Tracing (software)

Tracing in software engineering refers to the process of capturing and recording information about the execution of a software program. This information is typically used by <a href="/facts/Programmer/WGTS1Jv9">programmers</a> for <a href="/facts/Debugging/QtdpPJT0">debugging</a> purposes, and additionally, depending on the type and detail of information contained in a trace log, by experienced <a href="/facts/System_administrator/zNhThrh9">system administrators</a> or <a href="/facts/Technical_support/8xL4yzMY">technical-support</a> personnel and by software monitoring tools to <a href="/facts/Diagnosis/VcsPwshd">diagnose</a> common problems with software. Tracing is a <a href="/facts/Cross-cutting_concern/zUWmQsQm">cross-cutting concern</a>.
There is not always a clear distinction between tracing and other forms of <a href="/facts/Logging_(computing)/p7FHf8mA">logging</a>, except that the term tracing is almost never applied to logging that is a <a href="/facts/Functional_requirement/RrllnLMa">functional requirement</a> of a program (therefore excluding logging of data from an external source, such as <a href="/facts/Data_acquisition/W7d5DrPl">data acquisition</a> in a <a href="/facts/Particle_physics/YgIuyj2t">high-energy physics</a> experiment, and <a href="/facts/Write-ahead_logging/cuFnz3Sf">write-ahead logging</a>). Logs that record program usage (such as a <a href="/facts/Server_log/p7FHf8mA">server log</a>) or <a href="/facts/Operating_system/8XTuvMh2">operating-system</a> events primarily of interest to a system administrator (see for example <a href="/facts/Event_Viewer/YkmF3hrP">Event Viewer</a>) fall into a terminological gray area.
Tracing is primarily used for anomaly detection, fault analysis, debugging or diagnostic purposes in distributed software systems, such as microservices or serverless functions.

Tracing (software) open-in-new

Tracing (software)