This paper describes our experience with the design and implementation
of a distributed debugger for C/PVM programs within the scope of the
SEPP and HPCTI Copernicus projects. These projects aimed at the develo
pment of an integrated parallel software engineering environment based
on a high-level graphical parallel programming model (GRAPNEL) and a
set of associated tools supporting graphical edition, compilation, sim
ulated and real parallel execution, testing, debugging, performance mo
nitoring, mapping, and load balancing. We discuss how the development
of the debugging tool was strongly influenced by the requirements pose
d by other tools in the environment, namely support for high-level gra
phical debugging of GRAPNEL programs, and support for the integration
of static and dynamic analysis tools. We describe the functionalities
of the DDBG debugger and its internal architecture, and discuss its in
tegration with two separate tools in the SEPP/HPCTI environment: the G
RED graphical editor for GRAPNEL programs, and the STEPS testing tool
for C/PVM programs.