Eclipse Trace Compass 0.1.0 Release Review

Type
Release
State
Successful
End Date of the Review Period

Reviews run for a minimum of one week. The outcome of the review is decided on this date. This is the last day to make comments or ask questions about this review.

Project
Eclipse Trace Compass
Release

0.1.0

Description

Trace Compass is a tool for viewing and analyzing both logs and traces. It provides views, graphs, metrics, etc. to help extract useful information from logs or traces, in a way that is user-friendly and informative.

This is the initial release for this project after moving the source code from Eclipse Linux Tools project.

The Trace Compass release will provide an update site for installing its features on top of an existing Eclipse installation as well as a standalone RCP.

 

API Certification

The project leadership certifies that the APIs in this release are "Eclipse Quality".

Architectural Issues

Trace Compass is a tool for viewing and analyzing both logs and traces. It provides views, graphs, metrics, etc. to help extract useful information from logs or traces, in a way that is user-friendly and informative.

Trace Compass also provides an extensible framework written in Java that exposes a generic interface for the integration of logs or trace data input. This enables developers can extend the framework for their application specifics. For that, Trace Compass provides extension points for

  • adding support for new trace and log formats
  • adding support for custom trace analysis modules
  • adding support for custom UI elements such as events tables, analyses output and sequence diagrams

Trace Compass also provides support for custom parsers, data-driven analyses and views. Custom text or XML parsers can be added directly from the graphical interface by the user. Configurable, data-driven analyses and views can be defined in XML and then be loaded to enhance the functionality of Trace Compass.

Non-Code Aspects

Trace Compass provides documentation in form of User and Developer Guides. The developer guide explains how to extend the framework and provides several tutorials for that. These guides are available as Eclipse help plug-ins and are part of the installable features. The latest released versions are also available as a wiki page on the Eclipse Foundation's web page.

User Guides

  • LTTng User Guide  (including generic framework features)
  • Pcap Network Analysis User Guide
  • GDBTrace Analysis User Guide
  • Trace Compass Product User Guide (RCP)

Developer Guide

  • Trace Compass Developer Guide

Gerrit is used for all internal and external contributions. The contributions are build on the HIPP for Trace Compass. Sonar is used to monitor quality metrics. The performance is monitored through the Eclipse performance framework and visualized here.

Usability Details
  • Trace Compass aims to conform to the Eclipse user interface guidelines.
  • The UI components support for keyboard navigation.
  • All of our strings are externalized but there are currently no language packs.
  • Trace Compass is designed to support large trace data that exceeds the available memory while providing a responsive UI.

 

End of Life

No end-of-life issues to discuss at this time.

Standards

Trace Compass comes with multipe built-in trace parsers for the following standard:

  • Common Trace Format (CTF)
    • Linux LTTng kernel traces
    • Linux LTTng-UST userspace traces which can come from proprietary software or open source eg. Mir, MariaDB, QEMU traces
    • Other traces in CTF, e.g. Linux Perf traces (CTF), Bare metal traces (CTF), Hardware traces (e.g. IEEE Nexus 5001 CTF conversion).
  • GDB traces for debugging
  • Best Trace Format for OSEK
  • The libpcap (PAcket CAPture) format, for network traces

Trace Compass provides a remote tracer control for LTTng Kernel and UST Tracers for configuring of trace sessions.

Communities