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pascal-diagnostics-reporter

Thread-safe diagnostics, log encryption, and remote crash reporting framework in pure Object Pascal

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README

Pascal Diagnostics & Crash Reporter

A professional-grade, multi-threaded system diagnostics and automated remote crash reporting framework written in pure Object Pascal.

This repository demonstrates production-ready Pascal engineering, system programming, concurrency, network sockets, exception trapping, and low-level stack unwinding. It is designed to be highly compatible with Embarcadero RAD Studio (Delphi/C++Builder) and the Free Pascal Compiler (FPC).

Key Features

  • Thread-Safe Logging: Utilizes a background worker thread (TLogWriterThread) with a critical section-guarded queue to process logs asynchronously, ensuring that disk write operations never block the main application or UI thread.
  • Secure Log Obfuscation: Encrypts logs using a rolling-key symmetric stream cipher. Obfuscated binary data is serialized into hexadecimal strings to prevent platform-specific carriage-return or line-feed (\r\n) translations from corrupting the ciphertext.
  • System Telemetry: Queries operating system details, CPU core count, total physical memory, and available memory at startup.
  • Runtime Exception Hooking: Overrides the Pascal runtime exception vector (ExceptProc) to trap global unhandled exceptions and software failures.
  • Call Stack Resolution: Decodes the exception instruction pointer and walking call frames into human-readable symbols, including function names, source files, and exact line numbers (resolves dwarf symbols).
  • Automated Remote Upload: On application crash, the exception handler automatically flushes background logs and uploads the encrypted diagnostic log to a support server over TCP.
  • Diagnostics Server: A low-level TCP socket server written in Object Pascal that runs 24/7, accepts crash uploads, decrypts them, and logs the parsed stack traces for support teams.

Project Structure

pascal
????????? src/
???   ????????? Diagnostics.pas    - Thread-safe logging, system stats, encryption, and stack trace format
???   ????????? CrashReporter.pas  - TCP client socket code to upload log files
???   ????????? Server.pas         - Standalone TCP receiver that decrypts and saves uploaded logs
???   ????????? TestApp.pas        - Test program simulating thread logging, unhandled exception, and upload
????????? build.sh               - Script to compile Server and TestApp using FPC
????????? .gitignore             - Version control exclusions

How to Build and Run

1. Compile the Project

Make sure the Free Pascal Compiler (fpc) is installed on your system. Run the build script:

bash
./build.sh

This compiles the code with the -gl compiler switch to include dwarf line information and debug symbols (necessary for backtrace line numbers). Executables will be placed in the bin/ directory.

2. Start the Support Server

In one terminal window, start the central diagnostics server:

bash
./bin/Server

The server listens on port 8080 for crash uploads.

3. Run the Client Application

In another terminal window, run the test application:

bash
./bin/TestApp

The application will:

  1. Initialize the thread-safe diagnostic log.
  2. Query and log system telemetry.
  3. Spawn 3 concurrent threads logging iterations to demonstrate safety.
  4. Raise a software exception to simulate a critical application crash.
  5. Traps the exception, resolves the call stack, and uploads app_crash.log to the server.

4. Review the Crash Report

Check the server terminal output or look inside the received_crashes/ folder. You will find the fully decrypted log file detailing the system stats, worker thread operations, and the resolved crash call stack:

pascal
2026-07-18 22:42:21.047 [CRITICAL] [Thread 00007A2C401EB740]: Unhandled Exception Exception: Simulated critical crash!
Call Stack:
  at   $0000000000401974  TRIGGERCRASH,  line 80 of src/TestApp.pas
  at   $0000000000401DB0  main,  line 109 of src/TestApp.pas

Cross-Platform Compatibility

This framework is written in standard Object Pascal. The logging and networking routines run natively on:

  • Windows (Delphi / RAD Studio C++Builder)
  • Linux (Free Pascal Compiler)
  • macOS (Free Pascal Compiler)

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.