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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2009-09-17 23:56:37 -0400
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2009-09-17 23:56:37 -0400
commit1218259b2d09c79ed1113d3a6dbb9a1d6391f5cb (patch)
tree8f07cd39f6a5f74f41d5be34bc0d843428f04082 /Documentation
parentca9a702e50287cf429f1c12832319a26a715e70b (diff)
parent0efb4d20723d58edbad29d1ff98a86b631adb5e6 (diff)
Merge branch 'tracing-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip
* 'tracing-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip: (44 commits) vsnprintf: remove duplicate comment of vsnprintf softirq: add BLOCK_IOPOLL to softirq_to_name oprofile: fix oprofile regression: select RING_BUFFER_ALLOW_SWAP tracing: switch function prints from %pf to %ps vsprintf: add %ps that is the same as %pS but is like %pf tracing: Fix minor bugs for __unregister_ftrace_function_probe tracing: remove notrace from __kprobes annotation tracing: optimize global_trace_clock cachelines MAINTAINERS: Update tracing tree details ftrace: document function and function graph implementation tracing: make testing syscall events a separate configuration tracing: remove some unused macros ftrace: add compile-time check on F_printk() tracing: fix F_printk() typos tracing: have TRACE_EVENT macro use __flags to not shadow parameter tracing: add static to generated TRACE_EVENT functions ring-buffer: typecast cmpxchg to fix PowerPC warning tracing: add filter event logic to special, mmiotrace and boot tracers tracing: remove trace_event_types.h tracing: use the new trace_entries.h to create format files ...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/trace/events.txt184
-rw-r--r--Documentation/trace/ftrace-design.txt233
-rw-r--r--Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt6
3 files changed, 422 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/events.txt b/Documentation/trace/events.txt
index 90e8b3383ba2..78c45a87be57 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/events.txt
+++ b/Documentation/trace/events.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
1 Event Tracing 1 Event Tracing
2 2
3 Documentation written by Theodore Ts'o 3 Documentation written by Theodore Ts'o
4 Updated by Li Zefan 4 Updated by Li Zefan and Tom Zanussi
5 5
61. Introduction 61. Introduction
7=============== 7===============
@@ -97,3 +97,185 @@ The format of this boot option is the same as described in section 2.1.
97 97
98See The example provided in samples/trace_events 98See The example provided in samples/trace_events
99 99
1004. Event formats
101================
102
103Each trace event has a 'format' file associated with it that contains
104a description of each field in a logged event. This information can
105be used to parse the binary trace stream, and is also the place to
106find the field names that can be used in event filters (see section 5).
107
108It also displays the format string that will be used to print the
109event in text mode, along with the event name and ID used for
110profiling.
111
112Every event has a set of 'common' fields associated with it; these are
113the fields prefixed with 'common_'. The other fields vary between
114events and correspond to the fields defined in the TRACE_EVENT
115definition for that event.
116
117Each field in the format has the form:
118
119 field:field-type field-name; offset:N; size:N;
120
121where offset is the offset of the field in the trace record and size
122is the size of the data item, in bytes.
123
124For example, here's the information displayed for the 'sched_wakeup'
125event:
126
127# cat /debug/tracing/events/sched/sched_wakeup/format
128
129name: sched_wakeup
130ID: 60
131format:
132 field:unsigned short common_type; offset:0; size:2;
133 field:unsigned char common_flags; offset:2; size:1;
134 field:unsigned char common_preempt_count; offset:3; size:1;
135 field:int common_pid; offset:4; size:4;
136 field:int common_tgid; offset:8; size:4;
137
138 field:char comm[TASK_COMM_LEN]; offset:12; size:16;
139 field:pid_t pid; offset:28; size:4;
140 field:int prio; offset:32; size:4;
141 field:int success; offset:36; size:4;
142 field:int cpu; offset:40; size:4;
143
144print fmt: "task %s:%d [%d] success=%d [%03d]", REC->comm, REC->pid,
145 REC->prio, REC->success, REC->cpu
146
147This event contains 10 fields, the first 5 common and the remaining 5
148event-specific. All the fields for this event are numeric, except for
149'comm' which is a string, a distinction important for event filtering.
150
1515. Event filtering
152==================
153
154Trace events can be filtered in the kernel by associating boolean
155'filter expressions' with them. As soon as an event is logged into
156the trace buffer, its fields are checked against the filter expression
157associated with that event type. An event with field values that
158'match' the filter will appear in the trace output, and an event whose
159values don't match will be discarded. An event with no filter
160associated with it matches everything, and is the default when no
161filter has been set for an event.
162
1635.1 Expression syntax
164---------------------
165
166A filter expression consists of one or more 'predicates' that can be
167combined using the logical operators '&&' and '||'. A predicate is
168simply a clause that compares the value of a field contained within a
169logged event with a constant value and returns either 0 or 1 depending
170on whether the field value matched (1) or didn't match (0):
171
172 field-name relational-operator value
173
174Parentheses can be used to provide arbitrary logical groupings and
175double-quotes can be used to prevent the shell from interpreting
176operators as shell metacharacters.
177
178The field-names available for use in filters can be found in the
179'format' files for trace events (see section 4).
180
181The relational-operators depend on the type of the field being tested:
182
183The operators available for numeric fields are:
184
185==, !=, <, <=, >, >=
186
187And for string fields they are:
188
189==, !=
190
191Currently, only exact string matches are supported.
192
193Currently, the maximum number of predicates in a filter is 16.
194
1955.2 Setting filters
196-------------------
197
198A filter for an individual event is set by writing a filter expression
199to the 'filter' file for the given event.
200
201For example:
202
203# cd /debug/tracing/events/sched/sched_wakeup
204# echo "common_preempt_count > 4" > filter
205
206A slightly more involved example:
207
208# cd /debug/tracing/events/sched/sched_signal_send
209# echo "((sig >= 10 && sig < 15) || sig == 17) && comm != bash" > filter
210
211If there is an error in the expression, you'll get an 'Invalid
212argument' error when setting it, and the erroneous string along with
213an error message can be seen by looking at the filter e.g.:
214
215# cd /debug/tracing/events/sched/sched_signal_send
216# echo "((sig >= 10 && sig < 15) || dsig == 17) && comm != bash" > filter
217-bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument
218# cat filter
219((sig >= 10 && sig < 15) || dsig == 17) && comm != bash
220^
221parse_error: Field not found
222
223Currently the caret ('^') for an error always appears at the beginning of
224the filter string; the error message should still be useful though
225even without more accurate position info.
226
2275.3 Clearing filters
228--------------------
229
230To clear the filter for an event, write a '0' to the event's filter
231file.
232
233To clear the filters for all events in a subsystem, write a '0' to the
234subsystem's filter file.
235
2365.3 Subsystem filters
237---------------------
238
239For convenience, filters for every event in a subsystem can be set or
240cleared as a group by writing a filter expression into the filter file
241at the root of the subsytem. Note however, that if a filter for any
242event within the subsystem lacks a field specified in the subsystem
243filter, or if the filter can't be applied for any other reason, the
244filter for that event will retain its previous setting. This can
245result in an unintended mixture of filters which could lead to
246confusing (to the user who might think different filters are in
247effect) trace output. Only filters that reference just the common
248fields can be guaranteed to propagate successfully to all events.
249
250Here are a few subsystem filter examples that also illustrate the
251above points:
252
253Clear the filters on all events in the sched subsytem:
254
255# cd /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/sched
256# echo 0 > filter
257# cat sched_switch/filter
258none
259# cat sched_wakeup/filter
260none
261
262Set a filter using only common fields for all events in the sched
263subsytem (all events end up with the same filter):
264
265# cd /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/sched
266# echo common_pid == 0 > filter
267# cat sched_switch/filter
268common_pid == 0
269# cat sched_wakeup/filter
270common_pid == 0
271
272Attempt to set a filter using a non-common field for all events in the
273sched subsytem (all events but those that have a prev_pid field retain
274their old filters):
275
276# cd /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/sched
277# echo prev_pid == 0 > filter
278# cat sched_switch/filter
279prev_pid == 0
280# cat sched_wakeup/filter
281common_pid == 0
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/ftrace-design.txt b/Documentation/trace/ftrace-design.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7003e10f10f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/trace/ftrace-design.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,233 @@
1 function tracer guts
2 ====================
3
4Introduction
5------------
6
7Here we will cover the architecture pieces that the common function tracing
8code relies on for proper functioning. Things are broken down into increasing
9complexity so that you can start simple and at least get basic functionality.
10
11Note that this focuses on architecture implementation details only. If you
12want more explanation of a feature in terms of common code, review the common
13ftrace.txt file.
14
15
16Prerequisites
17-------------
18
19Ftrace relies on these features being implemented:
20 STACKTRACE_SUPPORT - implement save_stack_trace()
21 TRACE_IRQFLAGS_SUPPORT - implement include/asm/irqflags.h
22
23
24HAVE_FUNCTION_TRACER
25--------------------
26
27You will need to implement the mcount and the ftrace_stub functions.
28
29The exact mcount symbol name will depend on your toolchain. Some call it
30"mcount", "_mcount", or even "__mcount". You can probably figure it out by
31running something like:
32 $ echo 'main(){}' | gcc -x c -S -o - - -pg | grep mcount
33 call mcount
34We'll make the assumption below that the symbol is "mcount" just to keep things
35nice and simple in the examples.
36
37Keep in mind that the ABI that is in effect inside of the mcount function is
38*highly* architecture/toolchain specific. We cannot help you in this regard,
39sorry. Dig up some old documentation and/or find someone more familiar than
40you to bang ideas off of. Typically, register usage (argument/scratch/etc...)
41is a major issue at this point, especially in relation to the location of the
42mcount call (before/after function prologue). You might also want to look at
43how glibc has implemented the mcount function for your architecture. It might
44be (semi-)relevant.
45
46The mcount function should check the function pointer ftrace_trace_function
47to see if it is set to ftrace_stub. If it is, there is nothing for you to do,
48so return immediately. If it isn't, then call that function in the same way
49the mcount function normally calls __mcount_internal -- the first argument is
50the "frompc" while the second argument is the "selfpc" (adjusted to remove the
51size of the mcount call that is embedded in the function).
52
53For example, if the function foo() calls bar(), when the bar() function calls
54mcount(), the arguments mcount() will pass to the tracer are:
55 "frompc" - the address bar() will use to return to foo()
56 "selfpc" - the address bar() (with _mcount() size adjustment)
57
58Also keep in mind that this mcount function will be called *a lot*, so
59optimizing for the default case of no tracer will help the smooth running of
60your system when tracing is disabled. So the start of the mcount function is
61typically the bare min with checking things before returning. That also means
62the code flow should usually kept linear (i.e. no branching in the nop case).
63This is of course an optimization and not a hard requirement.
64
65Here is some pseudo code that should help (these functions should actually be
66implemented in assembly):
67
68void ftrace_stub(void)
69{
70 return;
71}
72
73void mcount(void)
74{
75 /* save any bare state needed in order to do initial checking */
76
77 extern void (*ftrace_trace_function)(unsigned long, unsigned long);
78 if (ftrace_trace_function != ftrace_stub)
79 goto do_trace;
80
81 /* restore any bare state */
82
83 return;
84
85do_trace:
86
87 /* save all state needed by the ABI (see paragraph above) */
88
89 unsigned long frompc = ...;
90 unsigned long selfpc = <return address> - MCOUNT_INSN_SIZE;
91 ftrace_trace_function(frompc, selfpc);
92
93 /* restore all state needed by the ABI */
94}
95
96Don't forget to export mcount for modules !
97extern void mcount(void);
98EXPORT_SYMBOL(mcount);
99
100
101HAVE_FUNCTION_TRACE_MCOUNT_TEST
102-------------------------------
103
104This is an optional optimization for the normal case when tracing is turned off
105in the system. If you do not enable this Kconfig option, the common ftrace
106code will take care of doing the checking for you.
107
108To support this feature, you only need to check the function_trace_stop
109variable in the mcount function. If it is non-zero, there is no tracing to be
110done at all, so you can return.
111
112This additional pseudo code would simply be:
113void mcount(void)
114{
115 /* save any bare state needed in order to do initial checking */
116
117+ if (function_trace_stop)
118+ return;
119
120 extern void (*ftrace_trace_function)(unsigned long, unsigned long);
121 if (ftrace_trace_function != ftrace_stub)
122...
123
124
125HAVE_FUNCTION_GRAPH_TRACER
126--------------------------
127
128Deep breath ... time to do some real work. Here you will need to update the
129mcount function to check ftrace graph function pointers, as well as implement
130some functions to save (hijack) and restore the return address.
131
132The mcount function should check the function pointers ftrace_graph_return
133(compare to ftrace_stub) and ftrace_graph_entry (compare to
134ftrace_graph_entry_stub). If either of those are not set to the relevant stub
135function, call the arch-specific function ftrace_graph_caller which in turn
136calls the arch-specific function prepare_ftrace_return. Neither of these
137function names are strictly required, but you should use them anyways to stay
138consistent across the architecture ports -- easier to compare & contrast
139things.
140
141The arguments to prepare_ftrace_return are slightly different than what are
142passed to ftrace_trace_function. The second argument "selfpc" is the same,
143but the first argument should be a pointer to the "frompc". Typically this is
144located on the stack. This allows the function to hijack the return address
145temporarily to have it point to the arch-specific function return_to_handler.
146That function will simply call the common ftrace_return_to_handler function and
147that will return the original return address with which, you can return to the
148original call site.
149
150Here is the updated mcount pseudo code:
151void mcount(void)
152{
153...
154 if (ftrace_trace_function != ftrace_stub)
155 goto do_trace;
156
157+#ifdef CONFIG_FUNCTION_GRAPH_TRACER
158+ extern void (*ftrace_graph_return)(...);
159+ extern void (*ftrace_graph_entry)(...);
160+ if (ftrace_graph_return != ftrace_stub ||
161+ ftrace_graph_entry != ftrace_graph_entry_stub)
162+ ftrace_graph_caller();
163+#endif
164
165 /* restore any bare state */
166...
167
168Here is the pseudo code for the new ftrace_graph_caller assembly function:
169#ifdef CONFIG_FUNCTION_GRAPH_TRACER
170void ftrace_graph_caller(void)
171{
172 /* save all state needed by the ABI */
173
174 unsigned long *frompc = &...;
175 unsigned long selfpc = <return address> - MCOUNT_INSN_SIZE;
176 prepare_ftrace_return(frompc, selfpc);
177
178 /* restore all state needed by the ABI */
179}
180#endif
181
182For information on how to implement prepare_ftrace_return(), simply look at
183the x86 version. The only architecture-specific piece in it is the setup of
184the fault recovery table (the asm(...) code). The rest should be the same
185across architectures.
186
187Here is the pseudo code for the new return_to_handler assembly function. Note
188that the ABI that applies here is different from what applies to the mcount
189code. Since you are returning from a function (after the epilogue), you might
190be able to skimp on things saved/restored (usually just registers used to pass
191return values).
192
193#ifdef CONFIG_FUNCTION_GRAPH_TRACER
194void return_to_handler(void)
195{
196 /* save all state needed by the ABI (see paragraph above) */
197
198 void (*original_return_point)(void) = ftrace_return_to_handler();
199
200 /* restore all state needed by the ABI */
201
202 /* this is usually either a return or a jump */
203 original_return_point();
204}
205#endif
206
207
208HAVE_FTRACE_NMI_ENTER
209---------------------
210
211If you can't trace NMI functions, then skip this option.
212
213<details to be filled>
214
215
216HAVE_FTRACE_SYSCALLS
217---------------------
218
219<details to be filled>
220
221
222HAVE_FTRACE_MCOUNT_RECORD
223-------------------------
224
225See scripts/recordmcount.pl for more info.
226
227<details to be filled>
228
229
230HAVE_DYNAMIC_FTRACE
231---------------------
232
233<details to be filled>
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt
index 355d0f1f8c50..1b6292bbdd6d 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt
+++ b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@ disabled, and more (ftrace allows for tracer plugins, which
26means that the list of tracers can always grow). 26means that the list of tracers can always grow).
27 27
28 28
29Implementation Details
30----------------------
31
32See ftrace-design.txt for details for arch porters and such.
33
34
29The File System 35The File System
30--------------- 36---------------
31 37