Debugging in a multi-processing environment by providing debugging information on computer process nodes and messages in a GUI

• US 8,429,553 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2010
• Issued: 04/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Maybee, Paul, Moth, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton, Jr., Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): SUN, LI P
• Application Number:
  US12/944,761
• Publication Number:
  US 20120124504A1
• Time in Patent Office: 893 Days
• Field of Search: 715/772, 717/125, 717/105
• US Class Current: 715/772
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/323 Visualisation of programs or trace data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

Technology is described for debugging in a multi-processor environment. An example system can include a plurality of process icons representing processes executing on compute nodes. A plurality of relationship arc icons between the process icons can represent messages being sent between source processes and destination processes on the compute nodes. A tabular display control can have rows to display attributes for relationship arc icons representing the messages being sent. In addition, a grouping module can be used to identify groups of messages that are related and to highlight relationship arc icons which are part of a group.

Claims

1. A system for debugging in a multi-processing environment, comprising:

a plurality of compute nodes, each of the plurality of compute nodes having at least one process executing on the compute node;

a debugging node, the debugging node comprising;

a processor;

a graphical user interface configured to display;

a plurality of process icons, the plurality of process icons representing processes executing on the plurality of compute nodes;

a plurality of relationship arc icons connecting between different ones of the plurality of process icons, each of the plurality of relationship arc icons representing a message or a group of messages being sent between processes executing on the plurality of compute nodes;

a tabular display control, the tabular display control having a plurality of rows to display attributes associated with the plurality of relationship arc icons and attributes for the message or group of messages corresponding with the relationship arc icon;

a grouping module configured to identify at least one group of messages that are sent between the processes executing on the plurality of compute nodes that are related and to associate the at least one group of messages with at least one of the plurality of relationship arc icons and to highlight relationship arc icons which are part of the at least one group; and

a debugger module configured to provide information to the grouping module and the tabular display control about the messages in a pending message queue for each of the processes executing on the plurality of compute nodes.

2. The system as in claim 1, wherein the group is a deadlock group or a dependency cycle group.

3. The system as in claim 1, wherein selecting a relationship arc icon enables content of a message to be displayed.

4. The system as in claim 1, further comprising a state annotation icon applied to the process icons and representing a current process state.

5. The system as in claim 4, wherein the current process state that is selected from the group consisting of a ready state, an executing state, a blocked state, a waiting state, a deadlocked state, and a terminated state.

6. The system as in claim 1, further comprising a debugger annotation icon applied to the process icons and representing a debugger imposed process state.

7. The system as in claim 6, wherein the debugger imposed process state is selected from the group comprising a current focus state, breaking process state, a running process state, and a frozen process state.

8. The system as in claim 1, further comprising a filtering legend having legend item controls which can be selected to toggle viewing of process icons.

9. The system as in claim 1, wherein a process icon can be selected by a user to direct focus to the process and display process related debugging information.

10. The system as in claim 1, wherein a process icon can be selected by a user to control the scheduling of the process.

11. The system as in claim 10, wherein controlling the scheduling further comprises controlling whether a process is frozen or thawed based on selecting the process icon.

12. A method for providing a graphical user interface for debugging in a multi-processing environment, comprising:

displaying a plurality of selectable process icons representing a plurality of processes executing on a plurality of compute nodes, wherein the selectable process icons provide a user with information related to the process associated with the process icon in response to the user selecting the process icon;

displaying a plurality of relationship arc icons connecting between different ones of the plurality of process icons, each of the plurality of relationship arc icons representing messages in message queues sent between source processes and destination processes executing on the plurality of compute nodes;

presenting a tabular display control having a plurality of rows for displaying attributes associated with the plurality of relationship arc icons and attributes for the messages in the message queues corresponding with the relationship arc icon;

grouping, by a grouping module, the plurality of relationship arc icons into a plurality of groups that are related to each other based upon a common message attributes;

highlighting the relationship arc icons that are identified as being part of a group by the grouping module, such that different ones of the plurality of groups is separately highlighted;

configuring a debug module for providing information to the grouping module and the tabular display control about the messages in a pending message queue for each of the processes executing on the plurality of computing nodes; and

applying a state annotation icon to the plurality of process icons to represent a current process state.

13. The method as in claim 12, further comprising selecting a current process state from a group consisting of a current focus state, breaking process state, a running process state, and a frozen process state.

14. The method as in claim 12, further comprising applying a debugger annotation icon to the process icons to represent a debugger imposed process state.

15. The method as in claim 14, wherein the debugger imposed process state is selected from a group comprising a current focus state, breaking process state, a running process state, and a frozen process state.

16. The method as in claim 12, further comprising displaying a filtering legend having selectable legend items to enable process icons to be hidden or displayed in response to the selectable legend items.

17. The method as in claim 12, further comprising selecting a relationship arc icon enables the content of a message to be displayed.

18. A method for providing a graphical user interface for debugging in a multi-processing environment, comprising:

displaying a plurality of selectable process icons representing a plurality of processes executing on a plurality of compute nodes in a display area, wherein the selectable process icons provide a user with information related to the process associated with the process icon in response to the user selecting the process icon;

displaying a plurality of relationship arc icons representing messages in message queues that are being sent between source processes and destination processes;

annotating the plurality of process icons with a debugger imposed process state;

presenting a tabular display control having a plurality of rows for displaying attributes associated with the plurality of relationship arc icons and attributes for the messages in the message queue corresponding with the relationship arc icon;

grouping, by a grouping module, the plurality of relationship arc icons into a plurality of groups that are related to each other based upon a common message attribute;

configuring a debug module for providing information to the grouping module and the tabular display control about the messages in a pending message queue for each of the processes executing on the plurality of computing nodes; and

highlighting the relationship arc icons that are identified to be in a group.

19. The method as in claim 18, further comprising displaying a filtering legend having legend item controls which can be selected to toggle viewing of process icons.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising filtering the plurality of relationship arc icons based upon the common message attribute.