From: Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@atomlin.com>
To: peterz@infradead.org, mingo@redhat.com, acme@kernel.org,
namhyung@kernel.org
Cc: mark.rutland@arm.com, alexander.shishkin@linux.intel.com,
jolsa@kernel.org, irogers@google.com, adrian.hunter@intel.com,
james.clark@linaro.org, howardchu95@gmail.com,
atomlin@atomlin.com, neelx@suse.com, sean@ashe.io,
linux-perf-users@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v2] perf trace: Fix noise and signed formatting of __probe_ip in bare dynamic probes
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:56:10 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260612225610.1326644-1-atomlin@atomlin.com> (raw)
When a dynamic probe is created without explicitly requested arguments
via perf probe --add, the Ftrace subsystem automatically appends
"__probe_ip" to the tracepoint format to record the instruction pointer.
Currently, perf trace prints this implicit field by default.
Furthermore, because the formatting logic defaults to a standard signed
integer representation, the kernel space memory address is erroneously
displayed as a meaningless negative integer.
❯ sudo ./perf trace --event probe:proc_sys_open --max-events 1
0.000 ps/1316543 probe:proc_sys_open(__probe_ip: -1406056956)
This patch addresses the user experience by combining two refinements:
1. "__probe_ip" is now hidden from the standard output, as its
presence adds no contextual value for a bare probe.
2. If the user explicitly requests verbose output (--verbose),
"__probe_ip" is intercepted and properly formatted as a hexadecimal
kernel address, restoring its utility for debugging inline
function hits.
❯ sudo ./perf trace --event probe:proc_sys_open --max-events 1
0.000 ps/1314074 probe:proc_sys_open()
❯ sudo ./perf trace --verbose --event probe:proc_sys_open --max-events 1
Using CPUID GenuineIntel-6-8E-C
mmap size 528384B
0.000 ps/1314366 probe:proc_sys_open(__probe_ip: 0xffffffffac314604)
Signed-off-by: Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@atomlin.com>
---
Changes since v1:
- Fixed a bug where the hardcoded format string for "__probe_ip"
bypassed the trace->show_arg_names configuration. The formatting
logic is now properly decoupled to respect trace.show_arg_names when
verbose mode is enabled.
- Linked to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260612220843.1320348-1-atomlin@atomlin.com/
---
tools/perf/builtin-trace.c | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 21 insertions(+)
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
index 48615ddccd93..ac15b5588a27 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
@@ -3234,6 +3234,27 @@ static size_t trace__fprintf_tp_fields(struct trace *trace, struct evsel *evsel,
if (val == 0 && !trace->show_zeros && !arg->show_zero && arg->strtoul != STUL_BTF_TYPE)
continue;
+ /*
+ * __probe_ip is implicitly added to bare dynamic probes.
+ * Suppress it by default to avoid cluttering the output.
+ * If verbose mode is enabled, ensure it is formatted as a
+ * hexadecimal memory address rather than a signed integer.
+ */
+ if (!strcmp(field->name, "__probe_ip")) {
+ if (!verbose)
+ continue;
+
+ printed += scnprintf(bf + printed, size - printed,
+ "%s", printed ? ", " : "");
+ if (trace->show_arg_names)
+ printed += scnprintf(bf + printed, size - printed,
+ "%s: ", field->name);
+
+ printed += scnprintf(bf + printed, size - printed, "%#016llx",
+ (unsigned long long)val);
+ continue;
+ }
+
printed += scnprintf(bf + printed, size - printed, "%s", printed ? ", " : "");
if (trace->show_arg_names)
--
2.51.0
reply other threads:[~2026-06-12 22:56 UTC|newest]
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