xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/ktrace/ktrace.1 (revision da647ae946a00482f69900a49b0f1c4d5912abf2)
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32.\"	@(#)ktrace.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd February 23, 2008
36.Dt KTRACE 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm ktrace
40.Nd enable kernel process tracing
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl aCcdi
44.Op Fl f Ar trfile
45.Op Fl g Ar pgrp | Fl p Ar pid
46.Op Fl t Ar trstr
47.Nm
48.Op Fl adi
49.Op Fl f Ar trfile
50.Op Fl t Ar trstr
51.Ar command
52.Sh DESCRIPTION
53The
54.Nm
55utility enables kernel trace logging for the specified processes.
56Kernel trace data is logged to the file
57.Pa ktrace.out .
58The kernel operations that are traced include system calls, namei
59translations, signal processing, and
60.Tn I/O .
61.Pp
62Once tracing is enabled on a process, trace data will be logged until
63either the process exits or the trace point is cleared.
64A traced process can generate enormous amounts of log data quickly;
65It is strongly suggested that users memorize how to disable tracing before
66attempting to trace a process.
67The following command is sufficient to disable tracing on all user-owned
68processes, and, if executed by root, all processes:
69.Pp
70.Dl \&$ ktrace -C
71.Pp
72The trace file is not human readable; use
73.Xr kdump 1
74to decode it.
75.Pp
76The utility may be used only with a kernel that has been built with the
77.Dq KTRACE
78option in the kernel configuration file.
79.Pp
80The options are:
81.Bl -tag -width indent
82.It Fl a
83Append to the trace file instead of recreating it.
84.It Fl C
85Disable tracing on all user-owned processes, and, if executed by root, all
86processes in the system.
87.It Fl c
88Clear the trace points associated with the specified file or processes.
89.It Fl d
90Descendants; perform the operation for all current children of the
91designated processes.
92.It Fl f Ar trfile
93Log trace records to
94.Ar trfile
95instead of
96.Pa ktrace.out .
97.It Fl g Ar pgid
98Enable (disable) tracing on all processes in the process group (only one
99.Fl g
100flag is permitted).
101.It Fl i
102Inherit; pass the trace flags to all future children of the designated
103processes.
104.It Fl p Ar pid
105Enable (disable) tracing on the indicated process id (only one
106.Fl p
107flag is permitted).
108.It Fl t Ar trstr
109The string argument represents the kernel trace points, one per letter.
110The following table equates the letters with the tracepoints:
111.Pp
112.Bl -tag -width flag -compact
113.It Cm c
114trace system calls
115.It Cm n
116trace namei translations
117.It Cm i
118trace
119.Tn I/O
120.It Cm s
121trace signal processing
122.It Cm t
123trace various structures
124.It Cm u
125userland traces
126.It Cm w
127context switches
128.It Cm +
129trace the default set of trace points -
130.Cm c , n , i , s , t , u
131.El
132.It Ar command
133Execute
134.Ar command
135with the specified trace flags.
136.El
137.Pp
138The
139.Fl p ,
140.Fl g ,
141and
142.Ar command
143options are mutually exclusive.
144.Sh EXAMPLES
145# trace all kernel operations of process id 34
146.Dl $ ktrace -p 34
147.Pp
148# trace all kernel operations of processes in process group 15 and
149# pass the trace flags to all current and future children
150.Dl $ ktrace -idg 15
151.Pp
152# disable all tracing of process 65
153.Dl $ ktrace -cp 65
154.Pp
155# disable tracing signals on process 70 and all current children
156.Dl $ ktrace -t s -cdp 70
157.Pp
158# enable tracing of
159.Tn I/O
160on process 67
161.Dl $ ktrace -ti -p 67
162.Pp
163# run the command "w", tracing only system calls
164.Dl $ ktrace -tc w
165.Pp
166# disable all tracing to the file "tracedata"
167.Dl $ ktrace -c -f tracedata
168.Pp
169# disable tracing of all user-owned processes
170.Dl $ ktrace -C
171.Sh SEE ALSO
172.Xr kdump 1
173.Sh HISTORY
174The
175.Nm
176command appeared in
177.Bx 4.4 .
178.Sh BUGS
179Only works if
180.Ar trfile
181is a regular file.
182