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diff --git a/Documentation/tracepoints.txt b/Documentation/tracepoints.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..5d354e167494 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/tracepoints.txt @@ -0,0 +1,101 @@ + Using the Linux Kernel Tracepoints + + Mathieu Desnoyers + + +This document introduces Linux Kernel Tracepoints and their use. It provides +examples of how to insert tracepoints in the kernel and connect probe functions +to them and provides some examples of probe functions. + + +* Purpose of tracepoints + +A tracepoint placed in code provides a hook to call a function (probe) that you +can provide at runtime. A tracepoint can be "on" (a probe is connected to it) or +"off" (no probe is attached). When a tracepoint is "off" it has no effect, +except for adding a tiny time penalty (checking a condition for a branch) and +space penalty (adding a few bytes for the function call at the end of the +instrumented function and adds a data structure in a separate section). When a +tracepoint is "on", the function you provide is called each time the tracepoint +is executed, in the execution context of the caller. When the function provided +ends its execution, it returns to the caller (continuing from the tracepoint +site). + +You can put tracepoints at important locations in the code. They are +lightweight hooks that can pass an arbitrary number of parameters, +which prototypes are described in a tracepoint declaration placed in a header +file. + +They can be used for tracing and performance accounting. + + +* Usage + +Two elements are required for tracepoints : + +- A tracepoint definition, placed in a header file. +- The tracepoint statement, in C code. + +In order to use tracepoints, you should include linux/tracepoint.h. + +In include/trace/subsys.h : + +#include <linux/tracepoint.h> + +DEFINE_TRACE(subsys_eventname, + TPPTOTO(int firstarg, struct task_struct *p), + TPARGS(firstarg, p)); + +In subsys/file.c (where the tracing statement must be added) : + +#include <trace/subsys.h> + +void somefct(void) +{ + ... + trace_subsys_eventname(arg, task); + ... +} + +Where : +- subsys_eventname is an identifier unique to your event + - subsys is the name of your subsystem. + - eventname is the name of the event to trace. +- TPPTOTO(int firstarg, struct task_struct *p) is the prototype of the function + called by this tracepoint. +- TPARGS(firstarg, p) are the parameters names, same as found in the prototype. + +Connecting a function (probe) to a tracepoint is done by providing a probe +(function to call) for the specific tracepoint through +register_trace_subsys_eventname(). Removing a probe is done through +unregister_trace_subsys_eventname(); it will remove the probe sure there is no +caller left using the probe when it returns. Probe removal is preempt-safe +because preemption is disabled around the probe call. See the "Probe example" +section below for a sample probe module. + +The tracepoint mechanism supports inserting multiple instances of the same +tracepoint, but a single definition must be made of a given tracepoint name over +all the kernel to make sure no type conflict will occur. Name mangling of the +tracepoints is done using the prototypes to make sure typing is correct. +Verification of probe type correctness is done at the registration site by the +compiler. Tracepoints can be put in inline functions, inlined static functions, +and unrolled loops as well as regular functions. + +The naming scheme "subsys_event" is suggested here as a convention intended +to limit collisions. Tracepoint names are global to the kernel: they are +considered as being the same whether they are in the core kernel image or in +modules. + + +* Probe / tracepoint example + +See the example provided in samples/tracepoints/src + +Compile them with your kernel. + +Run, as root : +modprobe tracepoint-example (insmod order is not important) +modprobe tracepoint-probe-example +cat /proc/tracepoint-example (returns an expected error) +rmmod tracepoint-example tracepoint-probe-example +dmesg |