diff options
author | Li Zefan <lizf@cn.fujitsu.com> | 2009-04-09 11:40:27 +0800 |
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committer | Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu> | 2009-04-09 07:28:10 +0200 |
commit | 66bb74888eb4bef4ba7c87c931ecb7ecca3a240c (patch) | |
tree | 567e333523e16ba7285deac89efb645f72a97529 /Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt | |
parent | 9eb85125ce218a8b8d9a7c982510388e227adbec (diff) |
tracing: consolidate documents
Move kmemtrace.txt, tracepoints.txt, ftrace.txt and mmiotrace.txt to
the new trace/ directory.
I didnt find any references to those documents in both source
files and documents, so no extra work needs to be done.
Signed-off-by: Li Zefan <lizf@cn.fujitsu.com>
Acked-by: Pekka Paalanen <pq@iki.fi>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@gmail.com>
Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@polymtl.ca>
LKML-Reference: <49DD6E2B.6090200@cn.fujitsu.com>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt | 1828 |
1 files changed, 1828 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..fd9a3e69381 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1828 @@ + ftrace - Function Tracer + ======================== + +Copyright 2008 Red Hat Inc. + Author: Steven Rostedt <srostedt@redhat.com> + License: The GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 + (dual licensed under the GPL v2) +Reviewers: Elias Oltmanns, Randy Dunlap, Andrew Morton, + John Kacur, and David Teigland. + +Written for: 2.6.28-rc2 + +Introduction +------------ + +Ftrace is an internal tracer designed to help out developers and +designers of systems to find what is going on inside the kernel. +It can be used for debugging or analyzing latencies and +performance issues that take place outside of user-space. + +Although ftrace is the function tracer, it also includes an +infrastructure that allows for other types of tracing. Some of +the tracers that are currently in ftrace include a tracer to +trace context switches, the time it takes for a high priority +task to run after it was woken up, the time interrupts are +disabled, and more (ftrace allows for tracer plugins, which +means that the list of tracers can always grow). + + +The File System +--------------- + +Ftrace uses the debugfs file system to hold the control files as +well as the files to display output. + +To mount the debugfs system: + + # mkdir /debug + # mount -t debugfs nodev /debug + +( Note: it is more common to mount at /sys/kernel/debug, but for + simplicity this document will use /debug) + +That's it! (assuming that you have ftrace configured into your kernel) + +After mounting the debugfs, you can see a directory called +"tracing". This directory contains the control and output files +of ftrace. Here is a list of some of the key files: + + + Note: all time values are in microseconds. + + current_tracer: + + This is used to set or display the current tracer + that is configured. + + available_tracers: + + This holds the different types of tracers that + have been compiled into the kernel. The + tracers listed here can be configured by + echoing their name into current_tracer. + + tracing_enabled: + + This sets or displays whether the current_tracer + is activated and tracing or not. Echo 0 into this + file to disable the tracer or 1 to enable it. + + trace: + + This file holds the output of the trace in a human + readable format (described below). + + latency_trace: + + This file shows the same trace but the information + is organized more to display possible latencies + in the system (described below). + + trace_pipe: + + The output is the same as the "trace" file but this + file is meant to be streamed with live tracing. + Reads from this file will block until new data + is retrieved. Unlike the "trace" and "latency_trace" + files, this file is a consumer. This means reading + from this file causes sequential reads to display + more current data. Once data is read from this + file, it is consumed, and will not be read + again with a sequential read. The "trace" and + "latency_trace" files are static, and if the + tracer is not adding more data, they will display + the same information every time they are read. + + trace_options: + + This file lets the user control the amount of data + that is displayed in one of the above output + files. + + tracing_max_latency: + + Some of the tracers record the max latency. + For example, the time interrupts are disabled. + This time is saved in this file. The max trace + will also be stored, and displayed by either + "trace" or "latency_trace". A new max trace will + only be recorded if the latency is greater than + the value in this file. (in microseconds) + + buffer_size_kb: + + This sets or displays the number of kilobytes each CPU + buffer can hold. The tracer buffers are the same size + for each CPU. The displayed number is the size of the + CPU buffer and not total size of all buffers. The + trace buffers are allocated in pages (blocks of memory + that the kernel uses for allocation, usually 4 KB in size). + If the last page allocated has room for more bytes + than requested, the rest of the page will be used, + making the actual allocation bigger than requested. + ( Note, the size may not be a multiple of the page size + due to buffer managment overhead. ) + + This can only be updated when the current_tracer + is set to "nop". + + tracing_cpumask: + + This is a mask that lets the user only trace + on specified CPUS. The format is a hex string + representing the CPUS. + + set_ftrace_filter: + + When dynamic ftrace is configured in (see the + section below "dynamic ftrace"), the code is dynamically + modified (code text rewrite) to disable calling of the + function profiler (mcount). This lets tracing be configured + in with practically no overhead in performance. This also + has a side effect of enabling or disabling specific functions + to be traced. Echoing names of functions into this file + will limit the trace to only those functions. + + set_ftrace_notrace: + + This has an effect opposite to that of + set_ftrace_filter. Any function that is added here will not + be traced. If a function exists in both set_ftrace_filter + and set_ftrace_notrace, the function will _not_ be traced. + + set_ftrace_pid: + + Have the function tracer only trace a single thread. + + set_graph_function: + + Set a "trigger" function where tracing should start + with the function graph tracer (See the section + "dynamic ftrace" for more details). + + available_filter_functions: + + This lists the functions that ftrace + has processed and can trace. These are the function + names that you can pass to "set_ftrace_filter" or + "set_ftrace_notrace". (See the section "dynamic ftrace" + below for more details.) + + +The Tracers +----------- + +Here is the list of current tracers that may be configured. + + "function" + + Function call tracer to trace all kernel functions. + + "function_graph_tracer" + + Similar to the function tracer except that the + function tracer probes the functions on their entry + whereas the function graph tracer traces on both entry + and exit of the functions. It then provides the ability + to draw a graph of function calls similar to C code + source. + + "sched_switch" + + Traces the context switches and wakeups between tasks. + + "irqsoff" + + Traces the areas that disable interrupts and saves + the trace with the longest max latency. + See tracing_max_latency. When a new max is recorded, + it replaces the old trace. It is best to view this + trace via the latency_trace file. + + "preemptoff" + + Similar to irqsoff but traces and records the amount of + time for which preemption is disabled. + + "preemptirqsoff" + + Similar to irqsoff and preemptoff, but traces and + records the largest time for which irqs and/or preemption + is disabled. + + "wakeup" + + Traces and records the max latency that it takes for + the highest priority task to get scheduled after + it has been woken up. + + "hw-branch-tracer" + + Uses the BTS CPU feature on x86 CPUs to traces all + branches executed. + + "nop" + + This is the "trace nothing" tracer. To remove all + tracers from tracing simply echo "nop" into + current_tracer. + + +Examples of using the tracer +---------------------------- + +Here are typical examples of using the tracers when controlling +them only with the debugfs interface (without using any +user-land utilities). + +Output format: +-------------- + +Here is an example of the output format of the file "trace" + + -------- +# tracer: function +# +# TASK-PID CPU# TIMESTAMP FUNCTION +# | | | | | + bash-4251 [01] 10152.583854: path_put <-path_walk + bash-4251 [01] 10152.583855: dput <-path_put + bash-4251 [01] 10152.583855: _atomic_dec_and_lock <-dput + -------- + +A header is printed with the tracer name that is represented by +the trace. In this case the tracer is "function". Then a header +showing the format. Task name "bash", the task PID "4251", the +CPU that it was running on "01", the timestamp in <secs>.<usecs> +format, the function name that was traced "path_put" and the +parent function that called this function "path_walk". The +timestamp is the time at which the function was entered. + +The sched_switch tracer also includes tracing of task wakeups +and context switches. + + ksoftirqd/1-7 [01] 1453.070013: 7:115:R + 2916:115:S + ksoftirqd/1-7 [01] 1453.070013: 7:115:R + 10:115:S + ksoftirqd/1-7 [01] 1453.070013: 7:115:R ==> 10:115:R + events/1-10 [01] 1453.070013: 10:115:S ==> 2916:115:R + kondemand/1-2916 [01] 1453.070013: 2916:115:S ==> 7:115:R + ksoftirqd/1-7 [01] 1453.070013: 7:115:S ==> 0:140:R + +Wake ups are represented by a "+" and the context switches are +shown as "==>". The format is: + + Context switches: + + Previous task Next Task + + <pid>:<prio>:<state> ==> <pid>:<prio>:<state> + + Wake ups: + + Current task Task waking up + + <pid>:<prio>:<state> + <pid>:<prio>:<state> + +The prio is the internal kernel priority, which is the inverse +of the priority that is usually displayed by user-space tools. +Zero represents the highest priority (99). Prio 100 starts the +"nice" priorities with 100 being equal to nice -20 and 139 being +nice 19. The prio "140" is reserved for the idle task which is +the lowest priority thread (pid 0). + + +Latency trace format +-------------------- + +For traces that display latency times, the latency_trace file +gives somewhat more information to see why a latency happened. +Here is a typical trace. + +# tracer: irqsoff +# +irqsoff latency trace v1.1.5 on 2.6.26-rc8 +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + latency: 97 us, #3/3, CPU#0 | (M:preempt VP:0, KP:0, SP:0 HP:0 #P:2) + ----------------- + | task: swapper-0 (uid:0 nice:0 policy:0 rt_prio:0) + ----------------- + => started at: apic_timer_interrupt + => ended at: do_softirq + +# _------=> CPU# +# / _-----=> irqs-off +# | / _----=> need-resched +# || / _---=> hardirq/softirq +# ||| / _--=> preempt-depth +# |||| / +# ||||| delay +# cmd pid ||||| time | caller +# \ / ||||| \ | / + <idle>-0 0d..1 0us+: trace_hardirqs_off_thunk (apic_timer_interrupt) + <idle>-0 0d.s. 97us : __do_softirq (do_softirq) + <idle>-0 0d.s1 98us : trace_hardirqs_on (do_softirq) + + +This shows that the current tracer is "irqsoff" tracing the time +for which interrupts were disabled. It gives the trace version +and the version of the kernel upon which this was executed on +(2.6.26-rc8). Then it displays the max latency in microsecs (97 +us). The number of trace entries displayed and the total number +recorded (both are three: #3/3). The type of preemption that was +used (PREEMPT). VP, KP, SP, and HP are always zero and are +reserved for later use. #P is the number of online CPUS (#P:2). + +The task is the process that was running when the latency +occurred. (swapper pid: 0). + +The start and stop (the functions in which the interrupts were +disabled and enabled respectively) that caused the latencies: + + apic_timer_interrupt is where the interrupts were disabled. + do_softirq is where they were enabled again. + +The next lines after the header are the trace itself. The header +explains which is which. + + cmd: The name of the process in the trace. + + pid: The PID of that process. + + CPU#: The CPU which the process was running on. + + irqs-off: 'd' interrupts are disabled. '.' otherwise. + Note: If the architecture does not support a way to + read the irq flags variable, an 'X' will always + be printed here. + + need-resched: 'N' task need_resched is set, '.' otherwise. + + hardirq/softirq: + 'H' - hard irq occurred inside a softirq. + 'h' - hard irq is running + 's' - soft irq is running + '.' - normal context. + + preempt-depth: The level of preempt_disabled + +The above is mostly meaningful for kernel developers. + + time: This differs from the trace file output. The trace file output + includes an absolute timestamp. The timestamp used by the + latency_trace file is relative to the start of the trace. + + delay: This is just to help catch your eye a bit better. And + needs to be fixed to be only relative to the same CPU. + The marks are determined by the difference between this + current trace and the next trace. + '!' - greater than preempt_mark_thresh (default 100) + '+' - greater than 1 microsecond + ' ' - less than or equal to 1 microsecond. + + The rest is the same as the 'trace' file. + + +trace_options +------------- + +The trace_options file is used to control what gets printed in +the trace output. To see what is available, simply cat the file: + + cat /debug/tracing/trace_options + print-parent nosym-offset nosym-addr noverbose noraw nohex nobin \ + noblock nostacktrace nosched-tree nouserstacktrace nosym-userobj + +To disable one of the options, echo in the option prepended with +"no". + + echo noprint-parent > /debug/tracing/trace_options + +To enable an option, leave off the "no". + + echo sym-offset > /debug/tracing/trace_options + +Here are the available options: + + print-parent - On function traces, display the calling (parent) + function as well as the function being traced. + + print-parent: + bash-4000 [01] 1477.606694: simple_strtoul <-strict_strtoul + + noprint-parent: + bash-4000 [01] 1477.606694: simple_strtoul + + + sym-offset - Display not only the function name, but also the + offset in the function. For example, instead of + seeing just "ktime_get", you will see + "ktime_get+0xb/0x20". + + sym-offset: + bash-4000 [01] 1477.606694: simple_strtoul+0x6/0xa0 + + sym-addr - this will also display the function address as well + as the function name. + + sym-addr: + bash-4000 [01] 1477.606694: simple_strtoul <c0339346> + + verbose - This deals with the latency_trace file. + + bash 4000 1 0 00000000 00010a95 [58127d26] 1720.415ms \ + (+0.000ms): simple_strtoul (strict_strtoul) + + raw - This will display raw numbers. This option is best for + use with user applications that can translate the raw + numbers better than having it done in the kernel. + + hex - Similar to raw, but the numbers will be in a hexadecimal + format. + + bin - This will print out the formats in raw binary. + + block - TBD (needs update) + + stacktrace - This is one of the options that changes the trace + itself. When a trace is recorded, so is the stack + of functions. This allows for back traces of + trace sites. + + userstacktrace - This option changes the trace. It records a + stacktrace of the current userspace thread. + + sym-userobj - when user stacktrace are enabled, look up which + object the address belongs to, and print a + relative address. This is especially useful when + ASLR is on, otherwise you don't get a chance to + resolve the address to object/file/line after + the app is no longer running + + The lookup is performed when you read + trace,trace_pipe,latency_trace. Example: + + a.out-1623 [000] 40874.465068: /root/a.out[+0x480] <-/root/a.out[+0 +x494] <- /root/a.out[+0x4a8] <- /lib/libc-2.7.so[+0x1e1a6] + + sched-tree - trace all tasks that are on the runqueue, at + every scheduling event. Will add overhead if + there's a lot of tasks running at once. + + +sched_switch +------------ + +This tracer simply records schedule switches. Here is an example +of how to use it. + + # echo sched_switch > /debug/tracing/current_tracer + # echo 1 > /debug/tracing/tracing_enabled + # sleep 1 + # echo 0 > /debug/tracing/tracing_enabled + # cat /debug/tracing/trace + +# tracer: sched_switch +# +# TASK-PID CPU# TIMESTAMP FUNCTION +# | | | | | + bash-3997 [01] 240.132281: 3997:120:R + 4055:120:R + bash-3997 [01] 240.132284: 3997:120:R ==> 4055:120:R + sleep-4055 [01] 240.132371: 4055:120:S ==> 3997:120:R + bash-3997 [01] 240.132454: 3997:120:R + 4055:120:S + bash-3997 [01] 240.132457: 3997:120:R ==> 4055:120:R + sleep-4055 [01] 240.132460: 4055:120:D ==> 3997:120:R + bash-3997 [01] 240.132463: 3997:120:R + 4055:120:D + bash-3997 [01] 240.132465: 3997:120:R ==> 4055:120:R + <idle>-0 [00] 240.132589: 0:140:R + 4:115:S + <idle>-0 [00] 240.132591: 0:140:R ==> 4:115:R + ksoftirqd/0-4 [00] 240.132595: 4:115:S ==> 0:140:R + <idle>-0 [00] 240.132598: 0:140:R + 4:115:S + <idle>-0 [00] 240.132599: 0:140:R ==> 4:115:R + ksoftirqd/0-4 [00] 240.132603: 4:115:S ==> 0:140:R + sleep-4055 [01] 240.133058: 4055:120:S ==> 3997:120:R + [...] + + +As we have discussed previously about this format, the header +shows the name of the trace and points to the options. The +"FUNCTION" is a misnomer since here it represents the wake ups +and context switches. + +The sched_switch file only lists the wake ups (represented with +'+') and context switches ('==>') with the previous task or +current task first followed by the next task or task waking up. +The format for both of these is PID:KERNEL-PRIO:TASK-STATE. +Remember that the KERNEL-PRIO is the inverse of the actual +priority with zero (0) being the highest priority and the nice +values starting at 100 (nice -20). Below is a quick chart to map +the kernel priority to user land priorities. + + Kernel priority: 0 to 99 ==> user RT priority 99 to 0 + Kernel priority: 100 to 139 ==> user nice -20 to 19 + Kernel priority: 140 ==> idle task priority + +The task states are: + + R - running : wants to run, may not actually be running + S - sleep : process is waiting to be woken up (handles signals) + D - disk sleep (uninterruptible sleep) : process must be woken up + (ignores signals) + T - stopped : process suspended + t - traced : process is being traced (with something like gdb) + Z - zombie : process waiting to be cleaned up + X - unknown + + +ftrace_enabled +-------------- + +The following tracers (listed below) give different output +depending on whether or not the sysctl ftrace_enabled is set. To +set ftrace_enabled, one can either use the sysctl function or +set it via the proc file system interface. + + sysctl kernel.ftrace_enabled=1 + + or + + echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/ftrace_enabled + +To disable ftrace_enabled simply replace the '1' with '0' in the +above commands. + +When ftrace_enabled is set the tracers will also record the +functions that are within the trace. The descriptions of the +tracers will also show an example with ftrace enabled. + + +irqsoff +------- + +When interrupts are disabled, the CPU can not react to any other +external event (besides NMIs and SMIs). This prevents the timer +interrupt from triggering or the mouse interrupt from letting +the kernel know of a new mouse event. The result is a latency +with the reaction time. + +The irqsoff tracer tracks the time for which interrupts are +disabled. When a new maximum latency is hit, the tracer saves +the trace leading up to that latency point so that every time a +new maximum is reached, the old saved trace is discarded and the +new trace is saved. + +To reset the maximum, echo 0 into tracing_max_latency. Here is +an example: + + # echo irqsoff > /debug/tracing/current_tracer + # echo 0 > /debug/tracing/tracing_max_latency + # echo 1 > /debug/tracing/tracing_enabled + # ls -ltr + [...] + # echo 0 > /debug/tracing/tracing_enabled + # cat /debug/tracing/latency_trace +# tracer: irqsoff +# +irqsoff latency trace v1.1.5 on 2.6.26 +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + latency: 12 us, #3/3, CPU#1 | (M:preempt VP:0, KP:0, SP:0 HP:0 #P:2) + ----------------- + | task: bash-3730 (uid:0 nice:0 policy:0 rt_prio:0) + ----------------- + => started at: sys_setpgid + => ended at: sys_setpgid + +# _------=> CPU# +# / _-----=> irqs-off +# | / _----=> need-resched +# || / _---=> hardirq/softirq +# ||| / _--=> preempt-depth +# |||| / +# ||||| delay +# cmd pid ||||| time | caller +# \ / ||||| \ | / + bash-3730 1d... 0us : _write_lock_irq (sys_setpgid) + bash-3730 1d..1 1us+: _write_unlock_irq (sys_setpgid) + bash-3730 1d..2 14us : trace_hardirqs_on (sys_setpgid) + + +Here we see that that we had a latency of 12 microsecs (which is +very good). The _write_lock_irq in sys_setpgid disabled +interrupts. The difference between the 12 and the displayed +timestamp 14us occurred because the clock was incremented +between the time of recording the max latency and the time of +recording the function that had that latency. + +Note the above example had ftrace_enabled not set. If we set the +ftrace_enabled, we get a much larger output: + +# tracer: irqsoff +# +irqsoff latency trace v1.1.5 on 2.6.26-rc8 +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + latency: 50 us, #101/101, CPU#0 | (M:preempt VP:0, KP:0, SP:0 HP:0 #P:2) + ----------------- + | task: ls-4339 (uid:0 nice:0 policy:0 rt_prio:0) + ----------------- + => started at: __alloc_pages_internal + => ended at: __alloc_pages_internal + +# _------=> CPU# +# / _-----=> irqs-off +# | / _----=> need-resched +# || / _---=> hardirq/softirq +# ||| / _--=> preempt-depth +# |||| / +# ||||| delay +# cmd pid ||||| time | caller +# \ / ||||| \ | / + ls-4339 0...1 0us+: get_page_from_freelist (__alloc_pages_internal) + ls-4339 0d..1 3us : rmqueue_bulk (get_page_from_freelist) + ls-4339 0d..1 3us : _spin_lock (rmqueue_bulk) + ls-4339 0d..1 4us : add_preempt_count (_spin_lock) + ls-4339 0d..2 4us : __rmqueue (rmqueue_bulk) + ls-4339 0d..2 5us : __rmqueue_smallest (__rmqueue) + ls-4339 0d..2 5us : __mod_zone_page_state (__rmqueue_smallest) + ls-4339 0d..2 6us : __rmqueue (rmqueue_bulk) + ls-4339 0d..2 6us : __rmqueue_smallest (__rmqueue) + ls-4339 0d..2 7us : __mod_zone_page_state (__rmqueue_smallest) + ls-4339 0d..2 7us : __rmqueue (rmqueue_bulk) + ls-4339 0d..2 8us : __rmqueue_smallest (__rmqueue) +[...] + ls-4339 0d..2 46us : __rmqueue_smallest (__rmqueue) + ls-4339 0d..2 47us : __mod_zone_page_state (__rmqueue_smallest) + ls-4339 0d..2 47us : __rmqueue (rmqueue_bulk) + ls-4339 0d..2 48us : __rmqueue_smallest (__rmqueue) + ls-4339 0d..2 48us : __mod_zone_page_state (__rmqueue_smallest) + ls-4339 0d..2 49us : _spin_unlock (rmqueue_bulk) + ls-4339 0d..2 49us : sub_preempt_count (_spin_unlock) + ls-4339 0d..1 50us : get_page_from_freelist (__alloc_pages_internal) + ls-4339 0d..2 51us : trace_hardirqs_on (__alloc_pages_internal) + + + +Here we traced a 50 microsecond latency. But we also see all the +functions that were called during that time. Note that by +enabling function tracing, we incur an added overhead. This +overhead may extend the latency times. But nevertheless, this +trace has provided some very helpful debugging information. + + +preemptoff +---------- + +When preemption is disabled, we may be able to receive +interrupts but the task cannot be preempted and a higher +priority task must wait for preemption to be enabled again +before it can preempt a lower priority task. + +The preemptoff tracer traces the places that disable preemption. +Like the irqsoff tracer, it records the maximum latency for +which preemption was disabled. The control of preemptoff tracer +is much like the irqsoff tracer. + + # echo preemptoff > /debug/tracing/current_tracer + # echo 0 > /debug/tracing/tracing_max_latency + # echo 1 > /debug/tracing/tracing_enabled + # ls -ltr + [...] + # echo 0 > /debug/tracing/tracing_enabled + # cat /debug/tracing/latency_trace +# tracer: preemptoff +# +preemptoff latency trace v1.1.5 on 2.6.26-rc8 +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + latency: 29 us, #3/3, CPU#0 | (M:preempt VP:0, KP:0, SP:0 HP:0 #P:2) + ----------------- + | task: sshd-4261 (uid:0 nice:0 policy:0 rt_prio:0) + ----------------- + => started at: do_IRQ + => ended at: __do_softirq + +# _------=> CPU# +# / _-----=> irqs-off +# | / _----=> need-resched +# || / _---=> hardirq/softirq +# ||| / _--=> preempt-depth +# |||| / +# ||||| delay +# cmd pid ||||| time | caller +# \ / ||||| \ | / + sshd-4261 0d.h. 0us+: irq_enter (do_IRQ) + sshd-4261 0d.s. 29us : _local_bh_enable (__do_softirq) + sshd-4261 0d.s1 30us : trace_preempt_on (__do_softirq) + + +This has some more changes. Preemption was disabled when an +interrupt came in (notice the 'h'), and was enabled while doing +a softirq. (notice the 's'). But we also see that interrupts +have been disabled when entering the preempt off section and +leaving it (the 'd'). We do not know if interrupts were enabled +in the mean time. + +# tracer: preemptoff +# +preemptoff latency trace v1.1.5 on 2.6.26-rc8 +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + latency: 63 us, #87/87, CPU#0 | (M:preempt VP:0, KP:0, SP:0 HP:0 #P:2) + ----------------- + | task: sshd-4261 (uid:0 nice:0 policy:0 rt_prio:0) + ----------------- + => started at: remove_wait_queue + => ended at: __do_softirq + +# _------=> CPU# +# / _-----=> irqs-off +# | / _----=> need-resched +# || / _---=> hardirq/softirq +# ||| / _--=> preempt-depth +# |||| / +# ||||| delay +# cmd pid ||||| time | caller +# \ / ||||| \ | / + sshd-4261 0d..1 0us : _spin_lock_irqsave (remove_wait_queue) + sshd-4261 0d..1 1us : _spin_unlock_irqrestore (remove_wait_queue) + sshd-4261 0d..1 2us : do_IRQ (common_interrupt) + sshd-4261 0d..1 2us : irq_enter (do_IRQ) + sshd-4261 0d..1 2us : idle_cpu (irq_enter) + sshd-4261 0d..1 3us : add_preempt_count (irq_enter) + sshd-4261 0d.h1 3us : idle_cpu (irq_enter) + sshd-4261 0d.h. 4us : handle_fasteoi_irq (do_IRQ) +[...] + sshd-4261 0d.h. 12us : add_preempt_count (_spin_lock) + sshd-4261 0d.h1 12us : ack_ioapic_quirk_irq (handle_fasteoi_irq) + sshd-4261 0d.h1 13us : move_native_irq (ack_ioapic_quirk_irq) + sshd-4261 0d.h1 13us : _spin_unlock (handle_fasteoi_irq) + sshd-4261 0d.h1 14us : sub_preempt_count (_spin_unlock) + sshd-4261 0d.h1 14us : irq_exit (do_IRQ) + sshd-4261 0d.h1 15us : sub_preempt_count (irq_exit) + sshd-4261 0d..2 15us : do_softirq (irq_exit) + sshd-4261 0d... 15us : __do_softirq (do_softirq) + sshd-4261 0d... 16us : __local_bh_disable (__do_softirq) + sshd-4261 0d... 16us+: add_preempt_count (__local_bh_disable) + sshd-4261 0d.s4 20us : add_preempt_count (__local_bh_disable) + sshd-4261 0d.s4 21us : sub_preempt_count (local_bh_enable) + sshd-4261 0d.s5 21us : sub_preempt_count (local_bh_enable) +[...] + sshd-4261 0d.s6 41us : add_preempt_count (__local_bh_disable) + sshd-4261 0d.s6 42us : sub_preempt_count (local_bh_enable) + sshd-4261 0d.s7 42us : sub_preempt_count (local_bh_enable) + sshd-4261 0d.s5 43us : add_preempt_count (__local_bh_disable) + sshd-4261 0d.s5 43us : sub_preempt_count (local_bh_enable_ip) + sshd-4261 0d.s6 44us : sub_preempt_count (local_bh_enable_ip) + sshd-4261 0d.s5 44us : add_preempt_count (__local_bh_disable) + sshd-4261 0d.s5 45us : sub_preempt_count (local_bh_enable) +[...] + sshd-4261 0d.s. 63us : _local_bh_enable (__do_softirq) + sshd-4261 0d.s1 64us : trace_preempt_on (__do_softirq) + + +The above is an example of the preemptoff trace with +ftrace_enabled set. Here we see that interrupts were disabled +the entire time. The irq_enter code lets us know that we entered +an interrupt 'h'. Before that, the functions being traced still +show that it is not in an interrupt, but we can see from the +functions themselves that this is not the case. + +Notice that __do_softirq when called does not have a +preempt_count. It may seem that we missed a preempt enabling. +What really happened is that the preempt count is held on the +thread's stack and we switched to the softirq stack (4K stacks +in effect). The code does not copy the preempt count, but +because interrupts are disabled, we do not need to worry about +it. Having a tracer like this is good for letting people know +what really happens inside the kernel. + + +preemptirqsoff +-------------- + +Knowing the locations that have interrupts disabled or +preemption disabled for the longest times is helpful. But +sometimes we would like to know when either preemption and/or +interrupts are disabled. + +Consider the following code: + + local_irq_disable(); + call_function_with_irqs_off(); + preempt_disable(); + call_function_with_irqs_and_preemption_off(); + local_irq_enable(); + call_function_with_preemption_off(); + preempt_enable(); + +The irqsoff tracer will record the total length of +call_function_with_irqs_off() and +call_function_with_irqs_and_preemption_off(). + +The preemptoff tracer will record the total length of +call_function_with_irqs_and_preemption_off() and +call_function_with_preemption_off(). + +But neither will trace the time that interrupts and/or +preemption is disabled. This total time is the time that we can +not schedule. To record this time, use the preemptirqsoff +tracer. + +Again, using this trace is much like the irqsoff and preemptoff +tracers. + + # echo preemptirqsoff > /debug/tracing/current_tracer + # echo 0 > /debug/tracing/tracing_max_latency + # echo 1 > /debug/tracing/tracing_enabled + # ls -ltr + [...] + # echo 0 > /debug/tracing/tracing_enabled + # cat /debug/tracing/latency_trace +# tracer: preemptirqsoff +# +preemptirqsoff latency trace v1.1.5 on 2.6.26-rc8 +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + latency: 293 us, #3/3, CPU#0 | (M:preempt VP:0, KP:0, SP:0 HP:0 #P:2) + ----------------- + | task: ls-4860 (uid:0 nice:0 policy:0 rt_prio:0) + ----------------- + => started at: apic_timer_interrupt + => ended at: __do_softirq + +# _------=> CPU# +# / _-----=> irqs-off +# | / _----=> need-resched +# || / _---=> hardirq/softirq +# ||| / _--=> preempt-depth +# |||| / +# ||||| delay +# cmd pid ||||| time | caller +# \ / ||||| \ | / + ls-4860 0d... 0us!: trace_hardirqs_off_thunk (apic_timer_interrupt) + ls-4860 0d.s. 294us : _local_bh_enable (__do_softirq) + ls-4860 0d.s1 294us : trace_preempt_on (__do_softirq) + + + +The trace_hardirqs_off_thunk is called from assembly on x86 when +interrupts are disabled in the assembly code. Without the +function tracing, we do not know if interrupts were enabled +within the preemption points. We do see that it started with +preemption enabled. + +Here is a trace with ftrace_enabled set: + + +# tracer: preemptirqsoff +# +preemptirqsoff latency trace v1.1.5 on 2.6.26-rc8 +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + latency: 105 us, #183/183, CPU#0 | (M:preempt VP:0, KP:0, SP:0 HP:0 #P:2) + ----------------- + | task: sshd-4261 (uid:0 nice:0 policy:0 rt_prio:0) + ----------------- + => started at: write_chan + => ended at: __do_softirq + +# _------=> CPU# +# / _-----=> irqs-off +# | / _----=> need-resched +# || / _---=> hardirq/softirq +# ||| / _--=> preempt-depth +# |||| / +# ||||| delay +# cmd pid ||||| time | caller +# \ / ||||| \ | / + ls-4473 0.N.. 0us : preempt_schedule (write_chan) + ls-4473 0dN.1 1us : _spin_lock (schedule) + ls-4473 0dN.1 2us : add_preempt_count (_spin_lock) + ls-4473 0d..2 2us : put_prev_task_fair (schedule) +[...] + ls-4473 0d..2 13us : set_normalized_timespec (ktime_get_ts) + ls-4473 0d..2 13us : __switch_to (schedule) + sshd-4261 0d..2 14us : finish_task_switch (schedule) + sshd-4261 0d..2 14us : _spin_unlock_irq (finish_task_switch) + sshd-4261 0d..1 15us : add_preempt_count (_spin_lock_irqsave) + sshd-4261 0d..2 16us : _spin_unlock_irqrestore (hrtick_set) + sshd-4261 0d..2 16us : do_IRQ (common_interrupt) + sshd-4261 0d..2 17us : irq_enter (do_IRQ) + sshd-4261 0d..2 17us : idle_cpu (irq_enter) + sshd-4261 0d..2 18us : add_preempt_count (irq_enter) + sshd-4261 0d.h2 18us : idle_cpu (irq_enter) + sshd-4261 0d.h. 18us : handle_fasteoi_irq (do_IRQ) + sshd-4261 0d.h. 19us : _spin_lock (handle_fasteoi_irq) + sshd-4261 0d.h. 19us : add_preempt_count (_spin_lock) + sshd-4261 0d.h1 20us : _spin_unlock (handle_fasteoi_irq) + sshd-4261 0d.h1 20us : sub_preempt_count (_spin_unlock) +[...] + sshd-4261 0d.h1 28us : _spin_unlock (handle_fasteoi_irq) + sshd-4261 0d.h1 29us : sub_preempt_count (_spin_unlock) + sshd-4261 0d.h2 29us : irq_exit (do_IRQ) + sshd-4261 0d.h2 29us : sub_preempt_count (irq_exit) + sshd-4261 0d..3 30us : do_softirq (irq_exit) + sshd-4261 0d... 30us : __do_softirq (do_softirq) + sshd-4261 0d... 31us : __local_bh_disable (__do_softirq) + sshd-4261 0d... 31us+: add_preempt_count (__local_bh_disable) + sshd-4261 0d.s4 34us : add_preempt_count (__local_bh_disable) +[...] + sshd-4261 0d.s3 43us : sub_preempt_count (local_bh_enable_ip) + sshd-4261 0d.s4 44us : sub_preempt_count (local_bh_enable_ip) + sshd-4261 0d.s3 44us : smp_apic_timer_interrupt (apic_timer_interrupt) + sshd-4261 0d.s3 45us : irq_enter (smp_apic_timer_interrupt) + sshd-4261 0d.s3 45us : idle_cpu (irq_enter) + sshd-4261 0d.s3 46us : add_preempt_count (irq_enter) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 46us : idle_cpu (irq_enter) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 47us : hrtimer_interrupt (smp_apic_timer_interrupt) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 47us : ktime_get (hrtimer_interrupt) +[...] + sshd-4261 0d.H3 81us : tick_program_event (hrtimer_interrupt) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 82us : ktime_get (tick_program_event) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 82us : ktime_get_ts (ktime_get) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 83us : getnstimeofday (ktime_get_ts) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 83us : set_normalized_timespec (ktime_get_ts) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 84us : clockevents_program_event (tick_program_event) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 84us : lapic_next_event (clockevents_program_event) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 85us : irq_exit (smp_apic_timer_interrupt) + sshd-4261 0d.H3 85us : sub_preempt_count (irq_exit) + sshd-4261 0d.s4 86us : sub_preempt_count (irq_exit) + sshd-4261 0d.s3 86us : add_preempt_count (__local_bh_disable) +[...] + sshd-4261 0d.s1 98us : sub_preempt_count (net_rx_action) + sshd-4261 0d.s. 99us : add_preempt_count (_spin_lock_irq) + sshd-4261 0d.s1 99us+: _spin_unlock_irq (run_timer_softirq) + sshd-4261 0d.s. 104us : _local_bh_enable (__do_softirq) + sshd-4261 0d.s. 104us : sub_preempt_count (_local_bh_enable) + sshd-4261 0d.s. 105us : _local_bh_enable (__do_softirq) + sshd-4261 0d.s1 105us : trace_preempt_on (__do_softirq) + + +This is a very interesting trace. It started with the preemption +of the ls task. We see that the task had the "need_resched" bit +set via the 'N' in the trace. Interrupts were disabled before |