Capturing machine state of unstable Java program
View Patent ↗Mechanisms and methods for capturing an execution state of a failing program in a computing environment are disclosed. Embodiments can enable detection of user initiated program terminations and error information capture without incurring the overhead of a separate monitoring process. It is possible to obtain an execution trace and related state information in the event that a program has incurred a program error causing the user to terminate the program.
1. A machine implemented method, comprising:
detecting a user intervention initiating an abnormal termination of a program;
collecting and storing information about an execution state at the time of the user initiated abnormal termination;
detecting based upon a presence of stored information about the execution state that a prior instance of the program incurred a user initiated abnormal termination, after the user restarts the program;
in response to detecting that a prior instance of the program incurred a user initiated abnormal termination, soliciting information from the user about reasons that the user initiated the abnormal termination of the program;
receiving and storing information from the user about reasons that the user abnormally terminated the prior instance of the program; and
sending the information about the execution state at the time of the user initiated abnormal termination and the information about reasons that the user abnormally terminated the prior instance of the program to a third party.
2. A computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for gathering information about an abnormally terminated program, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:
detecting a user intervention initiating an abnormal termination of a program;
collecting and storing information about an execution state at the time of the user initiated abnormal termination;
detecting based upon a presence of stored information about the execution state that a prior instance of the program incurred a user initiated abnormal termination, after the user restarts the program;
in response to detecting that a prior instance of the program incurred a user initiated abnormal termination, soliciting information from the user about reasons that the user initiated the abnormal termination of the program;
receiving and storing information from the user about reasons that the user abnormally terminated the prior instance of the program; and
sending the information about the execution state at the time of the user initiated abnormal termination and the information about reasons that the user abnormally terminated the prior instance of the program to a third party.
3. An apparatus for capturing an execution state of a failing program, comprising:
a processor
a memory; connected to the processor by a bus; and
one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of:
detecting a user intervention initiating an abnormal termination of a program;
collecting and storing information about an execution state at the time of the user initiated abnormal termination;
detecting based upon a presence of stored information about the execution state that a prior instance of the program incurred a user initiated abnormal termination, after the user restarts the program;
in response to detecting that a prior instance of the program incurred a user initiated abnormal termination, soliciting information from the user about reasons that the user initiated the abnormal termination of the program,
receiving and storing information from the user about reasons that the user abnormally terminated the prior instance of the program; and
sending the information about the execution state at the time of the user initiated abnormal termination and the information about reasons that the user abnormally terminated the prior instance of the program to a third party.
4. An apparatus, comprising:
means for detecting a user intervention initiating an abnormal termination of a program;
means for collecting and storing information about an execution state at the time of the user initiated abnormal termination;
means for detecting based upon a presence of stored information about the execution state that a prior instance of the program incurred a user initiated abnormal termination, after the user restarts the program;
means for soliciting information from the user about reasons that the user initiated the abnormal termination of the program in response to detecting that a prior instance of the program incurred a user initiated abnormal termination;
means for receiving and storing information from the user about reasons that the user abnormally terminated the prior instance of the program; and
means for sending the information about the execution state at the time of the user initiated abnormal termination and the information about reasons that the user abnormally terminated the prior instance of the program to a third party.