xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/ktrace/ktrace.1 (revision e5b786625f7f82a1fa91e41823332459ea5550f9)
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28.\"	@(#)ktrace.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
29.\"
30.Dd August 26, 2019
31.Dt KTRACE 1
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm ktrace
35.Nd enable kernel process tracing
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37.Nm
38.Op Fl aCcdi
39.Op Fl f Ar trfile
40.Op Fl g Ar pgrp | Fl p Ar pid
41.Op Fl t Ar trstr
42.Nm
43.Op Fl adi
44.Op Fl f Ar trfile
45.Op Fl t Ar trstr
46.Ar command
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Nm
50utility enables kernel trace logging for the specified processes.
51Kernel trace data is logged to the file
52.Pa ktrace.out .
53The kernel operations that are traced include system calls, namei
54translations, signal processing, and
55.Tn I/O .
56.Pp
57Once tracing is enabled on a process, trace data will be logged until
58either the process exits or the trace point is cleared.
59A traced process can generate enormous amounts of log data quickly;
60It is strongly suggested that users memorize how to disable tracing before
61attempting to trace a process.
62The following command is sufficient to disable tracing on all user-owned
63processes, and, if executed by root, all processes:
64.Pp
65.Dl \&$ ktrace -C
66.Pp
67The trace file is not human readable; use
68.Xr kdump 1
69to decode it.
70.Pp
71The utility may be used only with a kernel that has been built with the
72.Dq KTRACE
73option in the kernel configuration file.
74.Pp
75The options are:
76.Bl -tag -width indent
77.It Fl a
78Append to the trace file instead of recreating it.
79.It Fl C
80Disable tracing on all user-owned processes, and, if executed by root, all
81processes in the system.
82.It Fl c
83Clear the specified trace points associated with the given file or processes.
84.It Fl d
85Descendants; perform the operation for all current children of the
86designated processes.
87See also the
88.Fl i
89option.
90.It Fl f Ar trfile
91Log trace records to
92.Ar trfile
93instead of
94.Pa ktrace.out .
95.It Fl g Ar pgid
96Enable (disable) tracing on all processes in the process group (only one
97.Fl g
98flag is permitted).
99.It Fl i
100Inherit; pass the trace flags to all future children of the designated
101processes.
102See also the
103.Fl d
104option.
105.It Fl p Ar pid
106Enable (disable) tracing on the indicated process id (only one
107.Fl p
108flag is permitted).
109.It Fl t Ar trstr
110Specify the list of trace points to enable or disable, one per letter.
111If an explicit list is not specified, the default set of trace points is used.
112.Pp
113The following trace points are supported:
114.Pp
115.Bl -tag -width flag -compact
116.It Cm c
117trace system calls
118.It Cm f
119trace page faults
120.It Cm i
121trace
122.Tn I/O
123.It Cm n
124trace namei translations
125.It Cm p
126trace capability check failures
127.It Cm s
128trace signal processing
129.It Cm t
130trace various structures
131.It Cm u
132userland traces generated by
133.Xr utrace 2
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.Xr utrace 2
189.Sh HISTORY
190The
191.Nm
192command appeared in
193.Bx 4.4 .
194.Sh BUGS
195Only works if
196.Ar trfile
197is a regular file.
198