RFR(S): 8200720: Print additional information in thread dump (times, allocated bytes etc.)

[Seán Coffey]

Gunter,

delighted to see such an enhancement being proposed. It's something I've 
bounced off some hotspot team members in the past. JDK-8143176 was 
tracking a similar thought.

Is it possible to extend your implementation to display how long a 
thread has been in its current state ? (e.g. waiting?) Maybe it's 
something to consider for a later time. Such easily obtainable data 
would short-circuit some cases where one has to obtain multiple thread 
dumps in order to determine if an application is truly locked up.

The VM flag option sounds like a good idea. You'll need a CSR for that.

Regards,
Sean.

On 30/05/18 16:12, Haug, Gunter wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> As Chris proposed, I have made an the extended output switchable. There is an VM flag (PrintExtendedThreadInfo), which is false by default. Moreover, there is an Option (-e) which can be used with jcmd Thread.print as well as with jstack. The -e option essentially sets PrintExtendedThreadInfo true just for the respective thread dump.
>
> Here is the updated webrev:
>
> http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~ghaug/webrevs/8200720.v2
>
> (https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8200720)
>
> Thanks,
> Gunter
>
>
> On 02.05.18, 17:07, "serviceability-dev on behalf of Haug, Gunter" <serviceability-dev-bounces at openjdk.java.net on behalf of gunter.haug at sap.com> wrote:
>
>      Hi Chris,
>      
>      Thanks for looking into this.
>      You're right, there is a little more we have. We have implemented an IO tracing mechanism which - rather as a byproduct - keeps track of bytes read and written per thread. However, this of course requires changes not only in hotspot. We would be happy to contribute this as well, but this is a far bigger change and will probably lead to a far bigger discussion. Anyway, with the number of bytes read, the number of classes defined doesn't look that arbitrary anymore, as one can correlate IO to class loading.
>      
>      Regarding the verbose option I think that's a good idea!
>      
>      Thanks again,
>      Gunter
>      
>      On 01.05.18, 22:55, "Chris Plummer" <chris.plummer at oracle.com> wrote:
>      
>          Hi Gunter,
>          
>          The output you are adding is all useful. I think the question is (and
>          I'd like to see a few people chime in on this for this review) is
>          whether or not all of it is the appropriate for a thread's stack dump.
>          For example, defined_classes is on the fringe of what I would call
>          generally useful info in a stack dump. Sure, there might be that rare
>          case when you need it, but how often compared to other useful info
>          maintained on a per thread basis. How many other bits of useful info are
>          not being printed in favor of defined_classes? It seems you have more in
>          the queue. How many? I'm worried about how cluttered the stack dumps
>          will get. Maybe we should add some sort of verbose thread dumping
>          option. Just a thought.
>          
>          As for the implementation, overall it looks good, but I can't speak to
>          whether or not you are doing proper accounting of defined_classes and
>          bytes allocated. You'll need input from someone with more knowledge of
>          those areas. We'll also need to do some testing to make sure tool tests
>          are not impacted.
>          
>          thanks,
>          
>          Chris
>          
>          On 4/30/18 2:51 AM, Haug, Gunter wrote:
>          > Hi,
>          >
>          > this is an update to an RFR I posted on hotspot-dev, but it is probably more suitable to post it here. Can I please have a review and a sponsor for the following enhancement:
>          >
>          > http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~ghaug/webrevs/8200720.v1
>          > https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8200720
>          >
>          > We at SAP have extended the thread dumps (obtained by jstack or jcmd) by several fields providing thread specific information. These extensions are quite popular with our support team. With some knowledge of the architecture of the application, they often allow for quick and simple diagnosis of a running system. Therefore we would like to contribute these enhancements.
>          >
>          > I took a few simple examples here, namely cpu time, elapsed time since thread creation, bytes allocated and classes defined by the thread and the pthread-id or equivalent on platforms where it makes sense. Provided it is known how the application should behave, a misbehaving thread can identified easily.
>          >
>          > There is no measurable overhead for this enhancement. However, it may be a problem that the format of the output is changed. Tools parsing the output may have to be changed.
>          >
>          > Here is an example of the output generated:
>          >
>          > ------------------------------------------------------
>          >
>          > "main" #1 prio=5 os_prio=31 cpu=6300.65ms elapsed=123.28s allocated=242236760B defined_classes=1725 tid=0x00007fa13a806000 nid=0x1c03 pthread-id=0x109708000 waiting on condition [0x0000000109707000]
>          >     java.lang.Thread.State: TIMED_WAITING (sleeping)
>          >     JavaThread state: _thread_blocked
>          > Thread: 0x00007fa13a806000 [0x1c03] State: _at_safepoint _has_called_back 0 _at_poll_safepoint 0
>          >     JavaThread state: _thread_blocked
>          > at java.lang.Thread.sleep(java.base/Native Method)
>          >             ...
>          > ------------------------------------------------------
>          >
>          > As mentioned above, we have a whole bunch of other enhancements to the thread dump similar to this one and would be willing to contribute them if there is any interest.
>          >
>          > Thanks and best regards,
>          > Gunter
>          >
>          >
>          
>          
>      
>      
>