Abstract: Improved method and apparatus for remote execution of commands are disclosed. A local computer issues a command to be executed on a remote computer. The improved method and apparatus operate to synchronize a working directory on the remote computer to a working directory on the local computer. The improved method and apparatus can also convert, modify or otherwise reformat remote commands so that they operate correctly on the remote computer and return results which are appropriate for the local computer. Thereafter, the remote computer executes the command.

Abstract: A subroutine execution time tracer that is able to trace execution times of software subroutines regardless of whether the subroutines are invoked or exited using standard or non-standard subroutine calling conventions is described. A head patch is placed at the beginning of a software subroutine, and a tail patch is placed at the end of the software routine. The invention uses the head patch to examine the return address on the system stack before replacing the return address with the address of a tail patch. If the return address on the system stack already corresponds to a tail patch, then a counter associated with the tail patch is incremented. The counter serves to notify the tail patch that when invoked it must log an additional exit event. This allows subroutines which "jump" to other subroutines (i.e., non-standard subroutine calls) to be properly traced. The invention also configures the tail patch as an internal code stack.