Chapter 1:  Quick Start

This section of the manual will get you using ZeroFault as quickly as possible. We highly recommend that you do read the other sections of the manual, but you should be able to start getting benefits from ZeroFault within minutes of installing it.

If you haven't already installed ZeroFault, then please follow the instructions in the installation section.

1. Add the ZeroFault binary directory to your PATH environment variable

   For example, if you installed ZeroFault into /usr/local/zf instead of the default installation directory (/usr/lpp/ZeroFault), and if you use the Korn Shell (/bin/ksh), at the shell prompt you would type

   export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/zf/bin

2. Execute ZeroFault

   Just insert the zf command (and any arguments to zf) in front of the command you would normally execute to start your application. For example:

   zf myprogram
   
   zf /u/me/bin/myprogram -myflag myarg1 myarg2
   
   zf -d creek:0 vi /etc/motd

The ZeroFault User Interface

ZeroFault runs best with the graphical user interface (GUI), and you should run ZeroFault from a graphical workstation until you become familiar with using it. Users who must run ZeroFault without the graphical interface should familiarize themselves with the zf_rpt reporting tool.

When using ZeroFault with the GUI, the GUI window will appear after a short time (if this doesn't happen, you probably don't have your DISPLAY value set properly),

Quick reference help pages are available from the Help menu in the upper-right hand corner of the main window.

ZeroFault displays errors in an outline form in the main error pane (the one with the white background). Lines that begin with an arrow are individual messages; those that begin with a box represent a group of similar messages that are condensed. By default, errors are displayed in a summary (collapsed) form, with their details hidden; they can be easily expanded to show memory locations, detailed tracebacks, etc.

• The acronyms in all capital letters are memory error types.

• To view individual errors that are condensed (in lines that begin with a box), click the left mouse button anywhere on the condensed message. This "peels off" and expands a message from the group of similar messages. To collapse an expanded message and condense it back into a group of similar messages, click the left button anywhere on its first line. Individual error messages and error tracebacks in an expanded error message can also be expanded and collapsed in the same way.

• You can view the source file associated with an error if it has a quoted filename displayed in the expanded traceback. Hold down the Shift key and click the left mouse button over the line, and the source code will appear in the source (bottom) pane. When an error is expanded, the source pane will automatically display the source code for the error if it is available (if the source file isn't found, see Viewing Source for information on specifying a source path to ZeroFault).

• To inspect the application for memory leaks, press the Find Leaks button. ZeroFault displays a list of the allocated memory blocks in the program that are not currently referenced by any pointer. For more information see Finding Memory Leaks.

• Use the Sort by and Condense by menus and the message filtering function to change the order and appearance of the error messages. See Viewing Error Messages for more information.