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Documentation: tracing: Add documentation about eprobes
Eprobes was added back in 5.15, but was never documented. It became a "secret" interface even though it has been a topic of several presentations. For some reason, when eprobes was added, documenting it never became a priority, until now. Cc: Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@arm.com> Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com> Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@kernel.org> Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20250730140945.528135548@kernel.org Reviewed-by: Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org> Acked-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@kernel.org> Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (Google) <rostedt@goodmis.org>
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Steven Rostedt
Steven Rostedt (Google)
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0dd1274a05
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.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
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==================================
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Eprobe - Event-based Probe Tracing
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==================================
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:Author: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
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- Written for v6.17
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Overview
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========
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Eprobes are dynamic events that are placed on existing events to either
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dereference a field that is a pointer, or simply to limit what fields are
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recorded in the trace event.
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Eprobes depend on kprobe events so to enable this feature, build your kernel
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with CONFIG_EPROBE_EVENTS=y.
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Eprobes are created via the /sys/kernel/tracing/dynamic_events file.
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Synopsis of eprobe_events
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-------------------------
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::
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e[:[EGRP/][EEVENT]] GRP.EVENT [FETCHARGS] : Set a probe
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-:[EGRP/][EEVENT] : Clear a probe
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EGRP : Group name of the new event. If omitted, use "eprobes" for it.
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EEVENT : Event name. If omitted, the event name is generated and will
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be the same event name as the event it attached to.
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GRP : Group name of the event to attach to.
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EVENT : Event name of the event to attach to.
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FETCHARGS : Arguments. Each probe can have up to 128 args.
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$FIELD : Fetch the value of the event field called FIELD.
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@ADDR : Fetch memory at ADDR (ADDR should be in kernel)
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@SYM[+|-offs] : Fetch memory at SYM +|- offs (SYM should be a data symbol)
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$comm : Fetch current task comm.
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+|-[u]OFFS(FETCHARG) : Fetch memory at FETCHARG +|- OFFS address.(\*3)(\*4)
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\IMM : Store an immediate value to the argument.
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NAME=FETCHARG : Set NAME as the argument name of FETCHARG.
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FETCHARG:TYPE : Set TYPE as the type of FETCHARG. Currently, basic types
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(u8/u16/u32/u64/s8/s16/s32/s64), hexadecimal types
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(x8/x16/x32/x64), VFS layer common type(%pd/%pD), "char",
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"string", "ustring", "symbol", "symstr" and "bitfield" are
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supported.
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Types
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-----
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The FETCHARGS above is very similar to the kprobe events as described in
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Documentation/trace/kprobetrace.rst.
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The difference between eprobes and kprobes FETCHARGS is that eprobes has a
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$FIELD command that returns the content of the event field of the event
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that is attached. Eprobes do not have access to registers, stacks and function
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arguments that kprobes has.
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If a field argument is a pointer, it may be dereferenced just like a memory
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address using the FETCHARGS syntax.
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Attaching to dynamic events
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---------------------------
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Eprobes may attach to dynamic events as well as to normal events. It may
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attach to a kprobe event, a synthetic event or a fprobe event. This is useful
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if the type of a field needs to be changed. See Example 2 below.
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Usage examples
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==============
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Example 1
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---------
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The basic usage of eprobes is to limit the data that is being recorded into
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the tracing buffer. For example, a common event to trace is the sched_switch
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trace event. That has a format of::
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field:unsigned short common_type; offset:0; size:2; signed:0;
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field:unsigned char common_flags; offset:2; size:1; signed:0;
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field:unsigned char common_preempt_count; offset:3; size:1; signed:0;
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field:int common_pid; offset:4; size:4; signed:1;
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field:char prev_comm[16]; offset:8; size:16; signed:0;
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field:pid_t prev_pid; offset:24; size:4; signed:1;
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field:int prev_prio; offset:28; size:4; signed:1;
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field:long prev_state; offset:32; size:8; signed:1;
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field:char next_comm[16]; offset:40; size:16; signed:0;
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field:pid_t next_pid; offset:56; size:4; signed:1;
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field:int next_prio; offset:60; size:4; signed:1;
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The first four fields are common to all events and can not be limited. But the
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rest of the event has 60 bytes of information. It records the names of the
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previous and next tasks being scheduled out and in, as well as their pids and
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priorities. It also records the state of the previous task. If only the pids
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of the tasks are of interest, why waste the ring buffer with all the other
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fields?
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An eprobe can limit what gets recorded. Note, it does not help in performance,
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as all the fields are recorded in a temporary buffer to process the eprobe.
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::
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# echo 'e:sched/switch sched.sched_switch prev=$prev_pid:u32 next=$next_pid:u32' >> /sys/kernel/tracing/dynamic_events
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# echo 1 > /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/switch/enable
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# cat /sys/kernel/tracing/trace
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# tracer: nop
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#
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# entries-in-buffer/entries-written: 2721/2721 #P:8
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#
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# _-----=> irqs-off/BH-disabled
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# / _----=> need-resched
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# | / _---=> hardirq/softirq
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# || / _--=> preempt-depth
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# ||| / _-=> migrate-disable
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# |||| / delay
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# TASK-PID CPU# ||||| TIMESTAMP FUNCTION
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# | | | ||||| | |
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sshd-session-1082 [004] d..4. 5041.239906: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=1082 next=0
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bash-1085 [001] d..4. 5041.240198: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=1085 next=141
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kworker/u34:5-141 [001] d..4. 5041.240259: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=141 next=1085
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<idle>-0 [004] d..4. 5041.240354: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=0 next=1082
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bash-1085 [001] d..4. 5041.240385: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=1085 next=141
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kworker/u34:5-141 [001] d..4. 5041.240410: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=141 next=1085
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bash-1085 [001] d..4. 5041.240478: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=1085 next=0
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sshd-session-1082 [004] d..4. 5041.240526: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=1082 next=0
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<idle>-0 [001] d..4. 5041.247524: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=0 next=90
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<idle>-0 [002] d..4. 5041.247545: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=0 next=16
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kworker/1:1-90 [001] d..4. 5041.247580: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=90 next=0
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rcu_sched-16 [002] d..4. 5041.247591: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=16 next=0
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<idle>-0 [002] d..4. 5041.257536: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=0 next=16
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rcu_sched-16 [002] d..4. 5041.257573: switch: (sched.sched_switch) prev=16 next=0
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Note, without adding the "u32" after the prev_pid and next_pid, the values
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would default showing in hexadecimal.
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Example 2
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---------
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If a specific system call is to be recorded but the syscalls events are not
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enabled, the raw_syscalls can still be used (syscalls are system call
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events are not normal events, but are created from the raw_syscalls events
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within the kernel). In order to trace the openat system call, one can create
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an event probe on top of the raw_syscalls event:
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::
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# cd /sys/kernel/tracing
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# cat events/raw_syscalls/sys_enter/format
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name: sys_enter
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ID: 395
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format:
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field:unsigned short common_type; offset:0; size:2; signed:0;
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field:unsigned char common_flags; offset:2; size:1; signed:0;
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field:unsigned char common_preempt_count; offset:3; size:1; signed:0;
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field:int common_pid; offset:4; size:4; signed:1;
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field:long id; offset:8; size:8; signed:1;
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field:unsigned long args[6]; offset:16; size:48; signed:0;
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print fmt: "NR %ld (%lx, %lx, %lx, %lx, %lx, %lx)", REC->id, REC->args[0], REC->args[1], REC->args[2], REC->args[3], REC->args[4], REC->args[5]
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From the source code, the sys_openat() has:
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::
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int sys_openat(int dirfd, const char *path, int flags, mode_t mode)
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{
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return my_syscall4(__NR_openat, dirfd, path, flags, mode);
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}
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The path is the second parameter, and that is what is wanted.
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::
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# echo 'e:openat raw_syscalls.sys_enter nr=$id filename=+8($args):ustring' >> dynamic_events
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This is being run on x86_64 where the word size is 8 bytes and the openat
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system call __NR_openat is set at 257.
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::
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# echo 'nr == 257' > events/eprobes/openat/filter
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Now enable the event and look at the trace.
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::
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# echo 1 > events/eprobes/openat/enable
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# cat trace
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# tracer: nop
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#
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# entries-in-buffer/entries-written: 4/4 #P:8
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#
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# _-----=> irqs-off/BH-disabled
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# / _----=> need-resched
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# | / _---=> hardirq/softirq
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# || / _--=> preempt-depth
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# ||| / _-=> migrate-disable
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# |||| / delay
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# TASK-PID CPU# ||||| TIMESTAMP FUNCTION
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# | | | ||||| | |
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cat-1298 [003] ...2. 2060.875970: openat: (raw_syscalls.sys_enter) nr=0x101 filename=(fault)
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cat-1298 [003] ...2. 2060.876197: openat: (raw_syscalls.sys_enter) nr=0x101 filename=(fault)
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cat-1298 [003] ...2. 2060.879126: openat: (raw_syscalls.sys_enter) nr=0x101 filename=(fault)
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cat-1298 [003] ...2. 2060.879639: openat: (raw_syscalls.sys_enter) nr=0x101 filename=(fault)
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The filename shows "(fault)". This is likely because the filename has not been
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pulled into memory yet and currently trace events cannot fault in memory that
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is not present. When an eprobe tries to read memory that has not been faulted
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in yet, it will show the "(fault)" text.
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To get around this, as the kernel will likely pull in this filename and make
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it present, attaching it to a synthetic event that can pass the address of the
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filename from the entry of the event to the end of the event, this can be used
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to show the filename when the system call returns.
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Remove the old eprobe::
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# echo 1 > events/eprobes/openat/enable
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# echo '-:openat' >> dynamic_events
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This time make an eprobe where the address of the filename is saved::
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# echo 'e:openat_start raw_syscalls.sys_enter nr=$id filename=+8($args):x64' >> dynamic_events
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Create a synthetic event that passes the address of the filename to the
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end of the event::
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# echo 's:filename u64 file' >> dynamic_events
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# echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:f=filename if nr == 257' > events/eprobes/openat_start/trigger
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# echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:file=$f:onmatch(eprobes.openat_start).trace(filename,$file) if id == 257' > events/raw_syscalls/sys_exit/trigger
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Now that the address of the filename has been passed to the end of the
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system call, create another eprobe to attach to the exit event to show the
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string::
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# echo 'e:openat synthetic.filename filename=+0($file):ustring' >> dynamic_events
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# echo 1 > events/eprobes/openat/enable
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# cat trace
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# tracer: nop
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#
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# entries-in-buffer/entries-written: 4/4 #P:8
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#
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# _-----=> irqs-off/BH-disabled
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# / _----=> need-resched
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# | / _---=> hardirq/softirq
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# || / _--=> preempt-depth
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# ||| / _-=> migrate-disable
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# |||| / delay
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# TASK-PID CPU# ||||| TIMESTAMP FUNCTION
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# | | | ||||| | |
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cat-1331 [001] ...5. 2944.787977: openat: (synthetic.filename) filename="/etc/ld.so.cache"
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cat-1331 [001] ...5. 2944.788480: openat: (synthetic.filename) filename="/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6"
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cat-1331 [001] ...5. 2944.793426: openat: (synthetic.filename) filename="/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive"
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cat-1331 [001] ...5. 2944.831362: openat: (synthetic.filename) filename="trace"
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Example 3
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---------
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If syscall trace events are available, the above would not need the first
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eprobe, but it would still need the last one::
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# echo 's:filename u64 file' >> dynamic_events
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# echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:f=filename' > events/syscalls/sys_enter_openat/trigger
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# echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:file=$f:onmatch(syscalls.sys_enter_openat).trace(filename,$file)' > events/syscalls/sys_exit_openat/trigger
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# echo 'e:openat synthetic.filename filename=+0($file):ustring' >> dynamic_events
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# echo 1 > events/eprobes/openat/enable
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And this would produce the same result as Example 2.
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@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ the Linux kernel.
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kprobes
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kprobetrace
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fprobetrace
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eprobetrace
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fprobe
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ring-buffer-design
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