xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/ktrace/ktrace.1 (revision cb166ce422ac2bc81f42c2a2e2cd68625c11478d)
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32.\"	@(#)ktrace.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd June 6, 1993
36.Dt KTRACE 1
37.Os BSD 4.4
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm ktrace
40.Nd enable kernel process tracing
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm ktrace
43.Op Fl aCcdi
44.Op Fl f Ar trfile
45.Op Fl g Ar pgrp
46.Op Fl p Ar pid
47.Op Fl t Ar trstr
48.Nm ktrace
49.Op Fl adi
50.Op Fl f Ar trfile
51.Op Fl t Ar trstr
52command
53.Sh DESCRIPTION
54The
55.Nm
56command enables kernel trace logging for the specified processes.
57Kernel trace data is logged to the file
58.Pa ktrace.out .
59The kernel operations that are traced include system calls, namei
60translations, signal processing, and
61.Tn I/O .
62.Pp
63Once tracing is enabled on a process, trace data will be logged until
64either the process exits or the trace point is cleared.
65A traced process can generate enormous amounts of log data quickly;
66It is strongly suggested that users memorize how to disable tracing before
67attempting to trace a process.
68The following command is sufficient to disable tracing on all user owned
69processes, and, if executed by root, all processes:
70.Pp
71.Dl \&$ ktrace -C
72.Pp
73The trace file is not human readable; use
74.Xr kdump 1
75to decode it.
76.Pp
77The options are as follows:
78.Bl -tag -width indent
79.It Fl a
80Append to the trace file instead of recreating it.
81.It Fl C
82Disable tracing on all user owned processes, and, if executed by root, all
83processes in the system.
84.It Fl c
85Clear the trace points associated with the specified file or processes.
86.It Fl d
87Descendants; perform the operation for all current children of the
88designated processes.
89.It Fl f Ar file
90Log trace records to
91.Ar file
92instead of
93.Pa ktrace.out .
94.It Fl g Ar pgid
95Enable (disable) tracing on all processes in the process group (only one
96.Fl g
97flag is permitted).
98.It Fl i
99Inherit; pass the trace flags to all future children of the designated
100processes.
101.It Fl p Ar pid
102Enable (disable) tracing on the indicated process id (only one
103.Fl p
104flag is permitted).
105.It Fl t Ar trstr
106The string argument represents the kernel trace points, one per letter.
107The following table equates the letters with the tracepoints:
108.Pp
109.Bl -tag -width flag -compact
110.It Cm c
111trace system calls
112.It Cm n
113trace namei translations
114.It Cm i
115trace
116.Tn I/O
117.It Cm s
118trace signal processing
119.It Cm u
120userland traces
121.It Cm w
122context switches
123.El
124.It Ar command
125Execute
126.Ar command
127with the specified trace flags.
128.El
129.Pp
130The
131.Fl p ,
132.Fl g ,
133and
134.Ar command
135options are mutually exclusive.
136.Sh EXAMPLES
137# trace all kernel operations of process id 34
138.Dl $ ktrace -p 34
139.Pp
140# trace all kernel operations of processes in process group 15 and
141# pass the trace flags to all current and future children
142.Dl $ ktrace -idg 15
143.Pp
144# disable all tracing of process 65
145.Dl $ ktrace -cp 65
146.Pp
147# disable tracing signals on process 70 and all current children
148.Dl $ ktrace -t s -cdp 70
149.Pp
150# enable tracing of
151.Tn I/O
152on process 67
153.Dl $ ktrace -ti -p 67
154.Pp
155# run the command "w", tracing only system calls
156.Dl $ ktrace -tc w
157.Pp
158# disable all tracing to the file "tracedata"
159.Dl $ ktrace -c -f tracedata
160.Pp
161# disable tracing of all processes owned by the user
162.Dl $ ktrace -C
163.Sh SEE ALSO
164.Xr kdump 1
165.Sh BUGS
166Only works if
167.Ar file
168is a regular file.
169.Sh HISTORY
170The
171.Nm
172command appeared in
173.Bx 4.4 .
174