diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/trace')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/trace/ftrace-design.txt | 153 |
1 files changed, 148 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/ftrace-design.txt b/Documentation/trace/ftrace-design.txt index f1f81afee8a..dc52bd442c9 100644 --- a/Documentation/trace/ftrace-design.txt +++ b/Documentation/trace/ftrace-design.txt @@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ Note that this focuses on architecture implementation details only. If you want more explanation of a feature in terms of common code, review the common ftrace.txt file. +Ideally, everyone who wishes to retain performance while supporting tracing in +their kernel should make it all the way to dynamic ftrace support. + Prerequisites ------------- @@ -215,7 +218,7 @@ An arch may pass in a unique value (frame pointer) to both the entering and exiting of a function. On exit, the value is compared and if it does not match, then it will panic the kernel. This is largely a sanity check for bad code generation with gcc. If gcc for your port sanely updates the frame -pointer under different opitmization levels, then ignore this option. +pointer under different optimization levels, then ignore this option. However, adding support for it isn't terribly difficult. In your assembly code that calls prepare_ftrace_return(), pass the frame pointer as the 3rd argument. @@ -234,7 +237,7 @@ If you can't trace NMI functions, then skip this option. HAVE_SYSCALL_TRACEPOINTS ---------------------- +------------------------ You need very few things to get the syscalls tracing in an arch. @@ -250,12 +253,152 @@ You need very few things to get the syscalls tracing in an arch. HAVE_FTRACE_MCOUNT_RECORD ------------------------- -See scripts/recordmcount.pl for more info. +See scripts/recordmcount.pl for more info. Just fill in the arch-specific +details for how to locate the addresses of mcount call sites via objdump. +This option doesn't make much sense without also implementing dynamic ftrace. + +HAVE_DYNAMIC_FTRACE +------------------- + +You will first need HAVE_FTRACE_MCOUNT_RECORD and HAVE_FUNCTION_TRACER, so +scroll your reader back up if you got over eager. + +Once those are out of the way, you will need to implement: + - asm/ftrace.h: + - MCOUNT_ADDR + - ftrace_call_adjust() + - struct dyn_arch_ftrace{} + - asm code: + - mcount() (new stub) + - ftrace_caller() + - ftrace_call() + - ftrace_stub() + - C code: + - ftrace_dyn_arch_init() + - ftrace_make_nop() + - ftrace_make_call() + - ftrace_update_ftrace_func() + +First you will need to fill out some arch details in your asm/ftrace.h. + +Define MCOUNT_ADDR as the address of your mcount symbol similar to: + #define MCOUNT_ADDR ((unsigned long)mcount) +Since no one else will have a decl for that function, you will need to: + extern void mcount(void); + +You will also need the helper function ftrace_call_adjust(). Most people +will be able to stub it out like so: + static inline unsigned long ftrace_call_adjust(unsigned long addr) + { + return addr; + } <details to be filled> +Lastly you will need the custom dyn_arch_ftrace structure. If you need +some extra state when runtime patching arbitrary call sites, this is the +place. For now though, create an empty struct: + struct dyn_arch_ftrace { + /* No extra data needed */ + }; + +With the header out of the way, we can fill out the assembly code. While we +did already create a mcount() function earlier, dynamic ftrace only wants a +stub function. This is because the mcount() will only be used during boot +and then all references to it will be patched out never to return. Instead, +the guts of the old mcount() will be used to create a new ftrace_caller() +function. Because the two are hard to merge, it will most likely be a lot +easier to have two separate definitions split up by #ifdefs. Same goes for +the ftrace_stub() as that will now be inlined in ftrace_caller(). + +Before we get confused anymore, let's check out some pseudo code so you can +implement your own stuff in assembly: -HAVE_DYNAMIC_FTRACE ---------------------- +void mcount(void) +{ + return; +} + +void ftrace_caller(void) +{ + /* implement HAVE_FUNCTION_TRACE_MCOUNT_TEST if you desire */ + + /* save all state needed by the ABI (see paragraph above) */ + + unsigned long frompc = ...; + unsigned long selfpc = <return address> - MCOUNT_INSN_SIZE; + +ftrace_call: + ftrace_stub(frompc, selfpc); + + /* restore all state needed by the ABI */ + +ftrace_stub: + return; +} + +This might look a little odd at first, but keep in mind that we will be runtime +patching multiple things. First, only functions that we actually want to trace +will be patched to call ftrace_caller(). Second, since we only have one tracer +active at a time, we will patch the ftrace_caller() function itself to call the +specific tracer in question. That is the point of the ftrace_call label. + +With that in mind, let's move on to the C code that will actually be doing the +runtime patching. You'll need a little knowledge of your arch's opcodes in +order to make it through the next section. + +Every arch has an init callback function. If you need to do something early on +to initialize some state, this is the time to do that. Otherwise, this simple +function below should be sufficient for most people: + +int __init ftrace_dyn_arch_init(void *data) +{ + /* return value is done indirectly via data */ + *(unsigned long *)data = 0; + + return 0; +} + +There are two functions that are used to do runtime patching of arbitrary +functions. The first is used to turn the mcount call site into a nop (which +is what helps us retain runtime performance when not tracing). The second is +used to turn the mcount call site into a call to an arbitrary location (but +typically that is ftracer_caller()). See the general function definition in +linux/ftrace.h for the functions: + ftrace_make_nop() + ftrace_make_call() +The rec->ip value is the address of the mcount call site that was collected +by the scripts/recordmcount.pl during build time. + +The last function is used to do runtime patching of the active tracer. This +will be modifying the assembly code at the location of the ftrace_call symbol +inside of the ftrace_caller() function. So you should have sufficient padding +at that location to support the new function calls you'll be inserting. Some +people will be using a "call" type instruction while others will be using a +"branch" type instruction. Specifically, the function is: + ftrace_update_ftrace_func() + + +HAVE_DYNAMIC_FTRACE + HAVE_FUNCTION_GRAPH_TRACER +------------------------------------------------ + +The function grapher needs a few tweaks in order to work with dynamic ftrace. +Basically, you will need to: + - update: + - ftrace_caller() + - ftrace_graph_call() + - ftrace_graph_caller() + - implement: + - ftrace_enable_ftrace_graph_caller() + - ftrace_disable_ftrace_graph_caller() <details to be filled> +Quick notes: + - add a nop stub after the ftrace_call location named ftrace_graph_call; + stub needs to be large enough to support a call to ftrace_graph_caller() + - update ftrace_graph_caller() to work with being called by the new + ftrace_caller() since some semantics may have changed + - ftrace_enable_ftrace_graph_caller() will runtime patch the + ftrace_graph_call location with a call to ftrace_graph_caller() + - ftrace_disable_ftrace_graph_caller() will runtime patch the + ftrace_graph_call location with nops |