Offline tracing with curses

Offline tracing with curses

The c_trace backend can be told to trace by writing messages to the standard error device (see Default c_trace tracing) or by employing an interactive display (see c_trace tracing with curses). These two alternatives can be combined to support offline tracing of a coNCePTuaL program. The idea is to compile the program without the --curses option. When running the program, the standard-error output should be redirected to a file. The ncptl-replaytrace utility, which comes with coNCePTuaL, can then be used to play back the program’s execution by reading and displaying the file of redirected trace data.

ncptl-replaytrace accepts the following command-line options, which correspond closely to those accepted by a program compiled with the --curses option to c_trace (see c_trace tracing with curses):

- -trace

Specify a file containing redirected trace data. file defaults to the standard input device.

- -delay

Specify the delay in milliseconds after each screen update (‘0’=no delay).

- -monitor

Specify the processor number to monitor. processor defaults to ‘0’.

- -breakpoint

Specify a line of source code at which to enter single-stepping mode (‘-1’=none; ‘0’=first event).

In addition, ncptl-replaytrace requires that the coNCePTuaL source-code file be specified on the command line, as the source code is not included in the trace data.

The interactive display presented by the offline ncptl-replaytrace tool is nearly identical to that presented by a program compiled with the --curses option to c_trace. See c_trace tracing with curses, for a usage description.