Efficient address-to-symbol translation of stack traces in software programs

An apparatus, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
• obtain an attribute of a stack trace of a software program;
• use the attribute to select an address-translation instance from a set of address-translation instances for processing the stack trace;
• and
• provide the stack trace to the selected address-translation instance for use in translating a set of memory addresses in the stack trace into a set of symbols of instructions stored at the memory addresses, wherein translating the set of memory addresses comprises processing, by the selected address-translation instance, the stack trace by:
• obtaining one or more symbol files, each symbol file comprising a set of mappings of the memory addresses in the software program to the symbols of the instructions stored at the memory addresses;
• using the sets of mappings from the one or more symbol files to replace the memory addresses in the stack trace with the symbols;
• and
• caching, in a memory associated with the selected address-translation instance, for at least one of the memory addresses that was replaced, a mapping of the memory address to a symbol of a corresponding instruction, the caching comprising associating the memory address and stack trace information with the symbol stored in the cached mapping;
• and
• using the cached mapping to replace the memory address with the symbol in a subsequent stack trace of the software program.

A system, comprising:

• a selection module comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the system to:
• obtain an attribute of a stack trace of a software program;
• use the attribute to select an address-translation instance from a set of address-translation instances for processing the stack trace;
• and
• provide the stack trace to the selected address-translation instance for use in translating a set of memory addresses in the stack trace into a set of symbols of instructions stored at the memory addresses;
• and
• the selected address translation instance comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the system to:
• obtain one or more symbol files, each symbol file comprising a set of mappings of the memory addresses in the software program to the symbols of the instructions stored at the memory addresses;
• use the sets of mappings from the one or more symbol files to replace the memory addresses in the stack trace with the symbols;
• and
• cache, in a memory associated with the selected address-translation instance, for at least one of the memory addresses that was replaced, a mapping of the memory address to a symbol of a corresponding instruction, the caching comprising associating the memory address and stack trace information with the symbol stored in the cached mapping;
• and
• use the cached mapping to replace the memory address with the symbol in a subsequent stack trace of the software program.