xref: /freebsd/share/man/man9/stack.9 (revision db612abe8df3355d1eb23bb3b50fdd97bc21e979)
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30.Dd February 27, 2007
31.Dt STACK 9
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm stack
35.Nd kernel thread stack tracing routines
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37.In sys/param.h>
38.In sys/stack.h
39In the kernel configuration file:
40.Cd "options DDB"
41.Cd "options STACK"
42.Ft struct stack *
43.Fn stack_create "void"
44.Ft void
45.Fn stack_destroy "struct stack *st"
46.Ft int
47.Fn stack_put "struct stack *st" "vm_offset_t pc"
48.Ft void
49.Fn stack_copy "struct stack *src" "struct stack dst"
50.Ft void
51.Fn stack_zero "struct stack *st"
52.Ft void
53.Fn stack_print "struct stack *st"
54.Ft void
55.Fn stack_print_ddb "struct stack *st"
56.Ft void
57.Fn stack_sbuf_print "struct sbuf sb*" "struct stack *st"
58.Ft void
59.Fn stack_sbuf_print_ddb "struct sbuf sb*" "struct stack *st"
60.Ft void
61.Fn stack_save "struct stack *st"
62.Sh DESCRIPTION
63The
64.Nm
65KPI allows querying of kernel stack trace information and the automated
66generation of kernel stack trace strings for the purposes of debugging and
67tracing.
68To use the KPI, at least one of
69.Cd "options DDB"
70and
71.Cd "options STACK"
72must be compiled into the kernel.
73.Pp
74Each stack trace is described by a
75.Vt "struct stack" .
76Before a trace may be created or otherwise manipulated, storage for the trace
77must be allocated with
78.Fn stack_create ,
79which may sleep.
80Memory associated with a trace is freed by calling
81.Fn stack_destroy .
82.Pp
83A trace of the current kernel thread's call stack may be captured using
84.Fn stack_save .
85.Pp
86.Fn stack_print
87may be used to print a stack trace using the kernel
88.Xr printf 9 ,
89and may sleep as a result of acquiring
90.Xr sx 9
91locks in the kernel linker while looking up symbol names.
92In locking-sensitive environments, the unsynchronized
93.Fn stack_print_ddb
94variant may be invoked.
95This function bypasses kernel linker locking, making it usable in
96.Xr ddb 4 ,
97but not in a live system where linker data structures may change.
98.Pp
99.Fn stack_sbuf_print
100may be used to construct a human-readable string, including conversion (where
101possible) from a simple kernel instruction pointer to a named symbol and
102offset.
103The argument
104.Ar sb
105must be an initialized
106.Dv struct sbuf
107as described in
108.Xr sbuf 9 .
109This function may sleep if an auto-extending
110.Dv struct sbuf
111is used, or due to kernel linker locking.
112In locking-sensitive environments, such as
113.Xr ddb 4 ,
114the unsynchronized
115.Fn stack_sbuf_print_ddb
116variant may be invoked to avoid kernel linker locking; it should be used with
117a fixed-length sbuf.
118.Pp
119The utility functions
120.Nm stack_zero ,
121.Nm stack_copy ,
122and
123.Nm stack_put
124may be used to manipulate stack data structures directly.
125.Sh SEE ALSO
126.Xr ddb 4 ,
127.Xr printf 9 ,
128.Xr sbuf 9 ,
129.Xr sx 9
130.Sh AUTHORS
131.An -nosplit
132The
133.Xr stack 9
134function suite was created by
135.An Antoine Brodin .
136.Xr stack 9
137was extended by
138.An Robert Watson
139for general-purpose use outside of
140.Xr ddb 4 .
141