System and method for determining a structure within a software kernel using an offset and an element
AssigneeSun Microsystems, Inc.
InventorAlan Hargreaves
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for determining a structure within a software kernel using an offset and an element is disclosed. The software kernel is received from a third party for debugging operations. Given one or more element and offset pairs, data extracted from the software kernel is searched to produce a list of possible structures to provide additional information during the debugging operations. The data is extracted into tables with symbol table information. The symbol table information is searched using an offset and an element. Structures are identified using this information and, optionally, a structure size may be provided to further limit the possible structures.
Claims20
A method for determining a structure within a software kernel, comprising:
- determining an offset and element of the structure, wherein the structure is from a plurality of structures within the software kernel;
- searching symbol table data according to the offset and the element;
- and
- identifying the structure from the symbol table data.
A system for debugging software, wherein a memory store includes a plurality of structures within a software kernel, comprising:
- a debugger to access the software kernel;
- a structure from the plurality of structures, the structure having an offset and an element;
- symbol table data for the software kernel, and comprising information regarding the structure;
- and
- a query for the symbol table data comprising the offset and the element to identify the structure.
A system for determining a structure within a software kernel in a debugging environment, comprising:
- means for determining an offset and element of the structure, wherein the structure is from a plurality of structures within the software kernel;
- means for searching symbol table data according to the offset and the element;
- and
- means for identifying the structure from the symbol table data.
A method for querying software having structures, comprising:
- compiling a symbol table data file for a software kernel;
- debugging the software kernel;
- searching the symbol table data file using an offset and an element determined from the debugging;
- identifying potential structures for the offset and the element;
- and
- determining a structure from the potential structures.
A method for searching symbol table information to determine possible structures, comprising:
- matching an index comprising an offset and a type;
- creating a first list of parent types according to the index;
- and
- creating a second list of possible structures according to the index and the first list.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.