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Byteman 1.0.2 README ------------------ Byteman supports injection of side effects into Java programs for the purpose of tsting application behaviour. If you have downloaded a binary release then the byteman jar can be found in lib/byteman.jar If you have downloaded a source release then type 'ant jar' to build the byteman jar. It will be found in build/lib/byteman.jar A summary of how to use Byteman is provided below. For full details of the operation of Byteman consult the user guide in docs/ProgrammersGuide.pdf Set up and Execution -------------------- In order to use this library you need to supply JVM with the byteman jar as a java agent. This jar implements an agent class which monitors bytecode load operations and selects classes which match the compiled rule set as candidates for transformation the transformer class which inserts trigger calls to invoke rules a rule compiler which translates rules into classes which handle the trigger method calls The agent is passed to the JVM using the -javaagent option of the java command by setting JAVA_OPTS as follows: export JAVA_OPTS="-javaagent:<...>/byteman.jar=script:<...>myscript.txt" where the ellipsis <...> is replaced with a suitable path to the jar and script files. The =script:<scriptFile> option to the -javaagent argument tells the agent to search <scriptFile> for rules. Multiple scripts may be supplied by repeating the =script:<scriptFile> argument separated by a ','. The agent will parse each script file to identify rules to be triggered from methods occurring in application classes. By default the rule engine executes rule bindings, conditions and actions by interpreting the rule parse tree. However, byteman also supports compiled execution. If system property org.jboss.byteman.compileToBytecode is set to a non-null value then the rule engine will compile the rule bindings, condition and action into Java bytecode which will be executed when the rule is triggered (see the user guide for full details). For rules which are triggered repeatedly during an application run this should significantly mitigate the overheads imposed by the rule system. Calls to builtin method debug normally do not generate output. However debug prinotut to System.out can be enabled by setting system property on the java command line. org.jboss.byteman.debug If more verbose output is desired then property org.jboss.byteman.verbose can be set. This enables debug output from rule scripts and also traces various of the actions performed by the byteman agent. The agent can be configured to dump transformed byte code by setting several Java system properties as shown in the example above: org.jboss.byteman.dump.generated.classes this can be set to any value to enable dumping of generated code. Files will be written in a directory tree correspnding to the package hierarchy for the associated class. org.jboss.byteman.dump.generated.classes.directory this can be set to a directory below which files will be written. if unset files are written to the current working directory of the JVM thread executing the transformer code. Rule Definition --------------- The byteman package employs Event Condition Action rules. The event component is limited to matching an invocation of a specific method when execution reaches a particular location in the method body. The event automatically binds the arguments of the trigger method at the point where the rule is triggered. It may also compute bindings for an optional set of local variables by evaluating a Java expression. The condition is an expression with boolean type. The action is a sequence of expressions of arbitrary type which are only evaluated if the condition is true. Expressions are composed from builtin operations, references to static or bound values, method invocations and combinations of sub-expressions using the usual set of operators. Note that assignment, new operations and throw operations are not allowed in expressions. Rule definitions specify a target class, a target method and a target location in the method source code. Locations can be identified by various means, includign entry to the method, a specific line number, or points where field reads/writes or subordinate method invocations occur. The agent code identifies classes and methods at load time which match the target class and name and inserts a trigger call at the specified location which invokes the rule. When execution reaches a trigger point the associated rule is executed and can performs any delay, synchronization, trace or other operation appropriate to the test. Normally, control returns to the trigger method and execution continues by executing the target line. It is possible for a rule to alter the flow of control. A rule action may employ the return builtin to force a return from the triggering method at the point where the trigger call was made. If the triggering method is is not void then the return expression must include an argument whose type is compatible with the method return type. A rule action can also invoke a builtin to 'kill' the current thread, by throwing a runtime exception. This may not actually kill the thread if the trigger method code or one of its callers catches a generic exception but it can still be used effectively in many cases. Another builtin can be used to signal other waiting threads and cause them to 'abort'. Finally, a third builtin allows the JVM to be halted. It is possible to call arbitrary Java code inside rule actions so the opportunites for messing around with control flow extend beyond these builtin options. The target class may be specified with or without a full package qualification. If no package is specified then all classes whose unqualified name equals the target will be candidiates for rule trigger insertion. Note, however, that for safety triggers will not be inserted into java.lang or org.jboss.byteman classes. Class names mentioned in rules are resolved against a candidate trigger class and related classes at runtime as they are being loaded into a specific class loader. If the type checker cannot resolve the declared types of variables, methods and fields mentioned in the rule against candidate classes it prints type check errors and disables execution of the rule for the class in question. Note that if a class is loaded more than once by different class loaders then each version of the class may be a candidate for trigger insertion from the same rule. Use of unqualified class names (i.e. without package) also potentially allows a rule to be applied in more than one case. Method names may be specified using just the method name or by supplying the name and a bracketed list of parameters, optionally followed by a return type. If just the name is specified then any method with the correct name will be considered as a candidate for trigger insertion. Again, this allows the rule to be applied to multiple cases (this is only really useful if the line number is -1). If a signature is provided then the trigger call will only be inserted into a method whose arguments match the signature. The types employed in a signature may also omit the package name if desired. Note that a rule is deliberately defined via a script rather than using annotations, especially not annotations on the trigger class. Rules refer to the target class and, possibly, classes that it references by name only. Defining the rule via annotations on the target class implementation would require loading the class before having the chance to modify its byte code. Also, the point of using rules is so that tests may be rigged up without having to redefine and rebuild the test code base. Rule Events ----------- An event specification comprises a location specification and a set of bindings. All location specification declare a target class and target method using the syntax CLASS <classname> METHOD <methodname> Class names may omit the package qualifier in which case the rule will apply to any class whose unqualified name matches. The method name may also specify or omit a brackted list of comma-separated argument types. Location specifications also include a further qualifier identifying where in the target method the trigger point for the rule should be located. The simplest location specification is AT ENTRY which locates the triggerpoint at the first executable instruction in a the atrget method's bytecode (or the first instruction following the superclass constructor if the target method is a constructor). The full list of qualifiers is AT ENTRY AT EXIT AT LINE <number> AT READ <fieldname> [<count>] AT WRITE <fieldname> [<count>] AT INVOKE <methodname>[[signature>] [<count>] AT SYNCHRONIZE [<count>] AT THROW [<typename>] [<count>] An event specification also includes a list of bindings for variables which can be referenced during evaluaton of the rule condition and execution of the rule actions. Bindings are established in the context of the target method. By default, the target method arguments are pre-bound using the special syntax $0 (for this, when the target method is not static) and $1...$N for arguments 1..N of the method. The value of local variables in scope at the trigger point may be referenced by prefixing the varable name with a dollar sign e.g. if the trigger point occurs inside a for loop with loop variable i then the loop ndex may be accessed using name $i. Further bindings, employing standard alphanumeric names for the bound variables, can be established by assigning a name to an expression which may refer to previously bound variables or static data. For example, 'BIND coordinator:Coordinator = $0, recovered:boolean = coordinator.recovered, identifier:String = coordinator.getInstanceIdentifier()' binds coordinator to the Coordinator instance bound to this in the triggering method, binds recovered to the value of its boolean field, recovered, and binds identifier to the String returned by invoking method getInstanceIdentifier(). The LHS of a binding must be a variable name or a name:type pair. If the type is omitted it will be inferred from the RHS where possible. The RHS of a binding is a Java expression which can include various builtin expressions plus most Java expressions such as static or instance field accesses and invocations, array dereferences, operator expressions, method invocations, etc (but *not* assignment expressions). The RHS of a binding may refer to method argument variables, method local variables in scope at the trigger point and variables bound in earlier bindings. The RHS may not refer to its own LHS variable or later bound variables. Rebinding of variables is not permitted. Rule Conditions --------------- A condition is merely an expression with a boolean result. Expressions may be complex using the usual operators plus a few syntactically sugared variants. Conditions may also include method invocations and references to bound variables. So, for example: 'engine.isRecovered() AND getCountdown(instanceIdentifier)' will succeed if engine.isRecovered() returns true and a countdown identified by instanceIdentifer is active 'NOT recovered && countDown(instanceIdentifier)' will succeed if recovered is false and decrementing the countdown identified by instanceIdentifier renders it inactive. Rule Actions ------------ An action is a series of expressions which are either method invocations or builtin invocations. Actions may include references to bound variables. So, for example, 'debug("killing prepare attempt"), killThread()' will print a debug message and abort the target method with a runtime exception, killing the therad in normal circumstances 'debug("terminator X it"), killJVM()' will print a debug message and cause an immediate halt of the JVM. Debug printout must be enabled by setting System property org.jboss.byteman.debug on the java command line. Expressions ----------- Expressions occuring in rules can employ most of the available Java syntax with the notable exception that assignment is only valid at the top level in an event binding. Certain restrictions currently apply e.g. the recipient of a method invocation must be either a bound variable (*not* a dollar variable) or a field reference or series of field references via a bound vaiable or a static field reference (e.g. foo.meth(), foo.bar.meth, com.arjuna.foo.meth()). These should get fixed at some point. A variety of builtin methods are available. These may be written as function calls although internally they are treated as invocations of instance methods on an object identified by an implicit bound variable $$ of type Rule.Helper. Each time a rule is triggered a Helper instance is used to store the table of bindings for any trigger method arguments $0, $1 etc, local variables mentioned in the rule and event variables explicitly bound by the rule. Every public instance method on class Helper is automatically available as a callable function in a rule binding, condition or action. For example, Helper defines a boolean method debug(String) which prints text to System.out. So, a call to debug("call to debug") will result in a call to the helper's instance method (n.b. debug always returns true, allowing it to be composed in AND conditions as well invoked as an action). Helper provides other builtins which perform thread synchronization operations, manage rule system state which coordinates actions across independent rule firings and tarces execution of rules. Methods to support rendezvous will be added soon. It is possible to specify per rule that an alternative Helper class should be employed, enabling test-specific builtin operations to be used where appropriate. This is achieved by adding a line in the format HELPER <classname> before the location specifier (AT XXX) in the rule definition. Any public methdos of the supplied class will be available for use as builtin methods in the rule body. n.b. it is usually best to supply a class which extends the built-in class Helper as this will conservatively extend (or possibly override) the default set of builtpin operations. Type Checking Scripts --------------------- Rule scripts may be checked offline by running the bash shell script bytemancheck.sh located in the bin directory. See the script header for details. Documentation ------------- For full details of rule syntax the operation of the byteman package see the manual in the docs directory. Copyright --------- See the copyright file in the docs directory for details of the open source license under which this code is released. Note that this code employs the ObjectWeb ASM package to do bytecode manipulation and the JFlex and JavaCUP tokeniser and parser genereators to generate and provide runtime support for the rule parser which are also released under open source licenses.