Automatic Bug Repro Capture for Query Optimizers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Reproducing bugs in complex software components like query optimizers is difficult and time-consuming due to the challenge of capturing necessary information in an unstable system state, often requiring significant manual effort and expertise.
Innovation Solution
An automatic capture mechanism that serializes input parameters, metadata, and execution environment information before an exception occurs, creating a self-contained, executable repro file that can recreate the problem without additional resource allocation, ensuring transactional consistency and portability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If manual effort is used to capture bug reproduction information, then completeness of information can be achieved, but time consumption and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by capturing and serializing bug reproduction information immediately when an exception occurs, before the system state becomes unstable or changes. The capture mechanism serializes the exception context, stack traces, and system state at the moment of failure, ensuring information completeness without requiring later manual collection efforts.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-service by automatically capturing, serializing, and storing bug reproduction information without human intervention. The exception handling mechanism automatically triggers the capture process, serializes relevant data structures, and stores them in a reproducible format, eliminating the need for manual information gathering while maintaining completeness.
2Measurement precision
If comprehensive system state information is captured after a crash, then diagnostic accuracy improves, but the system may be in an unstable state causing information loss
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by capturing the system state at the exact moment an exception occurs, before any subsequent system changes or instability can affect the data. The capture mechanism serializes the exception context, thread states, and system configuration immediately when the error is detected, ensuring both diagnostic accuracy and reliability by avoiding post-crash state changes.
3Measurement precision
If detailed reproduction information is collected, then bug reproduction accuracy improves, but portability and ease of transfer decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements copying by creating a self-contained serialized representation of the bug reproduction environment. Instead of requiring the original system state or complex setup, the solution serializes all necessary information (exception context, stack traces, system configuration) into a portable file format that can be copied and transferred easily while maintaining complete reproduction accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies parameter changes by transforming the complex system state into a standardized serialized format with specific parameters (exception type, stack trace, system configuration). This transformation maintains all necessary information for accurate reproduction while making the data portable and easy to transfer through standard file operations.
4Manufacturing precision
If manual expertise is required to capture repro information, then accuracy of capture improves, but productivity and speed of resolution decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by automating the entire information capture process. The exception handling mechanism automatically triggers serialization of bug reproduction information without requiring manual expertise. The system independently captures exception context, stack traces, and system state, maintaining accuracy while dramatically increasing productivity by eliminating manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of manual information gathering with an automated software-based exception handling mechanism. Instead of requiring manual expertise to collect and analyze system state, the solution uses programmatic exception capture and serialization to automatically record all necessary information, maintaining accuracy while eliminating the time and expertise requirements of manual processes.
Data Source
AI summary
A minimal portable executable bug repro contains the inputs to a query optimizer, metadata, statistics, process and thread specific information such as stack traces, and state at the time of a crash necessary to reproduce the problem. Objects register with a handler prior to use, and the handler pre-allocates sufficient buffer space to store each. Upon a crash, the handler requests each object to serialize itself into the pre-allocated space, and captures the relevant information in a transactionally consistent way. The executable file may be loaded onto a debugging system, and the execution sequence replayed to analyze the problem.