xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/ktrace/ktrace.1 (revision ca987d4641cdcd7f27e153db17c5bf064934faf5)
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28.\"	@(#)ktrace.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd July 24, 2017
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 specified trace points associated with the given file or processes.
85.It Fl d
86Descendants; perform the operation for all current children of the
87designated processes.
88See also the
89.Fl i
90option.
91.It Fl f Ar trfile
92Log trace records to
93.Ar trfile
94instead of
95.Pa ktrace.out .
96.It Fl g Ar pgid
97Enable (disable) tracing on all processes in the process group (only one
98.Fl g
99flag is permitted).
100.It Fl i
101Inherit; pass the trace flags to all future children of the designated
102processes.
103See also the
104.Fl d
105option.
106.It Fl p Ar pid
107Enable (disable) tracing on the indicated process id (only one
108.Fl p
109flag is permitted).
110.It Fl t Ar trstr
111Specify the list of trace points to enable or disable, one per letter.
112If an explicit list is not specified, the default set of trace points is used.
113.Pp
114The following trace points are supported:
115.Pp
116.Bl -tag -width flag -compact
117.It Cm c
118trace system calls
119.It Cm f
120trace page faults
121.It Cm i
122trace
123.Tn I/O
124.It Cm n
125trace namei translations
126.It Cm p
127trace capability check failures
128.It Cm s
129trace signal processing
130.It Cm t
131trace various structures
132.It Cm u
133userland traces
134.It Cm w
135context switches
136.It Cm y
137trace
138.Xr sysctl 3
139requests
140.It Cm +
141trace the default set of trace points -
142.Cm c , i , n , p , s , t , u , y
143.El
144.It Ar command
145Execute
146.Ar command
147with the specified trace flags.
148.El
149.Pp
150The
151.Fl p ,
152.Fl g ,
153and
154.Ar command
155options are mutually exclusive.
156.Sh EXAMPLES
157Run "make", then trace it and any child processes:
158.Dl $ ktrace -i make
159.Pp
160Trace all kernel operations of process id 34:
161.Dl $ ktrace -p 34
162.Pp
163Trace all kernel operations of processes in process group 15 and
164pass the trace flags to all current and future children:
165.Dl $ ktrace -idg 15
166.Pp
167Disable all tracing of process 65:
168.Dl $ ktrace -cp 65
169.Pp
170Disable tracing signals on process 70 and all current children:
171.Dl $ ktrace -t s -cdp 70
172.Pp
173Enable tracing of
174.Tn I/O
175on process 67:
176.Dl $ ktrace -ti -p 67
177.Pp
178Disable all tracing to the file "tracedata":
179.Dl $ ktrace -c -f tracedata
180.Pp
181Disable tracing of all user-owned processes:
182.Dl $ ktrace -C
183.Sh SEE ALSO
184.Xr dtrace 1 ,
185.Xr kdump 1 ,
186.Xr truss 1 ,
187.Xr ktrace 2
188.Sh HISTORY
189The
190.Nm
191command appeared in
192.Bx 4.4 .
193.Sh BUGS
194Only works if
195.Ar trfile
196is a regular file.
197