15.0.1 is now released for IBM z/OS Debugger! In addition to many fixes (
over 25 APARs between host and client), this release has some key new features:
64-bit support
The journey to 64-bit support continues, and you can now collect
code coverage, set
Source entry breakpoints, and use
CEETEST with Debug Tool compatibility
For the remaining limitations, see
Limitations of 64-bit support in Debug Tool compatibility mode.
CICS trace entries
To help minimize tracing, we've added a new parameter,
DNT, to the CICS startup parameter
INITPARM . This option will disable generation of z/OS Debugger trace entries. For more information, see
Adding support for debugging under CICS.
Debug Profile Editor
The Debug Profile Editor of the Eclipse IDE sports several accessibility enhancements, including improved keyboard navigation and new key bindings to show the error tooltip and the overall error summary.
For more information, see
Debug profile key bindings.
Debug Profile Service
Debug Profile Service now provides additional security options: as an alternative to using a keystore file, you can now use a RACF managed key ring to enable secure communications. For more information, see
Enabling secure communication with a RACF managed key ring.
For CICS regions that use
different IP addresses, a new optional
HOST attribute is added to the CICS region configuration. For more information, see the instructions in the
/etc/debug/dtcn.ports sample configuration file.
In addition, Debug Profile Service now provides more detailed diagnostic messages when authentication fails.
Code coverage
Headless code coverage boast a couple of new exciting features:
- A new exporter for the Cobertura format is now available using the
-e,exportertype parameter. For example, the following will start headless code coverage for a single session and export the result into the Cobertura format once it completes:
> codecov -d -c -e=CCCOBERTURA> codecov
For more information, see Starting and stopping the headless code coverage daemon.
- Filtering modules, compile units and files has been added to headless code coverage. This feature can be used to removed undesired items from code coverage reports during collection. Filters can be specified via the
-R,filter parameter or via a file using the -r,filterlist=<path> parameter. For more information, see Filtering code coverage results.
An upcoming blog will provide additional details on filtering.
Out most exciting new feature is concurrent debug and code coverage. This feature allows you to collect code coverage and generate a report during a debug session.
Why would you need that?
Sometimes its not possible for a test to hit certain portions of your code. With this feature, and using various debug features such as jumping to a line or modifying variables, you can generate a code coverage report that proves you have tested otherwise hard to reach code.
During a debug session, just click on the coverage button in the Debug view:
And watch the code coverage information appear in the editor as you step through your application:
A report is then produced when the debug session completes.
For more information, see Generating code coverage in a remote debug session, and keep your eyes open for an upcoming blog post that takes an in-depth look at concurrent debug and code coverage.