[PATCH v2 00/10] mm/damon: let DAMON be paused and resumed

[PATCH v2 00/10] mm/damon: let DAMON be paused and resumed

[SeongJae Park]

DAMON utilizes a few mechanisms that enhance itself over time. Adaptive
regions adjustment, goal-based DAMOS quota auto-tuning and monitoring
intervals auto-tuning like self-training mechanisms are such examples.
It also adds access frequency stability information (age) to the
monitoring results, which makes it enhanced over time.

Sometimes users have to stop DAMON.  In this case, DAMON internal state
that enhanced over the time of the last execution simply goes away.
Restarted DAMON have to train itself and enhance its output from the
scratch.  This makes DAMON less useful in such cases.  Introducing three
such use cases below.

Investigation of DAMON.  It is best to do the investigation online,
especially when it is a production environment.  DAMON therefore
provides features for such online investigations, including DAMOS stats,
monitoring result snapshot exposure, and multiple tracepoints.  When
those are insufficient, and there are additional clues that could be
interfered by DAMON, users have to temporarily stop DAMON to collect the
additional clues.  It is not very useful since many of DAMON internal
clues are gone when DAMON is stopped.  The loss of the monitoring
results that improved over time is also problematic, especially in
production environments.

Monitoring of workloads that have different user-known phases.  For
example, in Android, applications are known to have very different
access patterns and behaviors when they are running on the foreground
and the background.  It can therefore be useful to separate monitoring
of apps based on whether they are running on the foreground and on the
background.  Having two DAMON threads per application that paused and
resumed for the apps foreground/background switches can be useful for
the purpose.  But such pause/resume of the execution is not supported.

Tests of DAMON.  A few DAMON selftests are using drgn to dump the
internal DAMON status.  The tests show if the dumped status is the same
as what the test code expected.  Because DAMON keeps running and
modifying its internal status, there are chances of data races that can
cause false test results.  Stopping DAMON can avoid the race.  But,
since the internal state of DAMON is dropped, the test coverage will be
limited.

Let DAMON execution be paused and resumed without loss of the internal
state, to overhaul the limitations.  For this, introduce a new DAMON
context parameter, namely 'pause'.  API callers can update it while the
context is running, using the online parameters update functions
(damon_commit_ctx() and damon_call()).  Once it is set, kdamond_fn()
main loop will do only limited works excluding the monitoring and DAMOS
works, while sleeping sampling intervals per the work.  The limited
works include handling of the online parameters update.  Hence users can
unset the 'pause' parameter again.  Once it is unset, kdamond_fn() main
loop will do all the work again (resumed).  Under the paused state, it
also does stop condition checks and handling of it, so that paused DAMON
can also be stopped if needed.  Expose the feature to the user space via
DAMON sysfs interface.  Also, update existing drgn-based tests to test
and use the feature.

Tests
=====

I confirmed the feature functionality using real time tracing ('perf
trace' or 'trace-cmd stream') of damon:damon_aggregated DAMON
tracepoint.  By pausing and resuming the DAMON execution, I was able to
see the trace stops and continued as expected.  Note that the pause
feature support is added to DAMON user-space tool (damo) after v3.1.9.
Users can use '--pause_ctx' command line option of damo for that, and I
actually used it for my test.  The extended drgn-based selftests are
also testing a part of the functionality.

Patches Sequence
================

Patch 1 introduces the new core API for the pause feature.  Patch 2
extend DAMON sysfs interface for the new parameter.  Patches 3-5 update
design, usage and ABI documents for the new sysfs file, respectively.
The following five patches are for tests.  Patch 6 implements a new
kunit test for the pause parameter online commitment.  Patches 7 and 8
extend DAMON selftest helpers to support the new feature.  Patch 9
extends selftest to test the commitment of the feature.  Finally, patch
10 updates existing selftest to be safe from the race condition using
the pause/resume feature.

Changelog
=========

Changes from RFC v5
(https://lore.kernel.org/20260323231538.84452-1-sj@kernel.org)
- Rebase to latest mm-new.
- Drop RFC tag again.
Changes from RFC v4
(https://lore.kernel.org/20260322155728.81434-1-sj@kernel.org)
- Fix typo: selftets.
- Fix wrong selftests kdamonds resume iteration.
Changes from v1 (or, RFC v3)
(https://lore.kernel.org/20260321181343.93971-1-sj@kernel.org)
- Add RFC tag again.
- Handle maybe_corrupted inside pause-loop.
- Reduce unnecessary commits in sysfs.py selftest.
Changes from RFC v2
(https://lore.kernel.org/20260319052157.99433-1-sj@kernel.org)
- Move damon_ctx->pause to public fields section.
- Wordsmith design doc change.
- Fix unintended resume of contexts in multiple contexts use case.
- Rebase to latest mm-new.
Changes from RFC v1
(https://lore.kernel.org/20260315210012.94846-1-sj@kernel.org)
- Continuously cancel new damos_walk() requests when paused.
- Initialize damon_sysfs_context->pause.
- Make sysfs.py dump-purpose pausing to work for all contexts.

SeongJae Park (10):
  mm/damon/core: introduce damon_ctx->paused
  mm/damon/sysfs: add pause file under context dir
  Docs/mm/damon/design: update for context pause/resume feature
  Docs/admin-guide/mm/damon/usage: update for pause file
  Docs/ABI/damon: update for pause sysfs file
  mm/damon/tests/core-kunit: test pause commitment
  selftests/damon/_damon_sysfs: support pause file staging
  selftests/damon/drgn_dump_damon_status: dump pause
  selftests/damon/sysfs.py: check pause on assert_ctx_committed()
  selftests/damon/sysfs.py: pause DAMON before dumping status

 .../ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-damon         |  7 ++++
 Documentation/admin-guide/mm/damon/usage.rst  | 12 ++++--
 Documentation/mm/damon/design.rst             |  7 ++++
 include/linux/damon.h                         |  2 +
 mm/damon/core.c                               |  9 +++++
 mm/damon/sysfs.c                              | 31 +++++++++++++++
 mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h                   |  4 ++
 tools/testing/selftests/damon/_damon_sysfs.py | 10 ++++-
 .../selftests/damon/drgn_dump_damon_status.py |  1 +
 tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py        | 39 +++++++++++++++++++
 10 files changed, 117 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)


base-commit: c12c06c4198f28d4d2bb48cc9608dbbfb020bf43
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v2 01/10] mm/damon/core: introduce damon_ctx->paused

[SeongJae Park]

DAMON supports only start and stop of the execution.  When it is
stopped, its internal data that it self-trained goes away.  It will be
useful if the execution can be paused and resumed with the previous
self-trained data.

Introduce per-context API parameter, 'paused', for the purpose.  The
parameter can be set and unset while DAMON is running and paused, using
the online parameters commit helper functions (damon_commit_ctx() and
damon_call()).  Once 'paused' is set, the kdamond_fn() main loop does
only limited works with sampling interval sleep during the works.  The
limited works include the handling of the online parameters update, so
that users can unset the 'pause' and resume the execution when they
want.  It also keep checking DAMON stop conditions and handling of it,
so that DAMON can be stopped while paused if needed.

Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 include/linux/damon.h | 2 ++
 mm/damon/core.c       | 9 +++++++++
 2 files changed, 11 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/linux/damon.h b/include/linux/damon.h
index 5e2fee6f517ae..82dd43fb639ad 100644
--- a/include/linux/damon.h
+++ b/include/linux/damon.h
@@ -792,6 +792,7 @@ struct damon_attrs {
  * @ops:	Set of monitoring operations for given use cases.
  * @addr_unit:	Scale factor for core to ops address conversion.
  * @min_region_sz:	Minimum region size.
+ * @pause:	Pause kdamond main loop.
  * @adaptive_targets:	Head of monitoring targets (&damon_target) list.
  * @schemes:		Head of schemes (&damos) list.
  */
@@ -845,6 +846,7 @@ struct damon_ctx {
 	struct damon_operations ops;
 	unsigned long addr_unit;
 	unsigned long min_region_sz;
+	bool pause;
 
 	struct list_head adaptive_targets;
 	struct list_head schemes;
diff --git a/mm/damon/core.c b/mm/damon/core.c
index 9a4220174a61a..00ff1a1c92e73 100644
--- a/mm/damon/core.c
+++ b/mm/damon/core.c
@@ -1368,6 +1368,7 @@ int damon_commit_ctx(struct damon_ctx *dst, struct damon_ctx *src)
 		if (err)
 			return err;
 	}
+	dst->pause = src->pause;
 	dst->ops = src->ops;
 	dst->addr_unit = src->addr_unit;
 	dst->min_region_sz = src->min_region_sz;
@@ -3156,6 +3157,14 @@ static int kdamond_fn(void *data)
 		kdamond_call(ctx, false);
 		if (ctx->maybe_corrupted)
 			break;
+		while (ctx->pause) {
+			damos_walk_cancel(ctx);
+			kdamond_usleep(ctx->attrs.sample_interval);
+			/* allow caller unset pause via damon_call() */
+			kdamond_call(ctx, false);
+			if (kdamond_need_stop(ctx) || ctx->maybe_corrupted)
+				goto done;
+		}
 		if (!list_empty(&ctx->schemes))
 			kdamond_apply_schemes(ctx);
 		else
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v2 02/10] mm/damon/sysfs: add pause file under context dir

[SeongJae Park]

Add pause DAMON sysfs file under the context directory.  It exposes the
damon_ctx->pause API parameter to the users so that they can use the
pause/resume feature.

Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 mm/damon/sysfs.c | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 31 insertions(+)

diff --git a/mm/damon/sysfs.c b/mm/damon/sysfs.c
index eefa959aa30ae..d5863cc33d230 100644
--- a/mm/damon/sysfs.c
+++ b/mm/damon/sysfs.c
@@ -866,6 +866,7 @@ struct damon_sysfs_context {
 	struct damon_sysfs_attrs *attrs;
 	struct damon_sysfs_targets *targets;
 	struct damon_sysfs_schemes *schemes;
+	bool pause;
 };
 
 static struct damon_sysfs_context *damon_sysfs_context_alloc(
@@ -878,6 +879,7 @@ static struct damon_sysfs_context *damon_sysfs_context_alloc(
 	context->kobj = (struct kobject){};
 	context->ops_id = ops_id;
 	context->addr_unit = 1;
+	context->pause = false;
 	return context;
 }
 
@@ -1053,6 +1055,30 @@ static ssize_t addr_unit_store(struct kobject *kobj,
 	return count;
 }
 
+static ssize_t pause_show(struct kobject *kobj, struct kobj_attribute *attr,
+		char *buf)
+{
+	struct damon_sysfs_context *context = container_of(kobj,
+			struct damon_sysfs_context, kobj);
+
+	return sysfs_emit(buf, "%c\n", context->pause ? 'Y' : 'N');
+}
+
+static ssize_t pause_store(struct kobject *kobj, struct kobj_attribute *attr,
+		const char *buf, size_t count)
+{
+	struct damon_sysfs_context *context = container_of(kobj,
+			struct damon_sysfs_context, kobj);
+	bool pause;
+	int err = kstrtobool(buf, &pause);
+
+	if (err)
+		return err;
+	context->pause = pause;
+	return count;
+}
+
+
 static void damon_sysfs_context_release(struct kobject *kobj)
 {
 	kfree(container_of(kobj, struct damon_sysfs_context, kobj));
@@ -1067,10 +1093,14 @@ static struct kobj_attribute damon_sysfs_context_operations_attr =
 static struct kobj_attribute damon_sysfs_context_addr_unit_attr =
 		__ATTR_RW_MODE(addr_unit, 0600);
 
+static struct kobj_attribute damon_sysfs_context_pause_attr =
+		__ATTR_RW_MODE(pause, 0600);
+
 static struct attribute *damon_sysfs_context_attrs[] = {
 	&damon_sysfs_context_avail_operations_attr.attr,
 	&damon_sysfs_context_operations_attr.attr,
 	&damon_sysfs_context_addr_unit_attr.attr,
+	&damon_sysfs_context_pause_attr.attr,
 	NULL,
 };
 ATTRIBUTE_GROUPS(damon_sysfs_context);
@@ -1470,6 +1500,7 @@ static int damon_sysfs_apply_inputs(struct damon_ctx *ctx,
 	if (sys_ctx->ops_id == DAMON_OPS_PADDR)
 		ctx->min_region_sz = max(
 				DAMON_MIN_REGION_SZ / sys_ctx->addr_unit, 1);
+	ctx->pause = sys_ctx->pause;
 	err = damon_sysfs_set_attrs(ctx, sys_ctx->attrs);
 	if (err)
 		return err;
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v2 03/10] Docs/mm/damon/design: update for context pause/resume feature

[SeongJae Park]

Update DAMON design document for the context execution pause/resume
feature.

Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 Documentation/mm/damon/design.rst | 7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/mm/damon/design.rst b/Documentation/mm/damon/design.rst
index 365e068a8dbe4..622d24e35961e 100644
--- a/Documentation/mm/damon/design.rst
+++ b/Documentation/mm/damon/design.rst
@@ -19,6 +19,13 @@ types of monitoring.
 To know how user-space can do the configurations and start/stop DAMON, refer to
 :ref:`DAMON sysfs interface <sysfs_interface>` documentation.
 
+Users can also request each context execution to be paused and resumed.  When
+it is paused, the kdamond does nothing other than applying online parameter
+update.
+
+To know how user-space can pause/resume each context, refer to :ref:`DAMON
+sysfs context <sysfs_context>` usage documentation.
+
 
 Overall Architecture
 ====================
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v2 04/10] Docs/admin-guide/mm/damon/usage: update for pause file

[SeongJae Park]

Update DAMON usage document for the DAMON context execution pause/resume
feature.

Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/mm/damon/usage.rst | 12 ++++++++----
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/damon/usage.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/damon/usage.rst
index 534e1199cf091..bfdb717441f05 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/damon/usage.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/damon/usage.rst
@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@ comma (",").
     │ :ref:`kdamonds <sysfs_kdamonds>`/nr_kdamonds
     │ │ :ref:`0 <sysfs_kdamond>`/state,pid,refresh_ms
     │ │ │ :ref:`contexts <sysfs_contexts>`/nr_contexts
-    │ │ │ │ :ref:`0 <sysfs_context>`/avail_operations,operations,addr_unit
+    │ │ │ │ :ref:`0 <sysfs_context>`/avail_operations,operations,addr_unit,
+    │ │ │ │   pause
     │ │ │ │ │ :ref:`monitoring_attrs <sysfs_monitoring_attrs>`/
     │ │ │ │ │ │ intervals/sample_us,aggr_us,update_us
     │ │ │ │ │ │ │ intervals_goal/access_bp,aggrs,min_sample_us,max_sample_us
@@ -194,9 +195,9 @@ details).  At the moment, only one context per kdamond is supported, so only
 contexts/<N>/
 -------------
 
-In each context directory, three files (``avail_operations``, ``operations``
-and ``addr_unit``) and three directories (``monitoring_attrs``, ``targets``,
-and ``schemes``) exist.
+In each context directory, four files (``avail_operations``, ``operations``,
+``addr_unit`` and ``pause``) and three directories (``monitoring_attrs``,
+``targets``, and ``schemes``) exist.
 
 DAMON supports multiple types of :ref:`monitoring operations
 <damon_design_configurable_operations_set>`, including those for virtual address
@@ -214,6 +215,9 @@ reading from the ``operations`` file.
 ``addr_unit`` file is for setting and getting the :ref:`address unit
 <damon_design_addr_unit>` parameter of the operations set.
 
+``pause`` file is for setting and getting the :ref:`pause request
+<damon_design_execution_model_and_data_structures>` parameter of the context.
+
 .. _sysfs_monitoring_attrs:
 
 contexts/<N>/monitoring_attrs/
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v2 05/10] Docs/ABI/damon: update for pause sysfs file

[SeongJae Park]

Update DAMON ABI document for the DAMON context execution pause/resume
feature.

Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-damon | 7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-damon b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-damon
index 2424237ebb105..7059f540940f0 100644
--- a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-damon
+++ b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-damon
@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ Description:	Writing an integer to this file sets the 'address unit'
 		parameter of the given operations set of the context.  Reading
 		the file returns the last-written 'address unit' value.
 
+What:		/sys/kernel/mm/damon/admin/kdamonds/<K>/contexts/<C>/pause
+Date:		Mar 2026
+Contact:	SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
+Description:	Writing a boolean keyword to this file sets the 'pause' request
+		parameter for the context.  Reading the file returns the
+		last-written 'pause' value.
+
 What:		/sys/kernel/mm/damon/admin/kdamonds/<K>/contexts/<C>/monitoring_attrs/intervals/sample_us
 Date:		Mar 2022
 Contact:	SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v2 06/10] mm/damon/tests/core-kunit: test pause commitment

[SeongJae Park]

Add a kunit test for commitment of damon_ctx->pause parameter that can
be done using damon_commit_ctx().

Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h | 4 ++++
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)

diff --git a/mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h b/mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h
index 9e5904c2beeb2..0030f682b23b7 100644
--- a/mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h
+++ b/mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h
@@ -1077,6 +1077,10 @@ static void damon_test_commit_ctx(struct kunit *test)
 	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, damon_commit_ctx(dst, src), 0);
 	src->min_region_sz = 4095;
 	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, damon_commit_ctx(dst, src), -EINVAL);
+	src->min_region_sz = 4096;
+	src->pause = true;
+	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, damon_commit_ctx(dst, src), 0);
+	KUNIT_EXPECT_TRUE(test, dst->pause);
 	damon_destroy_ctx(src);
 	damon_destroy_ctx(dst);
 }
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v2 07/10] selftests/damon/_damon_sysfs: support pause file staging

[SeongJae Park]

DAMON test-purpose sysfs interface control Python module, _damon_sysfs,
is not supporting the newly added pause file.  Add the support of the
file, for future test and use of the feature.

Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 tools/testing/selftests/damon/_damon_sysfs.py | 10 +++++++++-
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/damon/_damon_sysfs.py b/tools/testing/selftests/damon/_damon_sysfs.py
index 2b4df655d9fd0..120b96ecbd741 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/damon/_damon_sysfs.py
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/damon/_damon_sysfs.py
@@ -604,10 +604,11 @@ class DamonCtx:
     targets = None
     schemes = None
     kdamond = None
+    pause = None
     idx = None
 
     def __init__(self, ops='paddr', monitoring_attrs=DamonAttrs(), targets=[],
-            schemes=[]):
+            schemes=[], pause=False):
         self.ops = ops
         self.monitoring_attrs = monitoring_attrs
         self.monitoring_attrs.context = self
@@ -622,6 +623,8 @@ class DamonCtx:
             scheme.idx = idx
             scheme.context = self
 
+        self.pause=pause
+
     def sysfs_dir(self):
         return os.path.join(self.kdamond.sysfs_dir(), 'contexts',
                 '%d' % self.idx)
@@ -662,6 +665,11 @@ class DamonCtx:
             err = scheme.stage()
             if err is not None:
                 return err
+
+        err = write_file(os.path.join(self.sysfs_dir(), 'pause'), self.pause)
+        if err is not None:
+            return err
+
         return None
 
 class Kdamond:
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v2 08/10] selftests/damon/drgn_dump_damon_status: dump pause

[SeongJae Park]

drgn_dump_damon_status is not dumping the damon_ctx->pause parameter
value, so it cannot be tested.  Dump it for future tests.

Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 tools/testing/selftests/damon/drgn_dump_damon_status.py | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/damon/drgn_dump_damon_status.py b/tools/testing/selftests/damon/drgn_dump_damon_status.py
index af99b07a4f565..5b90eb8e7ef88 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/damon/drgn_dump_damon_status.py
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/damon/drgn_dump_damon_status.py
@@ -200,6 +200,7 @@ def damon_ctx_to_dict(ctx):
         ['attrs', attrs_to_dict],
         ['adaptive_targets', targets_to_list],
         ['schemes', schemes_to_list],
+        ['pause', bool],
         ])
 
 def main():
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v2 09/10] selftests/damon/sysfs.py: check pause on assert_ctx_committed()

[SeongJae Park]

Extend sysfs.py tests to confirm damon_ctx->pause can be set using the
pause sysfs file.

Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py b/tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py
index 72f53180c6a88..5a5d2f2774566 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ def assert_ctx_committed(ctx, dump):
     assert_monitoring_attrs_committed(ctx.monitoring_attrs, dump['attrs'])
     assert_monitoring_targets_committed(ctx.targets, dump['adaptive_targets'])
     assert_schemes_committed(ctx.schemes, dump['schemes'])
+    assert_true(dump['pause'] == ctx.pause, 'pause', dump)
 
 def assert_ctxs_committed(kdamonds):
     status, err = dump_damon_status_dict(kdamonds.kdamonds[0].pid)
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v2 10/10] selftests/damon/sysfs.py: pause DAMON before dumping status

[SeongJae Park]

The sysfs.py test commits DAMON parameters, dump the internal DAMON
state, and show if the parameters are committed as expected using the
dumped state.  While the dumping is ongoing, DAMON is alive.  It can
make internal changes including addition and removal of regions.  It can
therefore make a race that can result in false test results.  Pause
DAMON execution during the state dumping to avoid such races.

Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py | 38 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 38 insertions(+)

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py b/tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py
index 5a5d2f2774566..387286dc449d5 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/damon/sysfs.py
@@ -194,18 +194,55 @@ def assert_ctx_committed(ctx, dump):
     assert_true(dump['pause'] == ctx.pause, 'pause', dump)
 
 def assert_ctxs_committed(kdamonds):
+    ctxs_paused_for_dump = []
+    kdamonds_paused_for_dump = []
+    # pause for safe state dumping
+    for kd in kdamonds.kdamonds:
+        for ctx in kd.contexts:
+            if ctx.pause is False:
+                ctx.pause = True
+                ctxs_paused_for_dump.append(ctx)
+                if not kd in kdamonds_paused_for_dump:
+                    kdamonds_paused_for_dump.append(kd)
+        if kd in kdamonds_paused_for_dump:
+            err = kd.commit()
+            if err is not None:
+                print('pause fail (%s)' % err)
+                kdamonds.stop()
+                exit(1)
+
     status, err = dump_damon_status_dict(kdamonds.kdamonds[0].pid)
     if err is not None:
         print(err)
         kdamonds.stop()
         exit(1)
 
+    # resume contexts paused for safe state dumping
+    for ctx in ctxs_paused_for_dump:
+        ctx.pause = False
+    for kd in kdamonds_paused_for_dump:
+        err = kd.commit()
+        if err is not None:
+            print('resume fail (%s)' % err)
+            kdamonds.stop()
+            exit(1)
+
+    # restore for comparison
+    for ctx in ctxs_paused_for_dump:
+        ctx.pause = True
+
     ctxs = kdamonds.kdamonds[0].contexts
     dump = status['contexts']
     assert_true(len(ctxs) == len(dump), 'ctxs length', dump)
     for idx, ctx in enumerate(ctxs):
         assert_ctx_committed(ctx, dump[idx])
 
+    # restore for the caller
+    for kd in kdamonds.kdamonds:
+        for ctx in kd.contexts:
+            if ctx in ctxs_paused_for_dump:
+                ctx.pause = False
+
 def main():
     kdamonds = _damon_sysfs.Kdamonds(
             [_damon_sysfs.Kdamond(
@@ -303,6 +340,7 @@ def main():
         print('kdamond start failed: %s' % err)
         exit(1)
     kdamonds.kdamonds[0].contexts[0].targets[1].obsolete = True
+    kdamonds.kdamonds[0].contexts[0].pause = True
     kdamonds.kdamonds[0].commit()
     del kdamonds.kdamonds[0].contexts[0].targets[1]
     assert_ctxs_committed(kdamonds)
-- 
2.47.3