Collecting code coverage observations with z/OS Debugger
The following figure shows the steps that are required for z/OS® Debugger to collect code coverage information. The key elements are as follows:
- EQA_STARTUP_KEY. An environment variable that needs to be specified at the start of the z/OS Debugger Code Coverage session.
- An Options file that indicates what programs you want z/OS Debugger to monitor to get code coverage observations.
- EQAOPTS commands that indicate the location of the input and output data sets.

The code coverage observations collection process is as follows:
- When the environment variable EQA_STARTUP_KEY is specified during invocation of the debugger, z/OS Debugger collects code coverage observations.
- z/OS Debugger gathers code coverage data based on input from the Options file.
- The Options file can be created by using IBM® z/OS Debugger Utilities Option E.2. Alternatively, you can code an Options file by following the Options file XML DTD syntax.
- z/OS Debugger retrieves the Options file data set name from a value that is provided by an EQAOPTS command.
- z/OS Debugger retrieves the Observation file data set name from a value that is provided by an EQAOPTS command.