version : @(#)jvm.jcov.txt 1.3 00/11/02 JCOV support in JDK1.3 Up to JDK1.2.

x Jcov runtime support has been an integral part of the debug version of the Javasoft's JVM, therefore it could not work with any other JVMs. In JDK1.3 all Jcov support was isolated in a separate library and implemented basing upon the Java Virtual Machine Profiler Interface (JVMPI), so it theoretically can work with any JVM that support JVMPI. This library is loaded by a JVM at its startup, if the -Xrunjcov option is specified. For more information about how JVM finds and loads libraries passed via the -Xrun<libname> JVM's option, please consult JVMPI docs. usage: java [other java options] -Xrunjcov[:][help] [<option>=<value>, ...] classname where <option> is the name of an option, <value> is its value. The recognized options are : include=<class name prefix> makes Jcov profile only those classes whose names begin with given class name prefix. This option may be specified multiple times - in this case class name must satisfy at least one of the class name prefixes to be profiled. exclude=<class name prefix> tells Jcov not to profile classes whose names begin with given class name prefix. This option may be given multiple times - if a class name satisfies at least one of the class name prefixes then it will not be profiled. type=<value> value can be either B or M. Sets jcov data gathering mode : in B mode method/block/branch coverage data is gathered, in M only method coverage data is gathered. Default value is B. file=<filename> specifies savefile name, default - java.jcov. caller_include=<class name prefix> gather coverage data only for methods invoked from the specified class or classes beloning to the specified package; the option can be used multiple times; class or package names should use '.' as a package separator caller_exclude=<class name prefix> gather coverage data only for methods invoked *not* from the specified class or classes *not* beloning to the specified package; the option can be used multiple times; class or package names should use '.' as a package separator abstract_methods=<on off> store/do not store jcov data for abstract methods; default is 'off' options_file=<filename> specifies where to read options from; (caller_)include/(caller_)exclude options values read from the file are added to those, specified in the command line Example 1. > java -classic -Xrunjcov class This command will make Jcov profile all loaded classes which have the CoverageTable class attribute (i.e. all loaded classes which had been compiled with the -Xjcov compiler option) and save method/block/branch

coverage data to a file named java.jcov in current directory. Example 2. > java -classic \ -Xrunjcov:include=java,exclude=java.io,type=M,file=/tmp/sys.jcov \ <class> This command will make Jcov profile all classes from the java package and its subpackages except java.lang and java.io, only method coverage statistics will be gathered and saved to a file named sys.jcov' in the /tmp directory. Example 3. > cat options include=java. include=javax. include=org. caller_include=javasoft.sqe.tests. file=/tmp/api.jcov abstract_methods=on type=M > java -classic -Xrunjcov:options_file=options <class> The first command shows the contents of the 'options' file where Jcov options are taken from. The second command will make jcov profile all standard API class es that will be loaded during execution of the <class>. Method coverage information will be gathered for all methods (including abstract), but execution counters wi ll be incremented only for methods invoked from classes belonging to 'javasoft.sqe. tests' package. Note that 1.JVM must not be run in debug mode (-Xdebug option must not be specified), since Jcov cannot work correctly in this JVM's mode. 2.When gathered data is saved to an existing Jcov data file, then it is merged (on per-class basis) with the corresponding data found in the file. If the data types of two classes being merged don't match, then both classes are saved in the resulting jcov data file. 3.(JDK 1.2, early versions of JDK1.3) For Jcov to work correctly any JIT compiler must be turned off (for example, by specifying the -Djava.compiler=NONE JVM's option) 4.If a class or an interface contains only abstract methods then it will not be profiled at all (i.e. no code coverage data will be gathered for it). 5.Only non-abstract methods are profiled. 6.If data gathering mode is set to B then those classes, having no CoverageTable class attribute (i.e. compiled without -Xjcov option), will not be profiled. 7.For Jcov to be able to gather block/branch coverage data for a certain class, this class must have CoverageTable class attribute. This can be achived by compiling this class with the -prof=jcov (JDK1.1 - JDK 1.1.x) option or the -Xjcov (JDK1.2 - JDK 1.2.x) option. 8.In JDK 1.3.0 -classic JVM option should be specified for Jcov to work correctly since HotSpot there does not fully implement the JVMPI interface Jcov is based on. JDK 1.3.1 (as of build 06) works fine without

this option, but -XX:+EnableJVMPIInstructionStartEvent option should additionally be specified.