Debug Release Notes R1.6 Beta

Major new features added to Debug:

Print can display entire structures
Conditional actionpoints (break, watch, trace)
Context specification using MPI communicator groups
More complete command set

Refer to the current EPS documentation for more information about particular features.

Unimplemented Features

rerun - run application ignoring arguments used in previous run command (workaround: reload application using debug command; to save breakpoints use "status > file" to write them to a file)
catch/ignore - suppress delivery of signals to the application (workaround: none)
threads - display information on more than 1 thread (workaround: none)
msgstyle - force message contexts to be displayed using the NX node numbering rather than MPI communicator and rank. (workaround: none)
sh - execute a shell command (workaround: none)
log - send debugger output to a log file (workaround: use the shell "script" command to save entire debug session)
source - execute a file of debug commands (workaround: use debug -s on invocation)
more - turns off scroll control of text display (workaround: at first more prompt, enter 's')
yod/reyod/yodargs - allow use of a load executable other than /cougar/bin/yod (workaround: use debug -y switch)
address - display contents of an address (workaround: use "print address" instead)
coreload - load core file (workaround: none)
restart - load checkpointed file (workaround: none)
attach/detach - connect debugger to running application (workaround: none)
debug switches: -c -r -a -j -I (workaround: none)
cont -nosignal - do not deliver signal to application when resumed (workaround: none)
predefined debug variables for registers (e.g. $esp, $ax) (workaround: none)
yod switch -F - loadings multiple executables (workaround: none)

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer XDebug Release Notes R1.6 Beta

XDebug Release Notes R1.6 Beta

Major new features added to Xdebug:

Text searching
Command line access to debugger
Initial on-line help
Message queue manager
Source code data diving

Refer to the current EPS documentation for more information about particular features.

Text Searching

Text can be searched for via the Find dialog, accessed from the Edit menu. The region being searched must first be given focus (a rectangle typically appears around the region with focus). Features:

Any text within a scrolling text region or a scrolling list can be searched.
An egrep regular expression can be used for the search term.
Case matching can be toggled.
Forward and backward searching is supported.

Known limitations:

Find dialog doesn't give an error message if the specified text is not found (CR 033817).
Searches include the line numbers as part of the search area (CR 033823).

Command Line Access to Debugger

The command line panel of Xdebug allows the user to type commands directly to the debugger. All of the "debug" commands, except "wait", are available via the panel. Features:

Text entry region for command.
Scrolling text region for command output.
History control for selecting a previously executed command.

Message Queue Manager

The message queue panel allows the user to examine the receive and send queues to find which processes are blocked waiting to receive a message or which messages have not been received yet. This panel is based on the Parallel Tools Consortium's Message Queue Manager Interface. Features:

View sizes of send and/or receive queues in up to thousands of processes at once.
See details of send and receive queues in any process with a single click.
View multiple processes' queues at once in separate windows.
Click on a process ID in any queue window to see that process's queue window.

The MQM "Process Subset" window is not included as the equivalent functionality is provided by the current context (established in the Process panel).

Known limitations:

The "Change Filters" window is not yet implemented.
The NX/MPI Message Style buttons are currently disabled.
Updating the message queue panel for a large number of processes can cause xdebug to exit (CR 034218).

Source Code Data Diving

Data diving allows the display of more information on an interface element by clicking on it with mouse button 2 (typically the middle mouse button). Phase 1 of data diving includes the following features:

Clicking button 2 on a routine name in the Source Code panel displays the source of the specified routine in the same Source Code panel.
Clicking button 2 on a variable name in the Source Code panel displays the value of the variable in the Data panel.
Clicking button 2 on the name of a user-defined type (struct, union, class, etc.) in the Source Code panel displays the definition of the type in the Data panel.
Selecting any source text in the Source Code panel with button 1, then clicking button 2 within the selection, displays the source, type, or value of the selected text.
If any error occurs during data diving, the terminal bell sounds and an error message is displayed for 5 seconds in the Source Code panel's message area. The bell can be turned off by setting the X resource "XDebug.useBell" to False; the number of seconds the message is displayed is controlled by the X resource "XDebug.diveErrorTimeOut".
The Source History menu in the Source Code panel displays all source locations visited in that panel, and can be used to return to a previously-displayed location.
Pressing the "Type" button in the Data panel displays the type of the selected variable or expression.

Known limitations:

Diving into a structure name may display the wrong structure definition (CR 033805).
Data diving requires that the current context is not empty, and may give incorrect results if the current context does not include at least one process that uses the currently-displayed source file (CR 033814).
If a function is overloaded (functions with the same name but different parameters), diving into the function name may not display the correct one (CR 033815).
There are problems with diving in C++ programs (e.g. cannot dive into a method name "class::function"; cannot display values of variables local to a method), but these have not yet been well qualified (feel free to submit CR's).

Note:: If an attempt to dive results in the error "Can't determine type of <text>", check the Input/Output panel for more detailed error messages from the "whatis" command. Please include the error message, if there is one, in any Data Diving bug report.

Known Problems of Significance in Other Areas

Using xdebug with over 60 nodes in context runs the risk of causing xdebug to fault and exit (CR 034264).
Xdebug does not allow graceful interruption of a blocking 'next' command (CR 033778).
Stack Frame panel can provide only limited information about MPI processes (CR 033083).
Processes are displayed in a single column when the "-sz all" option is used for loading (CR 034224).
Important errors, if reported, are displayed only within the input/output panel (CR 033571).
The on-line help is available only through the help index window (accessible via the "Help" menu). Context sensitive help is not yet implemented.

Performance Monitoring Library Release Notes

Known Problems of Significance

endutilization(), printutilization(), endcontention(), and printcontention() always return counts of 0 (CR 033542).
getetimer() routines sometimes returns erroneous system and process times (CR 033542).
begin*(), end*(), and print*() routines only monitor processor 0 when in dual processor mode (CR 034152).
getlobalalarm() occasionally returns the wrong value (CR 034171).
emoncontrol() causes page fault if performance data cannot be written (CR 034196).
perfmonerror() cause a page fault if perfmon_errno is between 13 and 21 (CR 034202).