[for-next][PATCH 08/10] tracing: Add documentation for trace event triggers

Steven Rostedt
2013-12-23T21:39:24Z

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From: Tom Zanussi <tom.zanussi@linux.intel.com>

Provide a basic overview of trace event triggers and document the
available trigger commands, along with a few simple examples.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/2595dd9196d7b553049611f2a3f849ca75d650a2.1382622043.git.tom.zanussi@linux.intel.com

Signed-off-by: Tom Zanussi <tom.zanussi@linux.intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
---
Documentation/trace/events.txt | 207 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 207 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/trace/events.txt b/Documentation/trace/events.txt
index 37732a2..c94435d 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/events.txt
+++ b/Documentation/trace/events.txt
@@ -287,3 +287,210 @@ their old filters):
prev_pid == 0
# cat sched_wakeup/filter
common_pid == 0
+
+6. Event triggers
+=================
+
+Trace events can be made to conditionally invoke trigger 'commands'
+which can take various forms and are described in detail below;
+examples would be enabling or disabling other trace events or invoking
+a stack trace whenever the trace event is hit. Whenever a trace event
+with attached triggers is invoked, the set of trigger commands
+associated with that event is invoked. Any given trigger can
+additionally have an event filter of the same form as described in
+section 5 (Event filtering) associated with it - the command will only
+be invoked if the event being invoked passes the associated filter.
+If no filter is associated with the trigger, it always passes.
+
+Triggers are added to and removed from a particular event by writing
+trigger expressions to the 'trigger' file for the given event.
+
+A given event can have any number of triggers associated with it,
+subject to any restrictions that individual commands may have in that
+regard.
+
+Event triggers are implemented on top of "soft" mode, which means that
+whenever a trace event has one or more triggers associated with it,
+the event is activated even if it isn't actually enabled, but is
+disabled in a "soft" mode. That is, the tracepoint will be called,
+but just will not be traced, unless of course it's actually enabled.
+This scheme allows triggers to be invoked even for events that aren't
+enabled, and also allows the current event filter implementation to be
+used for conditionally invoking triggers.
+
+The syntax for event triggers is roughly based on the syntax for
+set_ftrace_filter 'ftrace filter commands' (see the 'Filter commands'
+section of Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt), but there are major
+differences and the implementation isn't currently tied to it in any
+way, so beware about making generalizations between the two.
+
+6.1 Expression syntax
+---------------------
+
+Triggers are added by echoing the command to the 'trigger' file:
+
+ # echo 'command[:count] [if filter]' > trigger
+
+Triggers are removed by echoing the same command but starting with '!'
+to the 'trigger' file:
+
+ # echo '!command[:count] [if filter]' > trigger
+
+The [if filter] part isn't used in matching commands when removing, so
+leaving that off in a '!' command will accomplish the same thing as
+having it in.
+
+The filter syntax is the same as that described in the 'Event
+filtering' section above.
+
+For ease of use, writing to the trigger file using '>' currently just
+adds or removes a single trigger and there's no explicit '>>' support
+('>' actually behaves like '>>') or truncation support to remove all
+triggers (you have to use '!' for each one added.)
+
+6.2 Supported trigger commands
+------------------------------
+
+The following commands are supported:
+
+- enable_event/disable_event
+
+ These commands can enable or disable another trace event whenever
+ the triggering event is hit. When these commands are registered,
+ the other trace event is activated, but disabled in a "soft" mode.
+ That is, the tracepoint will be called, but just will not be traced.
+ The event tracepoint stays in this mode as long as there's a trigger
+ in effect that can trigger it.
+
+ For example, the following trigger causes kmalloc events to be
+ traced when a read system call is entered, and the :1 at the end
+ specifies that this enablement happens only once:
+
+ # echo 'enable_event:kmem:kmalloc:1' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/syscalls/sys_enter_read/trigger
+
+ The following trigger causes kmalloc events to stop being traced
+ when a read system call exits. This disablement happens on every
+ read system call exit:
+
+ # echo 'disable_event:kmem:kmalloc' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/syscalls/sys_exit_read/trigger
+
+ The format is:
+
+ enable_event:<system>:<event>[:count]
+ disable_event:<system>:<event>[:count]
+
+ To remove the above commands:
+
+ # echo '!enable_event:kmem:kmalloc:1' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/syscalls/sys_enter_read/trigger
+
+ # echo '!disable_event:kmem:kmalloc' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/syscalls/sys_exit_read/trigger
+
+ Note that there can be any number of enable/disable_event triggers
+ per triggering event, but there can only be one trigger per
+ triggered event. e.g. sys_enter_read can have triggers enabling both
+ kmem:kmalloc and sched:sched_switch, but can't have two kmem:kmalloc
+ versions such as kmem:kmalloc and kmem:kmalloc:1 or 'kmem:kmalloc if
+ bytes_req == 256' and 'kmem:kmalloc if bytes_alloc == 256' (they
+ could be combined into a single filter on kmem:kmalloc though).
+
+- stacktrace
+
+ This command dumps a stacktrace in the trace buffer whenever the
+ triggering event occurs.
+
+ For example, the following trigger dumps a stacktrace every time the
+ kmalloc tracepoint is hit:
+
+ # echo 'stacktrace' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
+
+ The following trigger dumps a stacktrace the first 5 times a kmalloc
+ request happens with a size >= 64K
+
+ # echo 'stacktrace:5 if bytes_req >= 65536' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
+
+ The format is:
+
+ stacktrace[:count]
+
+ To remove the above commands:
+
+ # echo '!stacktrace' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
+
+ # echo '!stacktrace:5 if bytes_req >= 65536' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
+
+ The latter can also be removed more simply by the following (without
+ the filter):
+
+ # echo '!stacktrace:5' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
+
+ Note that there can be only one stacktrace trigger per triggering
+ event.
+
+- snapshot
+
+ This command causes a snapshot to be triggered whenever the
+ triggering event occurs.
+
+ The following command creates a snapshot every time a block request
+ queue is unplugged with a depth > 1. If you were tracing a set of
+ events or functions at the time, the snapshot trace buffer would
+ capture those events when the trigger event occured:
+
+ # echo 'snapshot if nr_rq > 1' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/block/block_unplug/trigger
+
+ To only snapshot once:
+
+ # echo 'snapshot:1 if nr_rq > 1' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/block/block_unplug/trigger
+
+ To remove the above commands:
+
+ # echo '!snapshot if nr_rq > 1' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/block/block_unplug/trigger
+
+ # echo '!snapshot:1 if nr_rq > 1' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/block/block_unplug/trigger
+
+ Note that there can be only one snapshot trigger per triggering
+ event.
+
+- traceon/traceoff
+
+ These commands turn tracing on and off when the specified events are
+ hit. The parameter determines how many times the tracing system is
+ turned on and off. If unspecified, there is no limit.
+
+ The following command turns tracing off the first time a block
+ request queue is unplugged with a depth > 1. If you were tracing a
+ set of events or functions at the time, you could then examine the
+ trace buffer to see the sequence of events that led up to the
+ trigger event:
+
+ # echo 'traceoff:1 if nr_rq > 1' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/block/block_unplug/trigger
+
+ To always disable tracing when nr_rq > 1 :
+
+ # echo 'traceoff if nr_rq > 1' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/block/block_unplug/trigger
+
+ To remove the above commands:
+
+ # echo '!traceoff:1 if nr_rq > 1' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/block/block_unplug/trigger
+
+ # echo '!traceoff if nr_rq > 1' > \
+ /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/block/block_unplug/trigger
+
+ Note that there can be only one traceon or traceoff trigger per
+ triggering event.
--
1.8.4.3