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Source level debugging of dynamically translated programs

Kumar, Naveen (2008) Source level debugging of dynamically translated programs. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The capability to debug a program at the source level is useful and often indispensable. Debuggers usesophisticated techniques to provide a source view of a program, even though what is executing on the hard-ware is machine code. Debugging techniques evolve with significant changes in programming languagesand execution environments. Recently, software dynamic translation (SDT) has emerged as a new execu-tion mechanism. SDT inserts a run-time software layer between the program and the host machine, provid-ing flexibility in execution and program monitoring. Increasingly popular technologies that use thismechanism include dynamic optimization, dynamic instrumentation, security checking, binary translation,and host machine virtualization. However, the run-time program modifications in a SDT environment posesignificant challenges to a source level debugger. Currently debugging techniques do not exist for softwaredynamic translators. This thesis is the first to provide techniques for source level debugging of dynamically translatedprograms. The thesis proposes a novel debugging framework, called Tdb, that addresses the difficult chal-lenge of maintaining and providing source level information for programs whose binary code changes asthe program executes. The proposed framework has a number of important features. First, it does notrequire or induce changes in the program being debugged. In other words, programs are debugged is theirdeployment environment. Second, the framework is portable and can be applied to virtually any SDT sys-tem. The framework requires minimal changes to an SDT implementation, usually just a few lines of code.Third, the framework can be integrated with existing debuggers, such as Gdb, and does not require changesto these debuggers. This improves usability and adoption, eliminating the learning curve associated with anew debugging environment. Finally, the proposed techniques are efficient. The runtime overhead of thedebugged programs is low and comparable to that of existing debuggers. Tdb's techniques have been implemented for three different dynamic translators, on two differenthardware platforms. The experimental results demonstrate that source level debugging of dynamicallytranslated programs is feasible, and our implemented systems are portable, usable, and efficient.


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Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Kumar, Naveennaveen@cs.pitt.edu
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairChilders, Brucechilders@cs.pitt.eduCHILDERS
Committee CoChairSoffa, Mary Lousoffa@cs.virginia.edu
Committee MemberSmith, Michaelsmith@eecs.harvard.edu
Committee MemberCho, Sangyuencho@cs.pitt.eduSANGYEUN
Date: 30 June 2008
Date Type: Completion
Defense Date: 24 March 2008
Approval Date: 30 June 2008
Submission Date: 7 April 2008
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Computer Science
Degree: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis Type: Doctoral Dissertation
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: debugger; dynamic translation
Other ID: http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04072008-160418/, etd-04072008-160418
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2011 19:34
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2016 13:38
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/6855

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