Re: [PATCH 2/2] kmemtrace: Use tracepoints instead of markers.

[Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@polymtl.ca>]

* Eduard - Gabriel Munteanu (eduard.munteanu@linux360.ro) wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 02, 2009 at 04:48:05PM -0500, Mathieu Desnoyers wrote:
> > Yes, we could (and maybe should) use __always_inline there. Hrm, which
> > which tree to you work ? You probably mean DECLARE_TRACE() rather than
> > DEFINE_TRACE() ?
> > 
> > I just went over your patch again. it uses the old DEFINE_TRACE() API.
> > You should get the latest tracepoints which have DECLARE_TRACE() (for
> > trace/kmemtrace.h) and then a DEFINE_TRACE() in a .c.  Ah I see, you
> > work on 2.6.28. You should work on top of -tip, which has this new API.
> > Using the tracepoints present in 2.6.28 will not let you do only a
> > single definition of the tracepoint structure and it will lead to waste
> > of kernel memory by defining multiple instances of tracepoint structures
> > (one for each trace_*() use, so one per kmalloc()). The
> > Documentation/tracepoints.txt file is updated accordingly.
> > 
> 
> I'm supposed to merge it through Ingo's tip tree. If we're talking about
> the same tree, I'll do as you suggested.
> 
> > > But it is quite pointless. Sometimes we need _RET_IP_, sometimes
> > > _THIS_IP_ and sometimes a parameter we've been passed. That's because we
> > > want the IP of the caller, so it depends on whether this slab function
> > > is __always_inline, non-inlined or deeply nested within other functions
> > > (which can be as well __always_inline or non-inlined).
> > > 
> > 
> > Hrm ? In the case we just want
> > 
> >   trace_kmalloc(_THIS_IP, ......);
> > 
> > If we have __always_inline for the trace_*() declaration, isn't it the
> > same to just do this in the probe ?
> > 
> > void probe_kmalloc(......)
> > {
> >   ... _RET_IP_ ...;
> > 
> > }
> > 
> > This would remove a parameter from the stack created from the
> > instrumentation site, which is always good.
> 
> No, it's not always possible. Not all allocator functions (not even
> those of the same kind, as in alloc/free) make up an __always_inline
> chain. For example, there is one or a few instances where we pass a
> value other than _RET_IP_ or _THIS_IP_ to probes. It's quite hard to
> untangle things without making extensive modifications.
> 

OK, so let's leave the caller ip parameter then.

Mathieu

> > Mathieu
> > 
> > > 
> > > 	Eduard
> > > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Mathieu Desnoyers
> > OpenPGP key fingerprint: 8CD5 52C3 8E3C 4140 715F  BA06 3F25 A8FE 3BAE 9A68

-- 
Mathieu Desnoyers
OpenPGP key fingerprint: 8CD5 52C3 8E3C 4140 715F  BA06 3F25 A8FE 3BAE 9A68