Patent ID: 6990657

Claim:
A method for maintaining coherency of software breakpoints in shared memory when debugging a multiple processor system, the method comprising the steps of: creating a software memory map of the memory usage of a plurality of processors in the system to be debugged; activating a first debug session associated with a first processor of a plurality of processors and at least a second debug session associated with a second processor of the plurality of processors; setting a first software breakpoint in a shared memory location in the first debug session such that all debug sessions are notified of the setting of the breakpoint, the step of setting comprising searching the software memory map to find a first plurality of processors having read access to the shared memory location; updating a software representation maintained for software breakpoints for each of the first plurality of processors; and writing the software breakpoint instruction in the shared memory location; and clearing the first software breakpoint in the shared memory location in the second debug session such that all debug sessions are notified of the clearing of the breakpoint.