The tracer module provides debugging and execution analysis capabilities for VM programs.
TraceStep Struct
Represents a single step in the execution trace.
#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
pub struct TraceStep {
pub pc: usize,
pub opcode: Opcode,
pub gas_before: u64,
pub gas_after: u64,
pub registers: [u64; 16],
}
Fields
Program counter at this step (bytecode offset)
Opcode executed at this step
Gas remaining before executing this instruction
Gas remaining after executing this instruction
Snapshot of all register values after execution
Tracer Struct
Records execution steps for debugging and analysis.
pub struct Tracer {
steps: Vec<TraceStep>,
enabled: bool,
}
Whether tracing is active
Methods
new
Create a new tracer.
pub fn new(enabled: bool) -> Self
Whether to enable tracing. If false, no trace steps are recorded.
Example:
use minichain_vm::Tracer;
// Create enabled tracer
let mut tracer = Tracer::new(true);
// Create disabled tracer (no overhead)
let mut noop_tracer = Tracer::new(false);
record
Record a trace step.
pub fn record(&mut self, step: TraceStep)
Note: If tracing is disabled, this operation is a no-op.
Example:
use minichain_vm::{Tracer, TraceStep, Opcode};
let mut tracer = Tracer::new(true);
let step = TraceStep {
pc: 0,
opcode: Opcode::ADD,
gas_before: 1000,
gas_after: 998,
registers: [0; 16],
};
tracer.record(step);
steps
Get all recorded trace steps.
pub fn steps(&self) -> &[TraceStep]
Slice of all recorded trace steps in order of execution
Example:
let steps = tracer.steps();
println!("Recorded {} steps", steps.len());
for step in steps {
println!("PC: {:04X}, Opcode: {:?}", step.pc, step.opcode);
}
print_trace
Print a human-readable trace to stdout.
pub fn print_trace(&self)
Output Format:
0: PC=0000 ADD gas=998 R0=0 R1=5 R2=3
1: PC=0003 MUL gas=995 R0=8 R1=5 R2=2
2: PC=0006 HALT gas=995 R0=16 R1=5 R2=2
Example:
let tracer = Tracer::new(true);
// ... execute program ...
tracer.print_trace();
Usage Examples
Basic Tracing
use minichain_vm::{Vm, Tracer, TraceStep, Opcode};
use minichain_core::Address;
// Simple ADD program
let bytecode = vec![
0x70, 0x10, 0x05, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, // LOADI R1, 5
0x70, 0x20, 0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, // LOADI R2, 3
0x10, 0x01, 0x20, // ADD R0, R1, R2
0x00, // HALT
];
let mut vm = Vm::new(bytecode, 10000, Address::zero(), Address::zero(), 0);
let mut tracer = Tracer::new(true);
// In a real implementation, you'd integrate tracing into the VM
// This is a conceptual example
let result = vm.run()?;
tracer.print_trace();
Analyzing Execution
use minichain_vm::{Tracer, TraceStep};
let tracer = Tracer::new(true);
// ... execute program with tracing ...
// Analyze the trace
let steps = tracer.steps();
// Find expensive operations
for (i, step) in steps.iter().enumerate() {
let gas_used = step.gas_before - step.gas_after;
if gas_used > 100 {
println!("Step {}: {:?} used {} gas", i, step.opcode, gas_used);
}
}
// Total gas consumption
if let (Some(first), Some(last)) = (steps.first(), steps.last()) {
let total_gas = first.gas_before - last.gas_after;
println!("Total gas used: {}", total_gas);
}
Debugging Failed Execution
use minichain_vm::{Vm, Tracer, VmError};
use minichain_core::Address;
let bytecode = vec![/* ... */];
let mut vm = Vm::new(bytecode, 10000, Address::zero(), Address::zero(), 0);
let mut tracer = Tracer::new(true);
match vm.run() {
Ok(result) => {
println!("Success!");
}
Err(e) => {
eprintln!("Error: {:?}", e);
eprintln!("\nExecution trace:");
tracer.print_trace();
// Show state at failure
if let Some(last_step) = tracer.steps().last() {
eprintln!("\nFailed at PC: 0x{:04X}", last_step.pc);
eprintln!("Opcode: {:?}", last_step.opcode);
eprintln!("Registers: {:?}", last_step.registers);
}
}
}
use minichain_vm::{Tracer, Opcode};
use std::collections::HashMap;
let tracer = Tracer::new(true);
// ... execute program ...
// Count opcode usage
let mut opcode_counts: HashMap<Opcode, usize> = HashMap::new();
for step in tracer.steps() {
*opcode_counts.entry(step.opcode).or_insert(0) += 1;
}
println!("Opcode frequency:");
for (opcode, count) in opcode_counts {
println!(" {:?}: {} times", opcode, count);
}
Gas Usage Profiling
use minichain_vm::{Tracer, Opcode};
use std::collections::HashMap;
let tracer = Tracer::new(true);
// ... execute program ...
// Track gas usage by opcode
let mut gas_by_opcode: HashMap<Opcode, u64> = HashMap::new();
for step in tracer.steps() {
let gas_used = step.gas_before.saturating_sub(step.gas_after);
*gas_by_opcode.entry(step.opcode).or_insert(0) += gas_used;
}
println!("Gas usage by opcode:");
for (opcode, total_gas) in gas_by_opcode {
println!(" {:?}: {} gas", opcode, total_gas);
}
Conditional Tracing
use minichain_vm::Tracer;
// Only trace in debug mode
let tracer = if cfg!(debug_assertions) {
Tracer::new(true)
} else {
Tracer::new(false) // No overhead in release builds
};
Jump Analysis
use minichain_vm::{Tracer, Opcode};
let tracer = Tracer::new(true);
// ... execute program ...
// Find all jumps and their targets
println!("Jump analysis:");
let steps = tracer.steps();
for (i, step) in steps.iter().enumerate() {
match step.opcode {
Opcode::JUMP | Opcode::JUMPI => {
if let Some(next_step) = steps.get(i + 1) {
println!(
" Jump from 0x{:04X} to 0x{:04X}",
step.pc, next_step.pc
);
}
}
_ => {}
}
}
Register State Tracking
use minichain_vm::Tracer;
let tracer = Tracer::new(true);
// ... execute program ...
// Track R0 value changes
println!("R0 value over time:");
for (i, step) in tracer.steps().iter().enumerate() {
println!(" Step {}: R0 = {}", i, step.registers[0]);
}
// Find when a specific register was modified
let target_reg = 5;
for (i, step) in tracer.steps().iter().enumerate() {
if i > 0 {
let prev = &tracer.steps()[i - 1];
if step.registers[target_reg] != prev.registers[target_reg] {
println!(
"R{} modified at step {}: {} -> {}",
target_reg, i,
prev.registers[target_reg],
step.registers[target_reg]
);
}
}
}
Integration with VM
While the current VM implementation doesn’t include built-in tracing hooks, you can extend it:
use minichain_vm::{Vm, Tracer, TraceStep};
pub struct TracingVm {
vm: Vm,
tracer: Tracer,
}
impl TracingVm {
pub fn new(vm: Vm, enabled: bool) -> Self {
Self {
vm,
tracer: Tracer::new(enabled),
}
}
// Custom run method that records trace steps
// This would require VM internals to be exposed
pub fn run_traced(&mut self) -> Result<ExecutionResult, VmError> {
// Implementation would hook into VM step execution
// and call tracer.record() after each instruction
self.vm.run()
}
pub fn tracer(&self) -> &Tracer {
&self.tracer
}
}
Best Practices
- Disable in production: Set
enabled: false for production workloads to avoid overhead
- Memory management: Traces can grow large; clear periodically for long-running programs
- Selective tracing: Only enable for debugging specific issues
- Analysis tools: Build custom analysis tools on top of trace data
- Gas profiling: Use traces to identify gas optimization opportunities
- Disabled tracer: Zero overhead, all operations become no-ops
- Enabled tracer: Memory cost grows linearly with execution steps
- Typical overhead: ~50-100 bytes per trace step
- Large programs: Consider sampling (record every Nth step) for very long executions