Patent ID: 8490060

Claim:
A method of a watchpoint handler of a data processing system identifying the source of errors in one or more computer programs executing on the data processing system, the method comprising: the watchpoint handler of the data processing system automatically specifying at least one memory address to be monitored, wherein the at least one specified memory address is common among two or more processes; a debugger of the data processing system placing a watch on the at least one specified memory address; during execution of the one or more computer programs, the watchpoint handler dynamically monitoring the at least one specified memory address for updates or accesses thereto; in response to determining that the one or more computer programs have accessed or updated the at least one specified memory address, the watchpoint handler retrieving trace information associated with the one or more computer programs that accessed or updated the at least one specified memory address, wherein the trace information comprises two or more levels of call stack information history corresponding to two or more prior operations; the watchpoint handler of the data processing system determining, based on the retrieved trace information, if an error has occurred at the at least one specified memory address; and in response to determining that an error has occurred, the watchpoint handler recording a trace context, wherein the trace context includes at least one of: information associated with the error and the cause of the error; wherein the watchpoint handler further comprises a trace buffer for collecting one or more call stack chains placed inside the watchpoint handler, and wherein automatically specifying, monitoring, and recording are performed without halting execution of the one or more computer programs.