Debugging of a long running process under Windows

[Propad]

Hello,
I know this issue pops up once in a while, but I haven't found a good
answer to it. I need to debug a long running application under
windows. The application is a combined java/python framework for
testing ECUs in the automotive industry. Basically, the Java GUI
(Eclipse-based) starts test-cases written in Python and provides the
console where the test-logs are seen. When there is a exception
somewhere in the testcases (or the underlying functionallity, also
written in Python), those are also logged, and then the framework
usually continues with the next command in the same test case.
I'd like to have a debugging facillity better than print statements. I
imagine:
a) something like a debugger poping up when I get an exception, or b)
something debugger-like poping up when it reaches a command I entered
something in the code,
or c) Me pressing on a button and getting a debugger-like-thing that
lets me look into the running, possibly halted code.
I've done some little experiments with the code module, which looks
nice but does not seem to get over the control from the java-part, and
with popen2("cmd"), which seems not even to work if I start the code
from a dosbox (the same console is keept), and same thing when strated
by the Java-App.
Just to add, using pdb (or pythonwin debugger) seems not to be an
option, as it makes the test-runs much slower.
Does somebody have an idea? It seems there used to be a python
debugger called Pygdb, able to attach to a running application, but
now it seems it disapeared (now there is a python debugger with the
same name, linked to ViM).
Thanx,
Propad