Patent ID: 7568185

Claim:
A method for tracing an instrumented application, comprising: loading the instrumented application object file comprising a probe into a kernel level to obtain a corresponding instrumented process; triggering, after loading the instrumented application object file, a hook in an initialization object file to load a helper object file into a kernel level for use by a tracing framework, wherein the initialization object file is linked to the instrumented application object file, wherein the helper object file comprises a helper action, wherein the helper action is a stored procedure generated using an implementation specific detail associated with the instrumented application object file for obtaining a stack trace of the instrumented process, wherein the helper object file is linked to the initialization object file, wherein loading the helper object file comprises storing the helper action in a process helper data structure in the kernel level, wherein the process helper data structure is accessible to the tracing framework; registering the helper action with the tracing framework to associate the probe with the helper action loaded in the process helper data structure; tracing the instrumented process using the tracing framework, wherein the probe is encountered during the tracing of the instrumented process; upon encountering the probe, determining, by querying the process helper data structure, whether the helper action loaded in the process helper data structure is associated with the probe; obtaining the helper action from the process helper data structure when the helper action is associated with the probe; and performing the helper action to obtain the stack trace of the instrumented process when the helper action is associated with the probe.