Abstract: A portable tracing utility provides trace configuration, trace instrumentation and trace management functionality for single or multithreaded programs. Through various application programming interfaces (“APIs”) of the tracing utility, a client may control tracing behavior to setup in-memory data structures for storing trace records that record the program's history of execution or to alter the granularity of execution history being traced. The trace behavior can be modified during the life of a program by using the APIs, either dynamically when the program assumes certain states, or through remote procedure calls issued by, for example, an external interface. Programs are instrumented with these APIs to record the history of execution, which during execution of the program is stored in circular in-memory buffers.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and mechanism for debugging a series of related events within a computer system. According to an embodiment, when tracing a series of related events that span across a plurality of threads, a token may be passed from one thread to another, thereby allowing a link between the threads to be marked within the one or more traces. The token may be passed via a messaging API, such as a network layer API or a shared resource. With this aspect of the invention, sufficient information will be provided within the one or more traces to allow all the related trace data to be linked together.