diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/trace')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/trace/index.rst | 1 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/trace/osnoise-tracer.rst | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/trace/user_events.rst | 216 |
3 files changed, 219 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/index.rst b/Documentation/trace/index.rst index b9f3757f8269..f9b7bcb5a630 100644 --- a/Documentation/trace/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/trace/index.rst @@ -31,3 +31,4 @@ Linux Tracing Technologies stm sys-t coresight/index + user_events diff --git a/Documentation/trace/osnoise-tracer.rst b/Documentation/trace/osnoise-tracer.rst index b648cb9bf1f0..963def9f97c6 100644 --- a/Documentation/trace/osnoise-tracer.rst +++ b/Documentation/trace/osnoise-tracer.rst @@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ For example:: [root@f32 ~]# cd /sys/kernel/tracing/ [root@f32 tracing]# echo osnoise > current_tracer -It is possible to follow the trace by reading the trace trace file:: +It is possible to follow the trace by reading the trace file:: [root@f32 tracing]# cat trace # tracer: osnoise @@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ The tracer has a set of options inside the osnoise directory, they are: option. - tracing_threshold: the minimum delta between two time() reads to be considered as noise, in us. When set to 0, the default value will - will be used, which is currently 5 us. + be used, which is currently 5 us. Additional Tracing ------------------ diff --git a/Documentation/trace/user_events.rst b/Documentation/trace/user_events.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..bddedabaca80 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/trace/user_events.rst @@ -0,0 +1,216 @@ +========================================= +user_events: User-based Event Tracing +========================================= + +:Author: Beau Belgrave + +Overview +-------- +User based trace events allow user processes to create events and trace data +that can be viewed via existing tools, such as ftrace, perf and eBPF. +To enable this feature, build your kernel with CONFIG_USER_EVENTS=y. + +Programs can view status of the events via +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/user_events_status and can both register and write +data out via /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/user_events_data. + +Programs can also use /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/dynamic_events to register and +delete user based events via the u: prefix. The format of the command to +dynamic_events is the same as the ioctl with the u: prefix applied. + +Typically programs will register a set of events that they wish to expose to +tools that can read trace_events (such as ftrace and perf). The registration +process gives back two ints to the program for each event. The first int is the +status index. This index describes which byte in the +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/user_events_status file represents this event. The +second int is the write index. This index describes the data when a write() or +writev() is called on the /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/user_events_data file. + +The structures referenced in this document are contained with the +/include/uap/linux/user_events.h file in the source tree. + +**NOTE:** *Both user_events_status and user_events_data are under the tracefs +filesystem and may be mounted at different paths than above.* + +Registering +----------- +Registering within a user process is done via ioctl() out to the +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/user_events_data file. The command to issue is +DIAG_IOCSREG. + +This command takes a struct user_reg as an argument:: + + struct user_reg { + u32 size; + u64 name_args; + u32 status_index; + u32 write_index; + }; + +The struct user_reg requires two inputs, the first is the size of the structure +to ensure forward and backward compatibility. The second is the command string +to issue for registering. Upon success two outputs are set, the status index +and the write index. + +User based events show up under tracefs like any other event under the +subsystem named "user_events". This means tools that wish to attach to the +events need to use /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/user_events/[name]/enable +or perf record -e user_events:[name] when attaching/recording. + +**NOTE:** *The write_index returned is only valid for the FD that was used* + +Command Format +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +The command string format is as follows:: + + name[:FLAG1[,FLAG2...]] [Field1[;Field2...]] + +Supported Flags +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +**BPF_ITER** - EBPF programs attached to this event will get the raw iovec +struct instead of any data copies for max performance. + +Field Format +^^^^^^^^^^^^ +:: + + type name [size] + +Basic types are supported (__data_loc, u32, u64, int, char, char[20], etc). +User programs are encouraged to use clearly sized types like u32. + +**NOTE:** *Long is not supported since size can vary between user and kernel.* + +The size is only valid for types that start with a struct prefix. +This allows user programs to describe custom structs out to tools, if required. + +For example, a struct in C that looks like this:: + + struct mytype { + char data[20]; + }; + +Would be represented by the following field:: + + struct mytype myname 20 + +Deleting +----------- +Deleting an event from within a user process is done via ioctl() out to the +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/user_events_data file. The command to issue is +DIAG_IOCSDEL. + +This command only requires a single string specifying the event to delete by +its name. Delete will only succeed if there are no references left to the +event (in both user and kernel space). User programs should use a separate file +to request deletes than the one used for registration due to this. + +Status +------ +When tools attach/record user based events the status of the event is updated +in realtime. This allows user programs to only incur the cost of the write() or +writev() calls when something is actively attached to the event. + +User programs call mmap() on /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/user_events_status to +check the status for each event that is registered. The byte to check in the +file is given back after the register ioctl() via user_reg.status_index. +Currently the size of user_events_status is a single page, however, custom +kernel configurations can change this size to allow more user based events. In +all cases the size of the file is a multiple of a page size. + +For example, if the register ioctl() gives back a status_index of 3 you would +check byte 3 of the returned mmap data to see if anything is attached to that +event. + +Administrators can easily check the status of all registered events by reading +the user_events_status file directly via a terminal. The output is as follows:: + + Byte:Name [# Comments] + ... + + Active: ActiveCount + Busy: BusyCount + Max: MaxCount + +For example, on a system that has a single event the output looks like this:: + + 1:test + + Active: 1 + Busy: 0 + Max: 4096 + +If a user enables the user event via ftrace, the output would change to this:: + + 1:test # Used by ftrace + + Active: 1 + Busy: 1 + Max: 4096 + +**NOTE:** *A status index of 0 will never be returned. This allows user +programs to have an index that can be used on error cases.* + +Status Bits +^^^^^^^^^^^ +The byte being checked will be non-zero if anything is attached. Programs can +check specific bits in the byte to see what mechanism has been attached. + +The following values are defined to aid in checking what has been attached: + +**EVENT_STATUS_FTRACE** - Bit set if ftrace has been attached (Bit 0). + +**EVENT_STATUS_PERF** - Bit set if perf/eBPF has been attached (Bit 1). + +Writing Data +------------ +After registering an event the same fd that was used to register can be used +to write an entry for that event. The write_index returned must be at the start +of the data, then the remaining data is treated as the payload of the event. + +For example, if write_index returned was 1 and I wanted to write out an int +payload of the event. Then the data would have to be 8 bytes (2 ints) in size, +with the first 4 bytes being equal to 1 and the last 4 bytes being equal to the +value I want as the payload. + +In memory this would look like this:: + + int index; + int payload; + +User programs might have well known structs that they wish to use to emit out +as payloads. In those cases writev() can be used, with the first vector being +the index and the following vector(s) being the actual event payload. + +For example, if I have a struct like this:: + + struct payload { + int src; + int dst; + int flags; + }; + +It's advised for user programs to do the following:: + + struct iovec io[2]; + struct payload e; + + io[0].iov_base = &write_index; + io[0].iov_len = sizeof(write_index); + io[1].iov_base = &e; + io[1].iov_len = sizeof(e); + + writev(fd, (const struct iovec*)io, 2); + +**NOTE:** *The write_index is not emitted out into the trace being recorded.* + +EBPF +---- +EBPF programs that attach to a user-based event tracepoint are given a pointer +to a struct user_bpf_context. The bpf context contains the data type (which can +be a user or kernel buffer, or can be a pointer to the iovec) and the data +length that was emitted (minus the write_index). + +Example Code +------------ +See sample code in samples/user_events. |