Symbian OS supplies some utilities for on-device debugging. On the User Side, D_EXC is an
application coming along with Symbian OS release and it could catch user panic and
collect the loaded data at the moment the panic happens. On the Kernel Side, crash logger
could dump the loaded data when kernel panic happens, and crash reader would read the dumped data at the next time phone reboots. The implementation of the crash logger is
hardware dependant. Developers would be able to analyze the collected panic data to fix
the bug and improve the performance of software.

To evaluate a firmware release, statistical study of the panics, for instance how many
panics and what kinds of panics occur on each system models during a test period,
would help to reveal the unreliable parts of the firmware and point to the right
direction for further analysis of curtain models, and even redevelopment if needed.

This thesis introduces a solution for the Symbian OS on-device debugging and to collect
the panic data for statistical study. The project name is MobileCrash, and has been
carried on in Nokia / Technology Platform / Symbian Product Platform organization Tampere
unit since April 2005.