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* [RFC 0/4] tracing,x86_64 - function/graph trace without mcount/-pg/framepointer
@ 2011-02-03 15:42 Jiri Olsa
  2011-02-03 15:42 ` [PATCH 1/4] kprobe - ktrace instruction slot cache interface Jiri Olsa
                   ` (5 more replies)
  0 siblings, 6 replies; 11+ messages in thread
From: Jiri Olsa @ 2011-02-03 15:42 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: mingo, rostedt, fweisbec; +Cc: linux-kernel, masami.hiramatsu.pt

hi,

I recently saw the direct jump probing made for kprobes
and tried to use it inside the trace framework.

The global idea is patching the function entry with direct
jump to the trace code, instead of using pregenerated gcc
profile code.

I started this just to see if it would be even possible
to hook with new probing to the current trace code. It
appears it's not that bad. I was able to run function
and function_graph trace on x86_64.

For details on direct jumps probe, please check:
http://www.linuxinsight.com/ols2007-djprobe-kernel-probing-with-the-smallest-overhead.html


I realize using this way to hook the functions has some
drawbacks, from what I can see it's roughly:
- no all functions could be patched
- need to find a way to say which function is safe to patch
- memory consumption for detour buffers and symbol records

but seems there're some advantages as well:
- trace code could be in a module
- no profiling code is needed
- framepointer can be disabled (framepointer is needed for
  generating profile code)


As for the attached implementation it's hack mostly (expect bugs),
especially the ftrace/kprobe integration could be probably done better.
It's only for x86_64.

It can be used like this:

- new menu config item is added (function tracer engine),
  to choose mcount or ktrace
- new file "ktrace" is added to the tracing dir
- to add symbols to trace run:
	echo mutex_unlock > ./ktrace
	echo mutex_lock >> ./ktrace
- to display trace symbols:
	cat ktrace
- to enable the trace, the usual is needed:
	echo function > ./current_tracer
	echo function_graph > ./current_tracer
- to remove symbols from trace:
	echo nop > ./current_tracer 
	echo > ./ktrace 
- if the function is added while the tracer is running,
  the symbol is enabled automatically.
- only all symbols could be removed and only if there's
  no tracer running.

I'm not sure how to choose from kallsyms interface what function
is safe to patch, so I omit patching of all symbols so far.


attached patches:
 1/4 - kprobe - ktrace instruction slot cache interface
     using kprobe detour buffer allocation, adding interface
     to use it from trace framework

 2/4 - tracing - adding size parameter to do_ftrace_mod_code
     adding size parameter to be able to restore the saved
     instructions, which could be longer than relative call

 3/4 - ktrace - function trace support
     adding ktrace support with function tracer

 4/4 - ktrace - function trace support
     adding function graph support


please let me know what you think, thanks
jirka
---
 Makefile                   |    2 +-
 arch/x86/Kconfig           |    4 +-
 arch/x86/kernel/Makefile   |    1 +
 arch/x86/kernel/entry_64.S |   50 +++++++
 arch/x86/kernel/ftrace.c   |  157 +++++++++++----------
 arch/x86/kernel/ktrace.c   |  256 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 include/linux/ftrace.h     |   36 +++++-
 include/linux/kprobes.h    |    8 +
 kernel/kprobes.c           |   33 +++++
 kernel/trace/Kconfig       |   28 ++++-
 kernel/trace/Makefile      |    1 +
 kernel/trace/ftrace.c      |   21 +++
 kernel/trace/ktrace.c      |  330 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 kernel/trace/trace.c       |    1 +
 14 files changed, 846 insertions(+), 82 deletions(-)

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: [RFC 0/4] tracing,x86_64 - function/graph trace without mcount/-pg/framepointer
@ 2011-02-07 21:22 Josh Triplett
  2011-02-07 21:32 ` Steven Rostedt
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread
From: Josh Triplett @ 2011-02-07 21:22 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Steven Rostedt; +Cc: linux-kernel

On Fri, Jun 23, 2000 at 10:56:55AM +0000, Steven Rostedt wrote:
> On Thu, 2011-02-03 at 16:42 +0100, Jiri Olsa wrote:
> > hi,
> > 
> > I recently saw the direct jump probing made for kprobes
> > and tried to use it inside the trace framework.
> > 
> > The global idea is patching the function entry with direct
> > jump to the trace code, instead of using pregenerated gcc
> > profile code.
> 
> Interesting, but ideally, it would be nice if gcc provided a better
> "mcount" mechanism. One that calls mcount (or whatever new name it would
> have) before it does anything with the stack.

GCC 4.6 may help here.  According to
http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-4.6/changes.html:

"Support for emitting profiler counter calls before function prologues.
This is enabled via a new command-line option -mfentry."

Looks like that option might only support x86 (32-bit and 64-bit) at the
moment, but it still seems like an improvement over the current
mechanism to work around GCC's placement of mcount.

- Josh Triplett

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2011-02-07 21:32 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 11+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2011-02-03 15:42 [RFC 0/4] tracing,x86_64 - function/graph trace without mcount/-pg/framepointer Jiri Olsa
2011-02-03 15:42 ` [PATCH 1/4] kprobe - ktrace instruction slot cache interface Jiri Olsa
2011-02-03 15:42 ` [PATCH 2/4] tracing - adding size parameter to do_ftrace_mod_code Jiri Olsa
2011-02-03 15:42 ` [PATCH 3/4] ktrace - function trace support Jiri Olsa
2011-02-03 15:42 ` [PATCH 4/4] ktrace - function graph " Jiri Olsa
2011-02-03 16:33 ` [RFC 0/4] tracing,x86_64 - function/graph trace without mcount/-pg/framepointer Steven Rostedt
2011-02-03 17:35   ` Frederic Weisbecker
2011-02-03 19:00     ` Steven Rostedt
2011-02-04  6:03 ` Masami Hiramatsu
2011-02-07 21:22 Josh Triplett
2011-02-07 21:32 ` Steven Rostedt

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