PVaniM 1.1 PVaniM is a new system that provides animated program visualizations of the executions of PVM 3.3 applications. PVaniM includes both a set of graphics views and a tracing package to drive the views. Unlike the performance visualizations of ParaGraph, PVaniM focuses on visualizations of the actual execution and correctness of a program. PVaniM provides a number of views that show different perspectives on the dynamics and history of of the message passing in an application, as well as a more performance oriented Gantt chart view. Graphical objects in a PVaniM view also can be queried to determine their representation. PVaniM can animate the execution of a program according to a logical clock, thus truly presenting the (potential) concurrency of the application. Finally, PVaniM tracing provides support for custom user event tracing. Similarly, users can design and develop their own application-specific program views using the Polka animation system upon which PVaniM is built. (Polka is also available at the ftp site below.) Currently, PVaniM presents a very fine grain view of an application's execution, e.g., information regarding every message is stored. Consequently, PVaniM works best with small to modest trace files. Traces from long executions become problematic. Future work on the system will address this issue. To use PVaniM, you must have a C++ compiler and a machine running the X Window System with the Motif widget set. We have successfully installed the system on a number of different vendors' workstations. Full source, examples, and documentation for PVaniM is available via anonymous ftp from the machine ftp.cc.gatech.edu under the directory pub/people/stasko. You must retrieve two files from there: pvanimtrace.tar.Z -- tracing library pvanimviz.tar.Z -- graphics library You should install the tracing library on the machines on which you run PVM. You should install the graphics library on the machine running the X Window System. Each compressed tar file contains a top level README that will guide you through the installation. We have tried to make this easy to follow and perform. If you would like to know more about the system and even see some of the views, check out the WWW page http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/softviz/parviz/pvanim/pvanim.html This page also has links to the ftp server. Please let us know what you like and don't like about the package. We definitely will use feedback from users to add new functionality and capabilities to the system. If there's something you'd like to have added, please let us know. If you have any comments, questions, or problems using the package, please send email to pvanim@cc.gatech.edu -- Brad Topol & John Stasko Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center College of Computing Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332-0280