xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/ktrace/ktrace.1 (revision 10b59a9b4add0320d52c15ce057dd697261e7dfc)
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28.\"	@(#)ktrace.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd October 10, 2011
32.Dt KTRACE 1
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm ktrace
36.Nd enable kernel process tracing
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38.Nm
39.Op Fl aCcdi
40.Op Fl f Ar trfile
41.Op Fl g Ar pgrp | Fl p Ar pid
42.Op Fl t Ar trstr
43.Nm
44.Op Fl adi
45.Op Fl f Ar trfile
46.Op Fl t Ar trstr
47.Ar command
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The
50.Nm
51utility enables kernel trace logging for the specified processes.
52Kernel trace data is logged to the file
53.Pa ktrace.out .
54The kernel operations that are traced include system calls, namei
55translations, signal processing, and
56.Tn I/O .
57.Pp
58Once tracing is enabled on a process, trace data will be logged until
59either the process exits or the trace point is cleared.
60A traced process can generate enormous amounts of log data quickly;
61It is strongly suggested that users memorize how to disable tracing before
62attempting to trace a process.
63The following command is sufficient to disable tracing on all user-owned
64processes, and, if executed by root, all processes:
65.Pp
66.Dl \&$ ktrace -C
67.Pp
68The trace file is not human readable; use
69.Xr kdump 1
70to decode it.
71.Pp
72The utility may be used only with a kernel that has been built with the
73.Dq KTRACE
74option in the kernel configuration file.
75.Pp
76The options are:
77.Bl -tag -width indent
78.It Fl a
79Append to the trace file instead of recreating it.
80.It Fl C
81Disable tracing on all user-owned processes, and, if executed by root, all
82processes in the system.
83.It Fl c
84Clear the trace points associated with the specified file or processes.
85.It Fl d
86Descendants; perform the operation for all current children of the
87designated processes.
88.It Fl f Ar trfile
89Log trace records to
90.Ar trfile
91instead of
92.Pa ktrace.out .
93.It Fl g Ar pgid
94Enable (disable) tracing on all processes in the process group (only one
95.Fl g
96flag is permitted).
97.It Fl i
98Inherit; pass the trace flags to all future children of the designated
99processes.
100.It Fl p Ar pid
101Enable (disable) tracing on the indicated process id (only one
102.Fl p
103flag is permitted).
104.It Fl t Ar trstr
105The string argument represents the kernel trace points, one per letter.
106The following table equates the letters with the tracepoints:
107.Pp
108.Bl -tag -width flag -compact
109.It Cm c
110trace system calls
111.It Cm i
112trace
113.Tn I/O
114.It Cm n
115trace namei translations
116.It Cm p
117trace capability check failures
118.It Cm s
119trace signal processing
120.It Cm t
121trace various structures
122.It Cm u
123userland traces
124.It Cm w
125context switches
126.It Cm y
127trace
128.Xr sysctl 3
129requests
130.It Cm +
131trace the default set of trace points -
132.Cm c , i , n , p , s , t , u , y
133.El
134.It Ar command
135Execute
136.Ar command
137with the specified trace flags.
138.El
139.Pp
140The
141.Fl p ,
142.Fl g ,
143and
144.Ar command
145options are mutually exclusive.
146.Sh EXAMPLES
147# trace all kernel operations of process id 34
148.Dl $ ktrace -p 34
149.Pp
150# trace all kernel operations of processes in process group 15 and
151# pass the trace flags to all current and future children
152.Dl $ ktrace -idg 15
153.Pp
154# disable all tracing of process 65
155.Dl $ ktrace -cp 65
156.Pp
157# disable tracing signals on process 70 and all current children
158.Dl $ ktrace -t s -cdp 70
159.Pp
160# enable tracing of
161.Tn I/O
162on process 67
163.Dl $ ktrace -ti -p 67
164.Pp
165# run the command "w", tracing only system calls
166.Dl $ ktrace -tc w
167.Pp
168# disable all tracing to the file "tracedata"
169.Dl $ ktrace -c -f tracedata
170.Pp
171# disable tracing of all user-owned processes
172.Dl $ ktrace -C
173.Sh SEE ALSO
174.Xr kdump 1
175.Sh HISTORY
176The
177.Nm
178command appeared in
179.Bx 4.4 .
180.Sh BUGS
181Only works if
182.Ar trfile
183is a regular file.
184