Native Inspect Manual (H06.13+, J06.03+)

Comparing Native Inspect to Debug
A summary of differences is provided in the following table:
DebugNative Inspect
Debugger of last resort on TNS/R and TNS systems; not
available on TNS/E systems.
The built-in debugger on TNS/E systems.
Part of the HP NonStop operating system.A separate product.
Executes in the context of the process being debugged.Executes as a separate process from the process being
debugged.
Native Inspect takes the place of Debug as the low-level default process debugger on TNS/E
systems. Therefore, Native Inspect is the debugger invoked if Visual Inspect (the preferred debugger
on TNS/E systems) is not available (for example, if no connection exists to a Windows client) or
if the INSPECT parameter is set to OFF.
Debugger selection criteria are shown in Figure 2 (page 21) and in Figure 3 (page 22).
Debug was an integral part of the operating system on previous NonStop platforms. On TNS/E,
Native Inspect is a separate licensed object file ($SYSTEM.SYSnn.EINSPECT), but still fulfills the
role of built-in debugger. Whereas Debug executed in the context of the process being debugged,
Native Inspect executes as a separate process in the same CPU as the process being debugged.
Running as a separate process reduces the chances of the debugger affecting target process
behavior.
Some Commands Are Debug-Compatible
Although Native Inspect is completely different in form from Debug, Native Inspect provides many
Debug-compatible commands, such as a, base, fn, ih, and mh. For a list of Debug commands
that have equivalent Native Inspect commands, see Appendix A: Command Mapping With Debug
and Inspect.
Comparing Native Inspect to Inspect
Native Inspect and Inspect are both command-line debuggers, but there are many differences in
the command sets of the two debuggers. Native Inspect commands and output formats are based
on GDB and are therefore very different from the commands and output formats of Inspect. Inspect
users should approach Native Inspect as a new product equipped with the additional power of
Tcl scripting.
Differences Between Native Inspect and Inspect
• Command names for Inspect and Native Inspect are different. For a comparison, see the
following:
◦ Table 16 (page 136) for a list of Inspect commands and equivalent Native Inspect
commands.
◦ Table 8 (page 33) for a list of the most commonly used Native Inspect commands with
their Inspect equivalents.
• The Inspect STEP OVER, STEP IN, and STEP functions are provided by the nexti command,
stepi command, and until command, respectively.
• Inspect locations are scope-based (that is, function/procedure), while Native Inspect’s locations
are based on source file line numbers. Native Inspect, unlike Inspect, does not prefix line
numbers and function names with a hash symbol (#).
• Native Inspect automatically displays the current line of source.
• The source command performs the same function as Inspect’s OBEY command.
Origins of Native Inspect 17