Trace-based debugging and visualisation of concurrent Java programs with UML / Katharina Mehner [original]

Trace-based Debugging and Visualisation of

Concurrent Java Programs with UML

Katharina Mehner

Paderborn, 10 February 2005

iii

Doctoral thesis submitted to the Faculty of Electrical Engineering,

Computer Science and Mathematics in partial fulfilment of the

requirements for the degree of Dr. rer. nat.

Supervisors:

Prof. Dr. Gregor Engels, Universit¨at Paderborn

Prof. Dr. Stefan J¨ahnichen, Technische Universit¨at Berlin

Abstract

This thesis describes an approach for automated detection of concurrent live-

ness failures in the execution of Java programs.

Concurrent programs are highly prone to failure because of the inher-

ent nondeterminism. Developers of concurrent Java programs are not well

supported in detecting concurrency failures, i.e. failures that are due to inter-

actions between multiple threads. These failures are neither well documented

nor do tools like debuggers allow developers to identify them at runtime.

This thesis analyses and classifies liveness failures, a special kind of con-

currency failures, and the associated potentials in Java. A UML statechart

is developed that models the interaction of Java threads. Liveness failures

and potentials are specified formally in terms of the states controlling the

interaction of threads and in terms of the events exchanged by interacting

threads.

Detection algorithms are developed to identify the specified failures in a

program execution. A UML profile extending UML interaction diagrams is

developed to visualise the execution of concurrent Java programs and de-

tected liveness failures and potentials.

In order to deploy the algorithms and the UML profile, tool support

concepts are provided. This involves the specification of a trace format and

a tracing method to collect execution data from a running Java program, and

the specification of methods to analyse the trace and to visualise the trace

and the analysis results.

The concepts are implemented in the JAVIS prototype, which consists of

a Java tracer with an analysis facility for monitoring liveness in concurrent

Java programs, and a plug-in extension to the UML CASE tool Together

for importing and displaying concurrent Java traces including failures and

potentials.

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