DPD : a distributed program debugger for the REM environment
Date
1990
Authors
Side, Robert Samuel
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Developing a distributed debugger is much more complex than developing a sequential or even a concurrent debugger. This added complexity is mainly due to the non-determinism introduced by the communication delays in distributed systems. This thesis explores the problems that must be addressed when designing a distributed program debugger, and then describes our design and implementation of DPD (Distributed Program Debugger). Problems addressed include non-determinism of events, finding consistent system states, stopping processes, setting breakpoints, recording events, and checkpointing. Important features of DPD include dynamic roll back and replay, as well as a graphical user interface. DPD has been tested successfully in debugging distributed programs within a distributed facility called REM (Remote Execution Manager). The results for actual use of DPD are presented. Scope for future work is also discussed.