Efficient register breakpoints

A computer system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to cause the computer system to perform a register breakpoint check, the computer-executable instructions including instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to perform at least:
• decode a machine code instruction that is a subject of a debugging session;
• based on the decoding,
• identify one or more registers that the machine code instruction could potentially touch during execution of the machine code instruction, including identifying a register storing a processor flag that could be affected by execution of the machine code instruction, and
• insert an identification of the identified one or more registers into a stream of executable operations for the machine code instruction;
• subsequent to inserting the identification of the identified one or more registers into the stream of executable operations for the machine code instruction, executing the machine code instruction by executing the executable operations for the machine code instruction;
• and
• after executing the executable operations for the machine code instruction,
• identify, from the identification of the identified one or more registers that was inserted into the stream of executable operations for the machine code instruction, a particular register that was actually touched by execution of the executable operations for the machine code instruction, the particular register comprising the register storing the processor flag and which was affected by execution of the executable operations for the machine code instruction;
• and
• perform at least the following for the touched particular register:
• compare the particular register with a register breakpoint collection;
• and
• generate an event when the particular register is in the register breakpoint collection.

A method, implemented at a computer system that includes one or more processors, for performing a register breakpoint check and enabling lifetime analysis, the method comprising:

• decoding a machine code instruction that is a subject of a debugging session;
• based on the decoding,
• identifying one or more registers that the machine code instruction could potentially touch during execution of the machine code instruction, including identifying a register storing a processor flag that could be affected by execution of the machine code instruction, and
• inserting an identification of the identified one or more registers into a stream of executable operations for the machine code instruction;
• subsequent to inserting the identification of the identified one or more registers into the stream of executable operations for the machine code instruction, executing the machine code instruction by executing the executable operations for the machine code instruction;
• and
• after executing the executable operations for the machine code instruction,
• identify, from the identification of the identified one or more registers that was inserted into the stream of executable operations for the machine code instruction, a particular register that was actually touched by execution of the executable operations for the machine code instruction, the particular register comprising the register storing the processor flag and which was affected by execution of the executable operations for the machine code instruction;
• and
• perform at least the following for the touched particular register:
• comparing the particular register with a register breakpoint collection;
• generating an event when the particular register is in the register breakpoint collection, the event performing at least one of:
• based at least on the executable operations writing to the particular register, removing the particular register from a monitoring collection and noting a lifetime termination in a lifetime structure;
• or
• based at least on the executable operations reading from the particular register, adding a destination of the read to the monitoring collection and extending a lifetime in the lifetime structure to the destination.