MappedTrace: Tracing Pointer Remotely with Compiler-generated Maps

TL;DR

MappedTrace introduces a compiler-assisted pointer tracing method that accurately identifies all pointers in a program snapshot with minimal runtime overhead, enabling advanced memory management and remote analysis.

Contribution

It leverages compiler-generated read-only maps to trace pointers remotely without runtime overhead, improving memory management techniques and enabling new use cases.

Findings

Accurately identifies all pointers in any program snapshot.

Reduces runtime overhead compared to existing methods.

Enables remote pointer tracing and novel memory management applications.

Abstract

Existing precise pointer tracing methods introduce substantial runtime overhead to the program being traced and are applicable only at specific program execution points. We propose MappedTrace that leverages compiler-generated read-only maps to accurately identify all pointers in any given snapshot of a program's execution state. The maps record the locations and types of pointers, allowing the tracer to precisely identify pointers without requiring the traced program to maintain bookkeeping data structures or poll at safe points, thereby reducing runtime overhead. By running the tracer from a different address space or machine, MappedTrace presents new opportunities to improve memory management techniques like memory leak detection and enables novel use cases such as infinite memory abstraction for resource-constrained environments.