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 JVM's option, please
consult JVMPI docs.

usage:

java [other java options] -Xrunjcov[:][help]|[=, ...] classname

where is the name of an option, is its value. The
recognized options are :

include=
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=
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 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=
specifies savefile name, default - java.jcov.
caller_include=
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=
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=
store/do not store jcov data for abstract methods; default is 'off'
options_file=
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 \


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

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 classes
that will be loaded during execution of the . Method coverage information
will be gathered for all methods (including abstract), but execution counters will
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.