Debugging, Testing, and Tuning Device Drivers

This chapter presents an overview of the various tools that are provided to assist with testing, debugging, and tuning device drivers. This chapter provides information on the following subjects:

• Testing Drivers – Testing a driver can potentially impair a system's ability to function. Use of both serial connections and alternate kernels helps facilitate recovery from crashes.

• Debugging Tools – Integral debugging facilities enable you to exercise and observe driver features conveniently without having to run a separate debugger.

• Tuning Drivers – The Solaris OS provides facilities for measuring the performance of device drivers. Writing kernel statistics structures for your device exports continuous statistics as the device is running. If an area for performance improvement is determined, then the DTrace dynamic instrumentation tool can help determine any problems more precisely.