Patent attributes
A method and apparatus for monitoring cache transactions in a cache of a data processing system is provided. Responsive to a cache transaction associated with a transaction address, when a cache controller determines that the cache transaction is selected for monitoring, the cache controller retrieves a pointer stored in a register, determines a location in a log memory from the pointer, and writes a transaction identifier to the determined location in the log memory. The transaction identifier is associated with the transaction address and may be a virtual address, for example. The pointer is updated and stored to the register. The architect of the apparatus may include a mechanism for atomically combining data access instructions with an instruction to commence monitoring.
