Rational Developer for System z, Version 7.6

Debug Tool: overview

Debug Tool helps you test programs and examine, monitor, and control the execution of programs written in assembler, C, C++, COBOL, or PL/I on a z/OS system. Your applications can include other languages; Debug Tool provides a disassembly view that lets you debug, at the machine code level, those portions of your application. However, in the disassembly view, your debugging capabilities are limited. Table 2 and Table 3 map out the combinations of compilers and subsystems that Debug Tool supports.

You can use Debug Tool to debug your programs in batch mode, interactively in full-screen mode, or in remote debug mode.

Table 2 maps out the Debug Tool interfaces and compilers or assemblers each interface supports.

Table 2. Debug Tool interface type by compiler or assembler
Compiler or assembler Batch mode Full-screen mode Remote debug mode
OS/VS COBOL, Version 1 Release 2.4 (with limitations) X X
VS COBOL II Version 1 Release 3 and Version 1 Release 4 (with limitations; for programs compiled with the TEST compiler option and linked with the Language Environment library.) X X X
VS COBOL II Version 1 Release 3 and Version 1 Release 4 (with limitations; for programs compiled with the NOTEST compiler option and linked with a non-Language Environment library.) X X
AD/Cycle® COBOL/370 Version 1 Release 1 X X
COBOL for MVS & VM X X X
COBOL for OS/390® & VM X X X
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS and OS/390 X X X
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS® X X X
OS PL/I Version 2 Release 1, Version 2 Release 2, and Version 2 Release 3 (with limitations) X X
PL/I for MVS & VM X X
Enterprise PL/I X X X
AD/Cycle C/370™ Version 1 Release 2 X X
C/C++ for MVS/ESA Version 3 Release 2 X X
C/C++ feature of OS/390 Version 1 Release 3 and earlier X X
C/C++ feature of OS/390 Version 2 Release 10 and later X X X
C/C++ feature of z/OS X X X
IBM® High Level Assembler (HLASM), Version 1 Release 4, Version 1 Release 5, and Version 1 Release 6 X X X

Table 3 maps out the Debug Tool interfaces and subsystems each interface supports.

Table 3. Debug Tool interface type by subsystem
Subsystem Batch mode Full-screen mode Full-screen mode through a VTAM® terminal Remote debug mode
TSO X X X X
JES batch X X X
UNIX® System Services X X
CICS® X1 X
DB2® X X X X
DB2 stored procedures X X
IMS™ TM X X
IMS batch X X X
IMS BTS X X X
1 You can use three different ways to debug CICS programs in full-screen mode: single terminal mode, screen control mode, and separate terminal mode.

Refer to the following topics for more information related to the material discussed in this topic.

Debug Tool interfaces

The terms full-screen mode, batch mode, and remote debug mode identify the types of debugging interfaces that Debug Tool provides.

Batch mode

You can use Debug Tool commands files to predefine series of Debug Tool commands to be performed on a running batch application. Neither terminal input nor user interaction is available for batch debugging of a batch application. The results of the debugging session are saved to a log, which you can review at a later time.

Full-screen mode

Debug Tool provides an interactive full-screen interface on a 3270 device, with debugging information displayed in three windows:

You can debug all languages supported by Debug Tool in full-screen mode.

Refer to the following topics for more information related to the material discussed in this topic.

Full-screen mode through a VTAM terminal

Full-screen mode through a VTAM terminal provides the same interactive full-screen interface that full-screen mode provides and enables you to debug more types of programs than you could not debug with full-screen mode. For example, you can debug a COBOL batch job running in MVS/JES, a DB2 Stored Procedure, an IMS transaction running on a IMS MPP region, or an application running in UNIX System Services.

Full-screen mode through a VTAM terminal requires a second terminal, a VTAM terminal, to be started and used to debug an application. A site can optionally use the Debug Tool Terminal Interface Manager in this mode to identify that terminal to Debug Tool by using a user ID instead of a LU name.

Contact your system administrator to determine how to access a terminal capable of using the full-screen mode through a VTAM terminal on your system.

Remote debug mode

In remote debug mode, the host application starts Debug Tool, which uses a TCP/IP connection to communicate with a remote debugger on your Windows® workstation.

Debug Tool can work with a remote debugger to provide users with the ability to debug host programs, including batch programs, through a graphical user interface (GUI) on the workstation. The following remote debuggers are available:

For more information about the commands that Debug Tool supports with each remote debugger, see Appendix E. Notes on debugging in remote debug mode. For more information about the software requirements for each remote debugger, see the Program Directory for IBM Debug Tool for z/OS.

See each product's documentation for a list of its prerequisites and capabilities.

Debug Tool Utilities

Debug Tool Utilities is a set of ISPF panels that give you access to tools that can help you manage your debugging sessions. This topic describes these tools.

Debug Tool Utilities: Job Card

The tool (under option 0, called Job Card) helps you create a JOB card that is used by the tools in Program Preparation (option 1), Debug Tool Setup File (option 2), and JCL for Batch Debugging (option 8).

Debug Tool Utilities: Program Preparation

The set of tools under the Program Preparation (option 1) can help you manage all the tasks required to compile or assemble, and link your programs. They can also help you convert older COBOL source code and copybooks to newer versions of COBOL by using COBOL and CICS Command Level Conversion Aid (CCCA). The Program Preparation option can be very useful if you do not have an established build process at your site. The following list describes the specific tasks that Program Preparation can help you do:

Debug Tool Utilities: Debug Tool Setup File

Setup files can save you time when you are debugging a program that needs to be restarted multiple times. Setup files store information needed to allocate the necessary files and run a single job-step with Debug Tool either in MVS batch or TSO foreground. You can create several setup files for each program; each setup file can store information about starting and running your program in different circumstances. To create and manage setup files, select Debug Tool Setup File (option 2).

Debug Tool Utilities: Code Coverage

Determining code coverage can help you improve your test cases so they test your program more thoroughly. Debug Tool Utilities provides you with Debug Tool Coverage Utility, a tool to report which code statements have been run by your test cases. Using the report, you can enhance your test cases so they run code statements that were not run previously. Select Code Coverage (option 3) to use this tool.

Debug Tool Utilities: IMS TM Setup

You can create private IMS message regions that you can use to debug test applications and, therefore, not interfere with other regions. For IMSplex users, you can modify the Language Environment run-time parameters table without relinking the applications. The tools that can help you complete these tasks are found under option 4, called IMS TM Setup.

Debug Tool Utilities: Load Module Analyzer

The Debug Tool Load Module Analyzer analyzes MVS load modules or program objects to determine the language translator (compiler or assembler) used to generate the object for each CSECT. The tool that can help you complete this task can be found under option 5, called Load Module Analyzer.

Debug Tool Utilities: Debug Tool User Exit Data Set

This function assists you in preparing a TEST run-time option data set that is used by the Debug Tool Language Environment® user exit. The Debug Tool Language Environment user exits use this TEST runtime option string to start a debug session. The tool that can help you complete this task is found under option 6, called Debug Tool User Exit Data Set, in Debug Tool Utilities.

Debug Tool Utilities: Other IBM Problem Determination Tools

This function provides an interface to the IBM File Manager ISPF functions. You can find these tools under option 7, called Other IBM Problem Determination Tools, in Debug Tool Utilities.

Debug Tool Utilities: JCL for Batch Debugging

Modify the JCL for a batch job so that Debug Tool is started when the job is run. The tool that can help you complete this task is found under option 8, called JCL for Batch Debugging, in Debug Tool Utilities.

Starting Debug Tool Utilities

Debug Tool Utilities can be started in one of the following ways:

To determine which method to use on your system, contact your system administrator.

The common_parameters are optional and specify any of the parameters described in Appendix E of Debug Tool Coverage Utility User’s Guide and Messages. Multiple options are separated by blanks. Note that if you specify any of these common_parameters, your settings are remembered by EQASTART and become the default on subsequent starts of EQASTART when you do not specify parameters.


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