Method and system for obtaining run-time information associated with executing an executable
View Patent ↗A method of obtaining run-time information associated with executing an executable is described. The method comprises receiving an external database comprising one or more external debugging information entries, retrieving the one or more external debugging information entries from the external database and storing the one or more external debugging information entries retrieved from the external database in a debugging information entries collection. The method further comprises providing the debugging information entries collection to a debugging information consumer, and obtaining the run-time information from letting the debugging information consumer retrieve run-time values and format the run-time values according to the external debugging information entries in the debugging information entries collection.
1. A method of obtaining run-time information associated with executing an executable, the method comprising:
receiving an object file while executing the executable;
determining whether the object file comprises one or more embedded debugging information entries, and
where the object file comprises one or more embedded debugging information entries:
retrieving one or more embedded debugging information entries from the object file, and
including the one or more embedded debugging information entries retrieved from the object file in a debugging information entries collection;
receiving one or more external debugging information entries from an external database, wherein the one or more external debugging information entries relates to an array of registers;
storing the one or more external debugging information entries in the debugging information entries collection;
providing the debugging information entries collection to a debugging information consumer; and
obtaining the run-time information from at least one or more registers, one or more variables, one or more functions, one or more memory locations, for executing the executable, and letting the debugging information consumer retrieve run-time values and format the run-time values according to the external debugging information entries in the debugging information entries collection; and
presenting a visualization of the run-time values as formatted according to the external debugging information entries.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the object file comprises an executable.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the object file comprises a library.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the one or more external debugging information entries is provided in the external database;
the receiving of the one or more external debugging information comprising receiving the external database comprising the one or more external debugging information entries; and
the method further comprises retrieving the one or more external debugging information entries from the external database.
5. The method according to claim 1 , the method further comprising:
providing a user interface to receive one or more user provided external debugging information entries; and
storing the user provided external debugging information entries as defined by the user in the debugging information entries collection.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more external debugging information entries comprise one or more of debugging information entries having members representing one or more data types, one or more global variables, one or more local variables, one or more register, one or more function, or a mapped part of a memory associated with a memory mapped peripheral.
7. The method according to claims 1 , at least one of the one or more external debugging information entries defining a complex data type.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the run-time values are retrieved from a part of a memory corresponding to a memory mapped peripheral.
9. A method of generating run-time information while executing an executable, the method comprising:
receiving an object file while executing the executable;
retrieving embedded debugging information entries (DIE) from object file;
formatting the embedded DIE to have a predetermined format;
retrieving external DIE from an external memory, wherein the one or more external DIE relates to an array of registers;
formatting the external DIE to have the predetermined format;
storing the embedded DIE and the external DIE in a DIE collection in a debugging information consumer;
obtaining the run-time information from at least one or more registers, one or more variables, one or more functions, one or more memory locations, for executing the executable, and letting the debugging information consumer retrieve run-time values and format the run-time values according to the external debugging information entries in the debugging information entries collection; and
presenting a visualization of the run-time values as formatted according to the external debugging information entries.
10. A computer system for obtaining run-time information associated with executing an executable on a processor, the computer system comprising:
an object file loader arranged to receive an object file while executing the executable, retrieve one or more debugging information entries (DIE) from the object file, and store the one or more debugging information entries in a debugging information entries collection, wherein if the debugging information entries are in a different format than the format used for entries in the debugging information collection, format the debugging information entries to the entries in the debugging information entries collection;
a DIE injector arranged to:
receive one or more external debugging information entries from an external memory at runtime, wherein the one or more external debugging information entries relates to an array of registers, and
store the one or more external debugging information entries in the debugging information entries collection; and
a DIE consumer arranged to:
receive the debugging information entries collection,
obtain the run-time information from at least one or more registers, one or more variables, one or more functions, one or more memory locations, for executing the executable, and letting the debugging information consumer retrieve run-time values and format the run-time values according to the external debugging information entries in the debugging information entries collection;
format the run-time values according to the external debugging information entries received from the debugging information entries collection; and
present a visualization of the run-time values as formatted according to the external debugging information entries.
11. The computer system according to claim 10 , the computer system further comprising:
an object file loader arranged to receive an object file, wherein the object file comprises one or more embedded debugging information entries; and
a DIE loader arranged to:
receive the object file from the object file loader,
retrieve one or more of the embedded debugging information entries from the object file, and
include the one or more of the embedded debugging information entries retrieved from the object file in the debugging information entries collection.
12. The computer system according to claim 10 , the DIE consumer arranged to retrieve the run-time values from at least
a part of a memory corresponding to a memory mapped peripheral.
13. The computer system according to claim 10 , the DIE consumer comprising at least one of a debugger, a debugger component, a profiler, a profiler component, a data formatter, a data formatter component, a visualizer and a visualizer components.
14. An integrated development environment comprising the computer system according to claim 10 .