Hello Steven,
I bet that is not the first time said question is asked - that's for
sure - but I failed to find a method for solving the issue, that is: not
missing a single trace from the moment given module is loaded. Maybe I'm
missing something or documentation wasn't clear enough and that's why
I'm here.
If I am, please point to towards the right direction. Then you can slap
me for not reading the documentation carefully.
"trace_event=" cmdline option seems to target built-in tracepoints
_only_ so ain't much of a help to me. After digging the past for some
time, I've found a very promising thread:
tracing: Enable tracepoints via module parameters
https://lore.kernel.org/patchwork/patch/240185/
Sadly, I wasn't able to find _that_ solution (or anything similar for
that matter) implemented into the kernel.
So far, the only option I came with was separating traces into a
built-in piece that declares all events upfront so "trace_event=" option
has something to hook into. Said piece is of course made of a standard
trace header file filled with macro usage and a .c file with handful of
EXPORT_TRACEPOINT_SYMBOL(s).
While that solution could suffice, localization is the problem here - if
a tree my module is built in is configured via -m, the built-in piece
won't expose symbols at all and 'make' will leave me with bunch of
"ERROR: <symbol> undefined" for every module my traces were used in. To
fix the problem, I've relocated my trace .c file to /kernel/trace/.
Finally it compiles and works as intended..
Not really satisfying, though. While there are some examples of
subsystems keeping their trace .c in /kernel/trace (e.g.:
power-traces.c), I don't believe that place is open for _every single
driver_ to dump their trace sources into.
If indeed traces cannot be enabled on module load, then this is a gap.
While not everyone looked satisfied in the 9year old thread, I believe
having the gap closed is important - and userspace can always be
improved upon as time passes.
Thank you in advance for your input and time.
Czarek
On Fri, 28 Feb 2020 20:16:54 +0100
Cezary Rojewski <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello Steven,
>
> I bet that is not the first time said question is asked - that's for
> sure - but I failed to find a method for solving the issue, that is: not
> missing a single trace from the moment given module is loaded. Maybe I'm
> missing something or documentation wasn't clear enough and that's why
> I'm here.
>
> If I am, please point to towards the right direction. Then you can slap
> me for not reading the documentation carefully.
>
> "trace_event=" cmdline option seems to target built-in tracepoints
> _only_ so ain't much of a help to me. After digging the past for some
> time, I've found a very promising thread:
> tracing: Enable tracepoints via module parameters
> https://lore.kernel.org/patchwork/patch/240185/
I find this email extremely amusing. Just the day before (Thursday), I
was trying to clean out my INBOX (it had emails back from 2008!) and I
came across this very thread, and said to myself. "Hmm, I wonder if I
should push this again?". What a coincidence that the next day, someone
would email me about that thread after 9 years!
>
> Sadly, I wasn't able to find _that_ solution (or anything similar for
> that matter) implemented into the kernel.
That's because it was dropped and forgotten about :-( I left it in my
INBOX to remind myself to bring it back, but that didn't work out as
well as I expected, as my INBOX turned into more of a graveyard than a
TODO list.
>
> So far, the only option I came with was separating traces into a
> built-in piece that declares all events upfront so "trace_event=" option
> has something to hook into. Said piece is of course made of a standard
> trace header file filled with macro usage and a .c file with handful of
> EXPORT_TRACEPOINT_SYMBOL(s).
>
> While that solution could suffice, localization is the problem here - if
> a tree my module is built in is configured via -m, the built-in piece
I'm unfamiliar with "-m", what does that do?
> won't expose symbols at all and 'make' will leave me with bunch of
> "ERROR: <symbol> undefined" for every module my traces were used in. To
> fix the problem, I've relocated my trace .c file to /kernel/trace/.
> Finally it compiles and works as intended..
Well, obviously (as you state below), that's not an answer.
>
> Not really satisfying, though. While there are some examples of
> subsystems keeping their trace .c in /kernel/trace (e.g.:
> power-traces.c), I don't believe that place is open for _every single
> driver_ to dump their trace sources into.
>
> If indeed traces cannot be enabled on module load, then this is a gap.
> While not everyone looked satisfied in the 9year old thread, I believe
> having the gap closed is important - and userspace can always be
> improved upon as time passes.
>
>
> Thank you in advance for your input and time.
I think your email confirmed to me that I need to push this thread
again.
Thanks for reaching out!
-- Steve