Webservice Debugs Linux Binaries While-U-Wait 219
null-und-eins writes "A new webservice offers automatic
debugging of Linux binaries. It takes a (with "-g" compiled) binary and two invocations where one fails and the other doesn't. The service repeatedly runs the two programs and tries to find the smallest difference between the two that causes the failure. Nice google-like interface with statistics about its own performance."
If I only had it two weeks ago.. (Score:4, Interesting)
poor admin... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This is cool but (Score:4, Interesting)
Question (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Ok igor... (Score:3, Interesting)
Google-like... wait a second... (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder what happens on google's next cache update, if you're doing something like that. Do you get a google cache within a google cache? Or does google just forget about you?
Very Clever (Score:3, Interesting)
We're redirecting only if you come from /.
That's very clever! Smart cookies.
It certainly mitigates the awesome server-melting power of the slashdot effect
algorithmic and automatic debugging (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Doesn't seem that useful. (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't recall ever getting to the point where I could crash a program at will, with some given input, and yet the bug wasn't fairly obvious and easy to find just from a stack trace and maybe 2-3 minutes of line by line stepping.
Neat technology, very little real world use. IMO.
Re:Why is there a need for this? (Score:2, Interesting)
I mean, honestly -- have YOU ever seen a function or class or subroutine in Linux that WASN'T damn near perfectly coded?
Yes, most of it. The majority of recent open-source software is badly-written, non-portable dreck that'll build, sometimes, on a short list of Linux platforms.
All the worlds a RedHat box is as bad an assumption as all the world's a Sun or all the world's a VAX.
The redeeming factor is that a major reason for this is that there's so much open source code. So while the fraction that is well written, stable and portable isn't that high the absolute amount is pretty large and climbing.
Such a program replay tool exists (Score:4, Interesting)
I think it was Carmack lamenting its loss.
That's good, but how about (Score:3, Interesting)
Replay under linux--or how to single step backward (Score:3, Interesting)
http://old.lwn.net/1999/0121/kernel.php3
http://lwn.net/1999/0121/a/mec.html
Apparently its been out for *8* years, and has had exactly 3 people download it. Horrible -- its a feature I'd kill to have, and a feature linux should have.
Were you thinking of jwz? (Score:3, Interesting)