This is a topic to discuss the wiki
This is based on a StackOverflow answer of mine, so not need for me to give attribution to it.
I wrote this for a specific question on StackOverflow but it could use some refinement to make it more general.
Also it was specific to Windows and to make it useful to all should address both Mac OS and Linux users and be tested on such.
Might also benefit from using setup_call_cleanup/3 and turning into a predicate like record/2,
record_trace(+File, +Pred).
True when File can be opened. Put a trace point on all predicates satisfying the predicate specification Pred.
You choose. I never thought about it, just made the Wiki to get the ball rolling. Technically I don’t consider that Wiki done as I have some unanswered/unresolved questions above, but if you want to add the link, all the better. 
Does this expanded documentation belong one level up, at http://www.swi-prolog.org/pldoc/man?section=protocol ?