Debugger for Java*/JNI Environments

Everybody who writes Java*/Native applications faces debugging problem. It is really difficult to write large applications since one have to use at least 2 debuggers to debug the program. One have to start application from Java* debugger and attach to the process with native one and switch between them during debugging process [1]. Until now!

The good news is Intel released integrated debugger for Java*/JNI environments. It allows to easily debug mixed mode application and pretty easy to install since is implemented as plug-in for Eclipse platform. Mixed mode debugger needs NCAI (Native Call Access Support) implementation in VM which is an expansion of JVMTI interface. Currently the only VM supporting this interface is Apache Harmony VM.

The debugger has pretty straight forward installation guide and intuitive interface. It’s a great step to make Java* easier to use with native libraries.














[1] There is number of links dedicated to the problem:
http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t152740-jni-debugger.html,
http://www.kineteksystems.com/white-papers/mixedjavaandc.html,
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-jnidebug/index.html,
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=670308&tstart=90.