Selective Binary Instrumentation for Memory Profiling Overhead
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for memory profiling in software applications are inefficient due to high performance overhead from instrumentation, leading to prolonged execution times and false positives, making it difficult to identify memory leaks and errors effectively.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of selective static binary instrumentation (SBI) that bypasses instrumentation for certain conditions, such as read-only areas or initialized memory locations, and performs memory checking analysis only upon initial execution, reducing unnecessary instrumentation and false positives.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If straightforward instrumentation of each memory access operation is performed, then memory profiling accuracy is improved, but execution time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments memory access instructions into two categories: instrumented instructions (those requiring profiling) and non-instrumented instructions (those that can be skipped). This segmentation allows the system to apply instrumentation selectively rather than universally, thereby maintaining profiling accuracy for critical memory accesses while avoiding the performance penalty of instrumenting every single memory access operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different qualities of instrumentation to different parts of the program based on local characteristics. Specifically, it instruments memory access instructions that may have side effects or require tracking, while leaving other memory access instructions uninstrumented. This local differentiation maintains measurement precision where needed while minimizing overall execution time overhead.
2Reliability
If memory checking analysis is performed on all memory access instructions, then error detection capability is improved, but false positives increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments memory access instructions into those requiring memory checking analysis and those that can be excluded. By identifying and excluding non-instrumented instructions from memory checking analysis, the system maintains error detection capability for critical operations while eliminating false positives that would arise from analyzing instructions that don't require such scrutiny.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary identification of which memory access instructions require instrumentation and memory checking analysis before execution. This preliminary action allows the system to set up the appropriate checking mechanisms only for relevant instructions, ensuring error detection capability is maintained while avoiding the false positives that would result from blanket analysis of all memory accesses.
3Loss of information
If comprehensive instrumentation code is inserted for all memory operations, then profiling completeness is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the instrumentation approach to include only necessary components for each type of memory access instruction. Rather than inserting comprehensive instrumentation code for all memory operations, it selectively instruments only those instructions that require profiling, thereby maintaining profiling completeness for relevant operations while reducing system complexity by eliminating unnecessary instrumentation code.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for performing efficient program instrumentation for memory profiling. A computing system comprises a memory profiler comprising a static binary instrumentation (SBI) tool and a dynamic binary analysis (DBA) tool. The profiler is configured to selectively instrument memory access operations of a software application. Instrumentation may be bypassed completely for an instruction if the instruction satisfies some predetermined conditions. Some sample conditions include the instruction accesses an address within a predetermined read-only area, the instruction accesses an address within a user-specified address range, and/or the instruction is a load instruction accessing a memory location determined from a data flow graph to store an initialized value. An instrumented memory access instruction may have memory checking analysis performed only upon an initial execution of the instruction in response to determining during initial execution that a read data value of the instruction is initialized. Both unnecessary instrumentation and memory checking analysis may be reduced.