identification of a thread of execution to be targeted for debugging during a debug session, wherein the thread of execution is executing within a virtual machine;

selecting, from among a plurality of independently deployable modules for a lightweight debug agent, one or more modules to be deployed to the virtual machine to obtain debug information from the targeted thread during the debug session;

deploying the one or more modules to the virtual machine for the debug session;

obtaining debug information from the targeted thread during the debug session using the lightweight debug agent, wherein the debug agent is capable of pausing execution of the targeted thread at a given point during the debug session;

provide the debug information to a debugger.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

in response to determining that the debug session has terminated, undeploying at least one module of the lightweight debug agent from the virtual machine.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

translating the debug information obtained from the targeted thread into a standard format recognizable by a debugger.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the plurality of independently deployable modules comprises a plurality of communication driver modules, wherein each communication driver module of the plurality of communication driver modules is configured to support communication over a respective type of communication link, further comprising:

selecting, from among the plurality of communication driver modules, a particular communication driver module to be used for communicating debug information during the debug session;

determining whether the particular communication driver is already deployed at the virtual machine;

in response to determining that the particular communication driver is not already deployed, deploying the particular communication driver to the virtual machine for the debug session.

14. A tangible computer readable storage medium storing program instructions, wherein the instructions are computer-executable to:

receive an identification of a thread of execution to be targeted for debugging during a debug session, wherein the thread of execution is executing within a virtual machine;

select, from among a plurality of independently deployable modules for a lightweight debug agent, one or more modules to be deployed to the virtual machine to obtain debug information from the targeted thread during the debug session;

deploy the one or more modules to the virtual machine for the debug session; and

obtain debug information from the targeted thread during the debug session using the lightweight debug agent, wherein the debug agent is capable of pausing execution of the targeted thread at a given point during the debug session;

provide the debug information to a debugger.

15. The computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 14, wherein the instructions are further computer-executable to:

undeploy at least one module of the lightweight debug agent from the virtual machine in response to determining that the debug session has terminated.

16. The computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 15, wherein the plurality of independently deployable modules comprises a plurality of communication driver modules, wherein each communication driver module of the plurality of communication driver modules is configured to support communication over a respective type of communication link, wherein the instructions are further computer-executable to:

select, from among the plurality of communication driver modules, a particular communication driver module to be used for communicating debug information during the debug session;

determine whether the particular communication driver is already deployed at the virtual machine; and

in response to determining that the particular communication driver is not already deployed, deploy the particular communication driver to the virtual machine for the debug session.

17. A constrained-memory computing device, comprising:

a processor,

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises program instructions executable by the processor to;

implement a plurality of threads of execution within a virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine is a reduced-memory version of a standard virtual machine used for deploying applications written in a platform-independent programming language;

receive, from a debug controller via a communication link, one or more executable modules of a plurality of independently deployable modules for a lightweight debug agent to be deployed at the virtual machine to obtain debug information from a targeted thread of the plurality of threads during a debug session, wherein the targeted thread is identified by the debug controller and wherein the lightweight debug agent is capable of pausing execution of the targeted thread at a given point during the debug session;

deploy the one or more executable modules at the virtual machine for the debug session while the targeted thread is running; and

transmit, to the debug controller via the communication link, debug information obtained from the targeted thread by the lightweight debug agent during the debug session.

18. The device as recited in claim 17, wherein the memory comprises random access memory (RAM), wherein no more than 64 kilobytes of RAM are included in the memory.

19. The device as recited in claim 17, further comprising a wireless micro-electro-mechanical sensor (MEMS), wherein the virtual machine comprises a small programmable object technology (SPOT) implementation, and wherein the memory does not include an operating system.