About This Guide

This guide describes how to use the TotalView® debugger, a source- and machine-level debugger for multi-process, multi-threaded programs. It is assumed that you are familiar with programming languages, a UNIX or Linux operating system, and the processor architecture of the system on which you are running TotalView and your program.

This user guide combines information for running theTotalView debugger either from within a Graphic User Interface (GUI), or the Command Line Interface (CLI), run within an xterm-like window for typing commands.

The information here emphasizes the GUI interface, as it is easier to use. Understanding the GUI will also help you understand the CLI.

Part I, “Introduction to Debugging with TotalView” contains an overview of TotalView features and an introduction to debugging with TotalView.

Part II, “Debugging Tools and Tasks” describes the function and use of TotalView’s primary set of debugging tools, such as stepping (Chapter 6), setting breakpoints (Chapter 7) and examining data including arrays (Chapter 8 and Chapter 9).

This part also includes detail on TotalView’s process/thread model (Chapter 12 and working with multi-process, multi-threaded programs (Chapter 13).

Part III, “Using the CLI” discusses the basics of using the Command Line Interface (CLI) for debugging. CLI commands are not documented in this book but in the TotalView Reference Guide.

Part IV, “Advanced Tools, Configuration, and Customization” provides additional information required for setting up various MPI and other parallel programming environments, including high performance computing environments such as MPICH, OpenMP, and UPC. Chapter 17 discusses how to get the TotalView Debugger Server (tvdsvr) running and how to reconfigure the way that TotalView launches the tvdsvr. Chapter 20 builds on previous process/thread discussions to provide more detailed configuration information and ways to work in multi-process, multi-threaded environments.