A debugging standard for high-performance computing

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Joan M. Francioni, | Cherri M. Pancake,

Affiliations: Computer Science Department, Winona State University, Winona, MN 55987, USA. E-mail: joanf@wind.winona.msus.edu | Department of Computer Science, Oregon State University, Corvalis, OR 97331, USA. E-mail: pancake@cs.orst.edu

Abstract: Throughout 1998, the High Performance Debugging Forum worked on defining a base level standard for high performance debuggers. The standard had to meet the sometimes conflicting constraints of being useful to users, realistically implementable by developers, and architecturally independent across multiple platforms. To meet criteria for timeliness, the standard had to be defined in one year and in such a way that it could be implemented within an additional year. The Forum was successful, and in November 1998 released Version 1 of the HPD Standard. Implementations of the standard are currently underway. This paper presents an overview of Version 1 of the standard and an analysis of the process by which the standard was developed. The status of implementation efforts and plans for follow-on efforts are discussed as well.

Keywords: debuggers, debugging, high performance computing, parallel programming, parallel debuggers, standards

Journal: Scientific Programming, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 95-108, 2000