summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2009-12-05 15:30:21 -0800
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2009-12-05 15:30:21 -0800
commitc3fa27d1367fac63ac8533d6f20ea851d0d70a10 (patch)
treee7731554085e22b6b63411b1ebb401079f3e0bbb /Documentation
parent96fa2b508d2d3fe040cf4ef2fffb955f0a537ea1 (diff)
parentd103d01e4b19f185d3c85f77402b605534c32e89 (diff)
Merge branch 'perf-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip
* 'perf-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip: (470 commits) x86: Fix comments of register/stack access functions perf tools: Replace %m with %a in sscanf hw-breakpoints: Keep track of user disabled breakpoints tracing/syscalls: Make syscall events print callbacks static tracing: Add DEFINE_EVENT(), DEFINE_SINGLE_EVENT() support to docbook perf: Don't free perf_mmap_data until work has been done perf_event: Fix compile error perf tools: Fix _GNU_SOURCE macro related strndup() build error trace_syscalls: Remove unused syscall_name_to_nr() trace_syscalls: Simplify syscall profile trace_syscalls: Remove duplicate init_enter_##sname() trace_syscalls: Add syscall_nr field to struct syscall_metadata trace_syscalls: Remove enter_id exit_id trace_syscalls: Set event_enter_##sname->data to its metadata trace_syscalls: Remove unused event_syscall_enter and event_syscall_exit perf_event: Initialize data.period in perf_swevent_hrtimer() perf probe: Simplify event naming perf probe: Add --list option for listing current probe events perf probe: Add argv_split() from lib/argv_split.c perf probe: Move probe event utility functions to probe-event.c ...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/DocBook/tracepoint.tmpl5
-rw-r--r--Documentation/trace/kprobetrace.txt149
2 files changed, 154 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/DocBook/tracepoint.tmpl b/Documentation/DocBook/tracepoint.tmpl
index b0756d0fd579..8bca1d5cec09 100644
--- a/Documentation/DocBook/tracepoint.tmpl
+++ b/Documentation/DocBook/tracepoint.tmpl
@@ -86,4 +86,9 @@
!Iinclude/trace/events/irq.h
</chapter>
+ <chapter id="signal">
+ <title>SIGNAL</title>
+!Iinclude/trace/events/signal.h
+ </chapter>
+
</book>
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/kprobetrace.txt b/Documentation/trace/kprobetrace.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..47aabeebbdf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/trace/kprobetrace.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+ Kprobe-based Event Tracing
+ ==========================
+
+ Documentation is written by Masami Hiramatsu
+
+
+Overview
+--------
+These events are similar to tracepoint based events. Instead of Tracepoint,
+this is based on kprobes (kprobe and kretprobe). So it can probe wherever
+kprobes can probe (this means, all functions body except for __kprobes
+functions). Unlike the Tracepoint based event, this can be added and removed
+dynamically, on the fly.
+
+To enable this feature, build your kernel with CONFIG_KPROBE_TRACING=y.
+
+Similar to the events tracer, this doesn't need to be activated via
+current_tracer. Instead of that, add probe points via
+/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/kprobe_events, and enable it via
+/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kprobes/<EVENT>/enabled.
+
+
+Synopsis of kprobe_events
+-------------------------
+ p[:[GRP/]EVENT] SYMBOL[+offs]|MEMADDR [FETCHARGS] : Set a probe
+ r[:[GRP/]EVENT] SYMBOL[+0] [FETCHARGS] : Set a return probe
+
+ GRP : Group name. If omitted, use "kprobes" for it.
+ EVENT : Event name. If omitted, the event name is generated
+ based on SYMBOL+offs or MEMADDR.
+ SYMBOL[+offs] : Symbol+offset where the probe is inserted.
+ MEMADDR : Address where the probe is inserted.
+
+ FETCHARGS : Arguments. Each probe can have up to 128 args.
+ %REG : Fetch register REG
+ @ADDR : Fetch memory at ADDR (ADDR should be in kernel)
+ @SYM[+|-offs] : Fetch memory at SYM +|- offs (SYM should be a data symbol)
+ $stackN : Fetch Nth entry of stack (N >= 0)
+ $stack : Fetch stack address.
+ $argN : Fetch function argument. (N >= 0)(*)
+ $retval : Fetch return value.(**)
+ +|-offs(FETCHARG) : Fetch memory at FETCHARG +|- offs address.(***)
+ NAME=FETCHARG: Set NAME as the argument name of FETCHARG.
+
+ (*) aN may not correct on asmlinkaged functions and at the middle of
+ function body.
+ (**) only for return probe.
+ (***) this is useful for fetching a field of data structures.
+
+
+Per-Probe Event Filtering
+-------------------------
+ Per-probe event filtering feature allows you to set different filter on each
+probe and gives you what arguments will be shown in trace buffer. If an event
+name is specified right after 'p:' or 'r:' in kprobe_events, it adds an event
+under tracing/events/kprobes/<EVENT>, at the directory you can see 'id',
+'enabled', 'format' and 'filter'.
+
+enabled:
+ You can enable/disable the probe by writing 1 or 0 on it.
+
+format:
+ This shows the format of this probe event.
+
+filter:
+ You can write filtering rules of this event.
+
+id:
+ This shows the id of this probe event.
+
+
+Event Profiling
+---------------
+ You can check the total number of probe hits and probe miss-hits via
+/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/kprobe_profile.
+ The first column is event name, the second is the number of probe hits,
+the third is the number of probe miss-hits.
+
+
+Usage examples
+--------------
+To add a probe as a new event, write a new definition to kprobe_events
+as below.
+
+ echo p:myprobe do_sys_open dfd=$arg0 filename=$arg1 flags=$arg2 mode=$arg3 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/kprobe_events
+
+ This sets a kprobe on the top of do_sys_open() function with recording
+1st to 4th arguments as "myprobe" event. As this example shows, users can
+choose more familiar names for each arguments.
+
+ echo r:myretprobe do_sys_open $retval >> /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/kprobe_events
+
+ This sets a kretprobe on the return point of do_sys_open() function with
+recording return value as "myretprobe" event.
+ You can see the format of these events via
+/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kprobes/<EVENT>/format.
+
+ cat /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kprobes/myprobe/format
+name: myprobe
+ID: 75
+format:
+ field:unsigned short common_type; offset:0; size:2;
+ field:unsigned char common_flags; offset:2; size:1;
+ field:unsigned char common_preempt_count; offset:3; size:1;
+ field:int common_pid; offset:4; size:4;
+ field:int common_tgid; offset:8; size:4;
+
+ field: unsigned long ip; offset:16;tsize:8;
+ field: int nargs; offset:24;tsize:4;
+ field: unsigned long dfd; offset:32;tsize:8;
+ field: unsigned long filename; offset:40;tsize:8;
+ field: unsigned long flags; offset:48;tsize:8;
+ field: unsigned long mode; offset:56;tsize:8;
+
+print fmt: "(%lx) dfd=%lx filename=%lx flags=%lx mode=%lx", REC->ip, REC->dfd, REC->filename, REC->flags, REC->mode
+
+
+ You can see that the event has 4 arguments as in the expressions you specified.
+
+ echo > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/kprobe_events
+
+ This clears all probe points.
+
+ Right after definition, each event is disabled by default. For tracing these
+events, you need to enable it.
+
+ echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kprobes/myprobe/enable
+ echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kprobes/myretprobe/enable
+
+ And you can see the traced information via /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace.
+
+ cat /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace
+# tracer: nop
+#
+# TASK-PID CPU# TIMESTAMP FUNCTION
+# | | | | |
+ <...>-1447 [001] 1038282.286875: myprobe: (do_sys_open+0x0/0xd6) dfd=3 filename=7fffd1ec4440 flags=8000 mode=0
+ <...>-1447 [001] 1038282.286878: myretprobe: (sys_openat+0xc/0xe <- do_sys_open) $retval=fffffffffffffffe
+ <...>-1447 [001] 1038282.286885: myprobe: (do_sys_open+0x0/0xd6) dfd=ffffff9c filename=40413c flags=8000 mode=1b6
+ <...>-1447 [001] 1038282.286915: myretprobe: (sys_open+0x1b/0x1d <- do_sys_open) $retval=3
+ <...>-1447 [001] 1038282.286969: myprobe: (do_sys_open+0x0/0xd6) dfd=ffffff9c filename=4041c6 flags=98800 mode=10
+ <...>-1447 [001] 1038282.286976: myretprobe: (sys_open+0x1b/0x1d <- do_sys_open) $retval=3
+
+
+ Each line shows when the kernel hits an event, and <- SYMBOL means kernel
+returns from SYMBOL(e.g. "sys_open+0x1b/0x1d <- do_sys_open" means kernel
+returns from do_sys_open to sys_open+0x1b).
+
+