Operating system event tracking and logging

Abstract

A system and method for logging events processed by an operating system is provided. The events logged can include interrupt and non-interrupt events, and can include user-defined events. Information concerning the interrupt events is initially written, during event handling time, into a first buffer while information concerning non-interrupt events is initially written, during event handling time, into a second buffer. Information from the two buffers is then written to a third buffer not during event handling time. Separating the interrupt event buffer from the non-interrupt event buffer rather than having one buffer, and writing relatively small amounts of data during event handling time to memory, rather than transporting data to slower non-memory mapped devices allows the event logger to be less intrusive and facilitates greater accuracy in event logging. Data stored in the third buffer can be accessed by a viewing component, which facilitates displaying data in a manner useful to diagnose operating systems.