[Echidna] Thread termination

[Stefan R. <do...@dr...>]

Hi Luke et al,

I really like Echidna and the fact that it's getting into active =
development again.

I would like to make a feature suggestion. It would be great if Echidna =
could safely and cleanly terminate Java threads. A way to do this in =
pure java is described here: http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/433897.html

However, their method relies on rewriting byte codes and has a =
noticeable performance impact (they introduce polls of a termination =
flag throughout the application code).=20

With a VM that supports a recent version of the Java Platform Debugger =
Architecture ( http://java.sun.com/products/jpda/ ), it might be =
possible to achieve the same effect without a perfomance impact (while =
remaining VM-independent). JPDA allows to inspect and change stack =
frames; when the termination of a thread is requested, Echidna could use =
JPDA to modify the thread's stack and effectively force it to exit.

What do you think?

Best,
-Stefan