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Documentation / trace / tracepoints.txt


Based on kernel version 4.16.1. Page generated on 2018-04-09 11:53 EST.

1		             Using the Linux Kernel Tracepoints
2	
3				    Mathieu Desnoyers
4	
5	
6	This document introduces Linux Kernel Tracepoints and their use. It
7	provides examples of how to insert tracepoints in the kernel and
8	connect probe functions to them and provides some examples of probe
9	functions.
10	
11	
12	* Purpose of tracepoints
13	
14	A tracepoint placed in code provides a hook to call a function (probe)
15	that you can provide at runtime. A tracepoint can be "on" (a probe is
16	connected to it) or "off" (no probe is attached). When a tracepoint is
17	"off" it has no effect, except for adding a tiny time penalty
18	(checking a condition for a branch) and space penalty (adding a few
19	bytes for the function call at the end of the instrumented function
20	and adds a data structure in a separate section).  When a tracepoint
21	is "on", the function you provide is called each time the tracepoint
22	is executed, in the execution context of the caller. When the function
23	provided ends its execution, it returns to the caller (continuing from
24	the tracepoint site).
25	
26	You can put tracepoints at important locations in the code. They are
27	lightweight hooks that can pass an arbitrary number of parameters,
28	which prototypes are described in a tracepoint declaration placed in a
29	header file.
30	
31	They can be used for tracing and performance accounting.
32	
33	
34	* Usage
35	
36	Two elements are required for tracepoints :
37	
38	- A tracepoint definition, placed in a header file.
39	- The tracepoint statement, in C code.
40	
41	In order to use tracepoints, you should include linux/tracepoint.h.
42	
43	In include/trace/events/subsys.h :
44	
45	#undef TRACE_SYSTEM
46	#define TRACE_SYSTEM subsys
47	
48	#if !defined(_TRACE_SUBSYS_H) || defined(TRACE_HEADER_MULTI_READ)
49	#define _TRACE_SUBSYS_H
50	
51	#include <linux/tracepoint.h>
52	
53	DECLARE_TRACE(subsys_eventname,
54		TP_PROTO(int firstarg, struct task_struct *p),
55		TP_ARGS(firstarg, p));
56	
57	#endif /* _TRACE_SUBSYS_H */
58	
59	/* This part must be outside protection */
60	#include <trace/define_trace.h>
61	
62	In subsys/file.c (where the tracing statement must be added) :
63	
64	#include <trace/events/subsys.h>
65	
66	#define CREATE_TRACE_POINTS
67	DEFINE_TRACE(subsys_eventname);
68	
69	void somefct(void)
70	{
71		...
72		trace_subsys_eventname(arg, task);
73		...
74	}
75	
76	Where :
77	- subsys_eventname is an identifier unique to your event
78	    - subsys is the name of your subsystem.
79	    - eventname is the name of the event to trace.
80	
81	- TP_PROTO(int firstarg, struct task_struct *p) is the prototype of the
82	  function called by this tracepoint.
83	
84	- TP_ARGS(firstarg, p) are the parameters names, same as found in the
85	  prototype.
86	
87	- if you use the header in multiple source files, #define CREATE_TRACE_POINTS
88	  should appear only in one source file.
89	
90	Connecting a function (probe) to a tracepoint is done by providing a
91	probe (function to call) for the specific tracepoint through
92	register_trace_subsys_eventname().  Removing a probe is done through
93	unregister_trace_subsys_eventname(); it will remove the probe.
94	
95	tracepoint_synchronize_unregister() must be called before the end of
96	the module exit function to make sure there is no caller left using
97	the probe. This, and the fact that preemption is disabled around the
98	probe call, make sure that probe removal and module unload are safe.
99	
100	The tracepoint mechanism supports inserting multiple instances of the
101	same tracepoint, but a single definition must be made of a given
102	tracepoint name over all the kernel to make sure no type conflict will
103	occur. Name mangling of the tracepoints is done using the prototypes
104	to make sure typing is correct. Verification of probe type correctness
105	is done at the registration site by the compiler. Tracepoints can be
106	put in inline functions, inlined static functions, and unrolled loops
107	as well as regular functions.
108	
109	The naming scheme "subsys_event" is suggested here as a convention
110	intended to limit collisions. Tracepoint names are global to the
111	kernel: they are considered as being the same whether they are in the
112	core kernel image or in modules.
113	
114	If the tracepoint has to be used in kernel modules, an
115	EXPORT_TRACEPOINT_SYMBOL_GPL() or EXPORT_TRACEPOINT_SYMBOL() can be
116	used to export the defined tracepoints.
117	
118	If you need to do a bit of work for a tracepoint parameter, and
119	that work is only used for the tracepoint, that work can be encapsulated
120	within an if statement with the following:
121	
122		if (trace_foo_bar_enabled()) {
123			int i;
124			int tot = 0;
125	
126			for (i = 0; i < count; i++)
127				tot += calculate_nuggets();
128	
129			trace_foo_bar(tot);
130		}
131	
132	All trace_<tracepoint>() calls have a matching trace_<tracepoint>_enabled()
133	function defined that returns true if the tracepoint is enabled and
134	false otherwise. The trace_<tracepoint>() should always be within the
135	block of the if (trace_<tracepoint>_enabled()) to prevent races between
136	the tracepoint being enabled and the check being seen.
137	
138	The advantage of using the trace_<tracepoint>_enabled() is that it uses
139	the static_key of the tracepoint to allow the if statement to be implemented
140	with jump labels and avoid conditional branches.
141	
142	Note: The convenience macro TRACE_EVENT provides an alternative way to
143	      define tracepoints. Check http://lwn.net/Articles/379903,
144	      http://lwn.net/Articles/381064 and http://lwn.net/Articles/383362
145	      for a series of articles with more details.
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