trace: add a way to enable or disable the stack tracer

Impact: enhancement to stack tracer

The stack tracer currently is either on when configured in or
off when it is not. It can not be disabled when it is configured on.
(besides disabling the function tracer that it uses)

This patch adds a way to enable or disable the stack tracer at
run time. It defaults off on bootup, but a kernel parameter 'stacktrace'
has been added to enable it on bootup.

A new sysctl has been added "kernel.stack_tracer_enabled" to let
the user enable or disable the stack tracer at run time.

Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <srostedt@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>

1 files changed, 9 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/kernel/trace/Kconfig b/kernel/trace/Kconfig
index d8bae6f4219..e2a4ff6fc3a 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/Kconfig
+++ b/kernel/trace/Kconfig
@@ -244,10 +244,15 @@ config STACK_TRACER
 
           This tracer works by hooking into every function call that the
           kernel executes, and keeping a maximum stack depth value and
-          stack-trace saved. Because this logic has to execute in every
-          kernel function, all the time, this option can slow down the
-          kernel measurably and is generally intended for kernel
-          developers only.
+          stack-trace saved.  If this is configured with DYNAMIC_FTRACE
+          then it will not have any overhead while the stack tracer
+          is disabled.
+
+          To enable the stack tracer on bootup, pass in 'stacktrace'
+          on the kernel command line.
+
+          The stack tracer can also be enabled or disabled via the
+          sysctl kernel.stack_tracer_enabled
 
           Say N if unsure.