MuTT: A Multi-Threaded Tracer for Java Programs

Tracing is an important technique for program comprehension and software maintenance. Existing trace tools have some limitations, such as requiring instrumentation. This paper presents a tracer, MuTT, which can be used to collect the run-time information of multi-threaded Java programs without source code or JVM instrumentation. We also propose guidelines to use MuTT for feature location in object-oriented systems, particularly in the event-driven systems. We conduct two case studies and the result demonstrates that MuTT can provide effective tracing and can be used for feature location, especially with the help of GREP.