From e2ea5399bb4fb7aaafb08f846db453f4eec55160 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Markus Metzger Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:35:58 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] x86, ftrace, hw-branch-tracer: documentation Document the hw-branch-tracer in the ftrace documentation. Signed-off-by: Markus Metzger Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar --- Documentation/ftrace.txt | 74 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 74 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/ftrace.txt b/Documentation/ftrace.txt index 803b1318b13d..758fb42a1b68 100644 --- a/Documentation/ftrace.txt +++ b/Documentation/ftrace.txt @@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ Here is the list of current tracers that may be configured. nop - This is not a tracer. To remove all tracers from tracing simply echo "nop" into current_tracer. + hw-branch-tracer - traces branches on all cpu's in a circular buffer. + Examples of using the tracer ---------------------------- @@ -1152,6 +1154,78 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv) return 0; } + +hw-branch-tracer (x86 only) +--------------------------- + +This tracer uses the x86 last branch tracing hardware feature to +collect a branch trace on all cpus with relatively low overhead. + +The tracer uses a fixed-size circular buffer per cpu and only +traces ring 0 branches. The trace file dumps that buffer in the +following format: + +# tracer: hw-branch-tracer +# +# CPU# TO <- FROM + 0 scheduler_tick+0xb5/0x1bf <- task_tick_idle+0x5/0x6 + 2 run_posix_cpu_timers+0x2b/0x72a <- run_posix_cpu_timers+0x25/0x72a + 0 scheduler_tick+0x139/0x1bf <- scheduler_tick+0xed/0x1bf + 0 scheduler_tick+0x17c/0x1bf <- scheduler_tick+0x148/0x1bf + 2 run_posix_cpu_timers+0x9e/0x72a <- run_posix_cpu_timers+0x5e/0x72a + 0 scheduler_tick+0x1b6/0x1bf <- scheduler_tick+0x1aa/0x1bf + + +The tracer may be used to dump the trace for the oops'ing cpu on a +kernel oops into the system log. To enable this, ftrace_dump_on_oops +must be set. To set ftrace_dump_on_oops, one can either use the sysctl +function or set it via the proc system interface. + + sysctl kernel.ftrace_dump_on_oops=1 + +or + + echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/ftrace_dump_on_oops + + +Here's an example of such a dump after a null pointer dereference in a +kernel module: + +[57848.105921] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000000 +[57848.106019] IP: [] open+0x6/0x14 [oops] +[57848.106019] PGD 2354e9067 PUD 2375e7067 PMD 0 +[57848.106019] Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP +[57848.106019] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:20:05.0/local_cpus +[57848.106019] Dumping ftrace buffer: +[57848.106019] --------------------------------- +[...] +[57848.106019] 0 chrdev_open+0xe6/0x165 <- cdev_put+0x23/0x24 +[57848.106019] 0 chrdev_open+0x117/0x165 <- chrdev_open+0xfa/0x165 +[57848.106019] 0 chrdev_open+0x120/0x165 <- chrdev_open+0x11c/0x165 +[57848.106019] 0 chrdev_open+0x134/0x165 <- chrdev_open+0x12b/0x165 +[57848.106019] 0 open+0x0/0x14 [oops] <- chrdev_open+0x144/0x165 +[57848.106019] 0 page_fault+0x0/0x30 <- open+0x6/0x14 [oops] +[57848.106019] 0 error_entry+0x0/0x5b <- page_fault+0x4/0x30 +[57848.106019] 0 error_kernelspace+0x0/0x31 <- error_entry+0x59/0x5b +[57848.106019] 0 error_sti+0x0/0x1 <- error_kernelspace+0x2d/0x31 +[57848.106019] 0 page_fault+0x9/0x30 <- error_sti+0x0/0x1 +[57848.106019] 0 do_page_fault+0x0/0x881 <- page_fault+0x1a/0x30 +[...] +[57848.106019] 0 do_page_fault+0x66b/0x881 <- is_prefetch+0x1ee/0x1f2 +[57848.106019] 0 do_page_fault+0x6e0/0x881 <- do_page_fault+0x67a/0x881 +[57848.106019] 0 oops_begin+0x0/0x96 <- do_page_fault+0x6e0/0x881 +[57848.106019] 0 trace_hw_branch_oops+0x0/0x2d <- oops_begin+0x9/0x96 +[...] +[57848.106019] 0 ds_suspend_bts+0x2a/0xe3 <- ds_suspend_bts+0x1a/0xe3 +[57848.106019] --------------------------------- +[57848.106019] CPU 0 +[57848.106019] Modules linked in: oops +[57848.106019] Pid: 5542, comm: cat Tainted: G W 2.6.28 #23 +[57848.106019] RIP: 0010:[] [] open+0x6/0x14 [oops] +[57848.106019] RSP: 0018:ffff880235457d48 EFLAGS: 00010246 +[...] + + dynamic ftrace -------------- -- 2.20.1