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<!DOCTYPE chapter SYSTEM "chapter.dtd">
<chapter>
<header>
<copyright>
<year>2004</year><year>2009</year>
<holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
</copyright>
<legalnotice>
The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.
Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
under the License.
</legalnotice>
<title>Runtime_Tools Release Notes</title>
<prepared></prepared>
<docno></docno>
<date></date>
<rev></rev>
<file>notes.xml</file>
</header>
<p>This document describes the changes made to the Runtime_Tools
application.</p>
<section><title>Runtime_Tools 1.8.2</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The documentation is now built with open source tools
(xsltproc and fop) that exists on most platforms. One
visible change is that the frames are removed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8201</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Runtime_Tools 1.8.1</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
<c>Makefile.in</c> has been updated to use the LDFLAGS
environment variable (if set). (Thanks to Davide
Pesavento.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8157</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Runtime_Tools 1.8</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
<c>etop</c> would crash if the emulator's custom
allocators had been turned off (e.g. using the
<c>+Meamin</c> option).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7519</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>The copyright notices have been updated.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7851</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>Now, dbg:p/2 accepts {X,Y,Z} process specification as
stated in the documentation. It also now accepts
"<X.Y.Z>" like from erlang:pid_to_list/1.</p>
<p>There is now a pre-saved match spec in dbg that saves
a lot of typing. Use dbg:ltp/0 to find out more...</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7867</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Runtime_Tools 1.7.3</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>Fixed a timestamp problem where some events could be
sent out of order. Minor fixes to presentation of
data.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7544 Aux Id: otp-7442 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Runtime_Tools 1.7.2</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p><c>etop</c> now collects process information faster
and more reliably than before (a race condition reported
by Igor Goryachev has been eliminated).</p>
<p>Trace messages could be lost when <c>ttb:stop/0</c>
was called.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7164</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Runtime_Tools 1.7.1</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>The documentation has been updated so as to reflect
the last updates of the Erlang shell as well as the minor
modifications of the control sequence <c>p</c> of the
<c>io_lib</c> module.</p> <p>Superfluous empty lines have
been removed from code examples and from Erlang shell
examples.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6944 Aux Id: OTP-6554, OTP-6911 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>Memory management improvements especially for the
runtime system with SMP support:</p> <list> <item> The
runtime system with SMP support can now use multiple,
thread specific instances of most memory allocators. This
improves performance since it reduces lock contention in
the memory allocators. It may however increase memory
usage for some applications. The runtime system with SMP
support will by default enable this feature on most
allocators. The amount of instances used can be
configured. </item> <item> <c>driver_alloc()</c>,
<c>driver_realloc()</c>, and <c>driver_free()</c> now use
their own erts specific memory allocator instead of the
default <c>malloc()</c> implementation on the system.
</item> <item> The default configuration of some
allocators have been changed to fit applications that use
much memory better. </item> <item> Some new
<c>erts_alloc</c> configuration parameters have been
added. </item> <item> <c>erts_alloc_config</c> has been
modified to be able to create configurations suitable for
multiple instances of allocators. </item> <item> The
returned value from <c>erlang:system_info({allocator,
Alloc})</c> has been changed. This since an allocator may
now run in multiple instances. </item> </list> <p>If you
for some reason want the memory allocators to be
configured as before, you can pass the <c>+Mea r11b</c>
command-line argument to <c>erl</c>.</p> <p>For more
information see the <c>erts_alloc(3)</c>, the
<c>erts_alloc_config(3)</c>, and the <c>erlang(3)</c>
documentation.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7100</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Runtime_Tools 1.7</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
<c>dbg</c> could leave traced processes in a suspended
state if the tracer process was killed with exit reason
<c>kill</c>.</p>
<p>
<c>erlang:suspend_process/2</c> has been introduced which
accepts an option list as second argument. For more
information see the <c>erlang(3)</c> documentation.</p>
<p>
Processes suspended via
<c>erlang:suspend_process/[1,2]</c> will now be
automatically resumed if the process that called
<c>erlang:suspend_process/[1,2]</c> terminates.</p>
<p>
Processes could previously be suspended by one process
and resumed by another unless someone was tracing the
suspendee. This is <em>not</em> possible anymore. The
process resuming a process <em>has</em> to be the one
that suspended it.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6946</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The undocumented and unsupported function
<c>dbg:tracer/1</c> has been removed. The undocumented,
unsupported, and broken function <c>dbg:i/1</c> has been
removed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6939</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Runtime_Tools 1.6.8</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
In this release the following has been fixed and
enhanced: Autostart: It is now possible to configure
modules that shall be loaded by the autostart mechanism.
This because it is not certain that all application
systems make use of the OTP boot script to set up paths
to all Erlang modules. Runtime_tools/Inviso: A bug in the
fetch_log functionality has been fixed. Further a bug
that was (supposedly) fixed in a previous patch
concerning meta-tracer write_ti has been fixed (again) in
this patch. A bug in inviso_as_lib making remote
autostart config file updates fail has been fixed.
Inviso: inviso_tool has been given a flush API.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6918</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Runtime_Tools 1.6.7</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The following bugs/improvements have been done: Internal
interworking between inviso_rt and inviso_rt_meta. The
call function used by inviso_rt to call inviso_rt_meta is
now protected with a monitor. Inviso_rt_meta now includes
the timestamp of the incoming meta trace message when
calling the call-callback. (Makes it possible to add a
"better" timestamp to the ti-file.) Bug in inviso_tool
making it not remove trace patterns when terminating. Bug
in internal function h_start_session making inviso_tool
crash if there were no active nodes to start the session
on. The user-inviso_tool and inviso API-inviso control
component request/response gen_server protocols had
default time-out. Since many trace operations can be time
consuming, a longer time-out is necessary. Improved
overload protection. It is now possible to let the
overload protection renew itself (e.g after an exit from
an external overload protector). Inviso_rt_meta now fully
uses the exception_trace match spec action term. Run
Trace Case API (as in contrast to activate and deactivate
trace case APIs) in inviso_tool. Flush trace-port API
added to inviso. Get_session_data API added to
inviso_tool. Improved inviso_tool:stop making it possible
to name nodes which shall not have their trace patterns
removed when inviso_tool terminates. Bug in handling of
writing multiple ti-entries if returned from a
call/return_from call-back in inviso_rt_meta Process
trace flags are no longer explicitly removed by the
inviso_tool when it terminates. Not necessary.
Inviso_tool get_autostart_data adopted to standard
autostarter.</p>
<p>
*** INCOMPATIBILITY with Meta trace call-backs are called
with different arguments now. ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6881</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Runtime_Tools 1.6.6</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>A bug in inviso_rt_meta caused an ETS table containing
information on initiated (init_tpm) functions to be lost
when suspending tracing. Further an enhancement to
inviso_rt has been introduced making it possible to
activate process trace flags based on globally registered
names. It is then not an error to activate a global name
on a node where the name does not reside. The process
count in the return value will simply be set to zero
(hence exactly one node in the NodeResult part of the
return value will indicate one matching process found). A
bug was found in fetch_log API. At the same time the
fetch_log functionality was enhanced to also offer flow
control making fetcher processes send chunks of
transferred file data at a slower pace.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6703</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Minor Makefile changes.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6689 Aux Id: OTP-6742 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>An experimental tool called <c>erts_alloc_config</c>
has been added. <c>erts_alloc_config</c> is intended to
be used to aid creation of an <c>erts_alloc</c>
configuration that is suitable for a limited number of
runtime scenarios. For more information see the
<c>erts_alloc_config(3)</c> documentation.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6700</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Runtime_Tools 1.6.5</title>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Misc improvements.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6576</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Runtime_Tools 1.6.4</title>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>This application has been updated to eliminate warnings
by Dialyzer.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6551</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Runtime_Tools 1.6.3</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>This ticket includes several improvements and bugfixes to
both runtime_tools and inviso. The overload mechanism can
now also react to incoming messages. This is useful if
an external overload watch-dog is used. Some improvements
of variable bindings has been done to the default
autostart mechanism - inviso_autostart_server. Autostart
"jobs" can now be done in parallel, allowing for some
jobs to hang waiting for some parts of the traced system
to become ready before proceeding. Previously when using
named meta-match-specs (tpm_ms) ending up with zero
match-specs still kept the meta trace pattern active.
This caused zero match-specs to be equal to unlimited
meta tracing on that particular function. If the internal
database becomes empty of meta match specs, meta trace
pattern is removed for that function. Standard public
loop data in the inviso runtime meta tracer process is
now extended to a 2-tuple. The functions ctp/1 and ctpl/1
are added making it possible to remove trace patterns for
a list of functions rather than one by one.
Inviso_rt_meta will now accept a list of binaries to be
output into the trace information file, in additions to a
single binary. Further it is also possible to make own
output to the trace information file using the write_ti/1
function. An error was discovered in inviso_rt making the
inviso_rt_meta remain rather than terminate if the
inviso_rt terminated due to "running alone" (not allowed
to run without a control component). A new tool,
inviso_tool, has been added to the inviso application.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6426</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Runtime_Tools 1.6.2</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Several minor bugs and race conditions eliminated in the
runtime_tools and observer applications.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6265</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Runtime_Tools 1.6.1</title>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>There are new BIFs <c>erlang:spawn_monitor/1,3</c>,
and the new option <c>monitor</c> for
<c>spawn_opt/2,3,4,5</c>.</p>
<p>The <c>observer_backend</c> module has been updated to
handle the new BIFs.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6281</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Runtime_Tools 1.6</title>
<p>Added the runtime part of the Inviso tracer, see the new Inviso
application for more information. This also meant adding an
application callback module and an application supervisor tree
for Runtime_Tools.</p>
</section>
<section>
<title>Runtime_Tools 1.5.1.1</title>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>The <c>dbg</c> manual page has been updated with information
about how to avoid deadlock when tracing.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5373 Aux Id: seq9729</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Runtime_Tools 1.5.1</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Linked in drivers in the Crypto, and Asn1 applications
are now compiled with the <c>-D_THREAD_SAFE</c> and
<c>-D_REENTRANT</c> switches on unix when the emulator has
thread support enabled.</p>
<p>Linked in drivers on MacOSX are not compiled with the
undocumented <c>-lbundle1.o</c> switch anymore. Thanks to
Sean Hinde who sent us a patch.</p>
<p>Linked in driver in Crypto, and port programs in SSL, now
compiles on OSF1.</p>
<p>Minor <c>Makefile</c> improvements in Runtime_Tools.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5346</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
</chapter>
