xref: /linux/Documentation/trace/histogram.rst (revision 8a922b7728a93d837954315c98b84f6b78de0c4f)
1================
2Event Histograms
3================
4
5Documentation written by Tom Zanussi
6
71. Introduction
8===============
9
10  Histogram triggers are special event triggers that can be used to
11  aggregate trace event data into histograms.  For information on
12  trace events and event triggers, see Documentation/trace/events.rst.
13
14
152. Histogram Trigger Command
16============================
17
18  A histogram trigger command is an event trigger command that
19  aggregates event hits into a hash table keyed on one or more trace
20  event format fields (or stacktrace) and a set of running totals
21  derived from one or more trace event format fields and/or event
22  counts (hitcount).
23
24  The format of a hist trigger is as follows::
25
26        hist:keys=<field1[,field2,...]>[:values=<field1[,field2,...]>]
27          [:sort=<field1[,field2,...]>][:size=#entries][:pause][:continue]
28          [:clear][:name=histname1][:nohitcount][:<handler>.<action>] [if <filter>]
29
30  When a matching event is hit, an entry is added to a hash table
31  using the key(s) and value(s) named.  Keys and values correspond to
32  fields in the event's format description.  Values must correspond to
33  numeric fields - on an event hit, the value(s) will be added to a
34  sum kept for that field.  The special string 'hitcount' can be used
35  in place of an explicit value field - this is simply a count of
36  event hits.  If 'values' isn't specified, an implicit 'hitcount'
37  value will be automatically created and used as the only value.
38  Keys can be any field, or the special string 'stacktrace', which
39  will use the event's kernel stacktrace as the key.  The keywords
40  'keys' or 'key' can be used to specify keys, and the keywords
41  'values', 'vals', or 'val' can be used to specify values.  Compound
42  keys consisting of up to three fields can be specified by the 'keys'
43  keyword.  Hashing a compound key produces a unique entry in the
44  table for each unique combination of component keys, and can be
45  useful for providing more fine-grained summaries of event data.
46  Additionally, sort keys consisting of up to two fields can be
47  specified by the 'sort' keyword.  If more than one field is
48  specified, the result will be a 'sort within a sort': the first key
49  is taken to be the primary sort key and the second the secondary
50  key.  If a hist trigger is given a name using the 'name' parameter,
51  its histogram data will be shared with other triggers of the same
52  name, and trigger hits will update this common data.  Only triggers
53  with 'compatible' fields can be combined in this way; triggers are
54  'compatible' if the fields named in the trigger share the same
55  number and type of fields and those fields also have the same names.
56  Note that any two events always share the compatible 'hitcount' and
57  'stacktrace' fields and can therefore be combined using those
58  fields, however pointless that may be.
59
60  'hist' triggers add a 'hist' file to each event's subdirectory.
61  Reading the 'hist' file for the event will dump the hash table in
62  its entirety to stdout.  If there are multiple hist triggers
63  attached to an event, there will be a table for each trigger in the
64  output.  The table displayed for a named trigger will be the same as
65  any other instance having the same name. Each printed hash table
66  entry is a simple list of the keys and values comprising the entry;
67  keys are printed first and are delineated by curly braces, and are
68  followed by the set of value fields for the entry.  By default,
69  numeric fields are displayed as base-10 integers.  This can be
70  modified by appending any of the following modifiers to the field
71  name:
72
73	=============  =================================================
74        .hex           display a number as a hex value
75	.sym           display an address as a symbol
76	.sym-offset    display an address as a symbol and offset
77	.syscall       display a syscall id as a system call name
78	.execname      display a common_pid as a program name
79	.log2          display log2 value rather than raw number
80	.buckets=size  display grouping of values rather than raw number
81	.usecs         display a common_timestamp in microseconds
82        .percent       display a number of percentage value
83        .graph         display a bar-graph of a value
84	.stacktrace    display as a stacktrace (must by a long[] type)
85	=============  =================================================
86
87  Note that in general the semantics of a given field aren't
88  interpreted when applying a modifier to it, but there are some
89  restrictions to be aware of in this regard:
90
91    - only the 'hex' modifier can be used for values (because values
92      are essentially sums, and the other modifiers don't make sense
93      in that context).
94    - the 'execname' modifier can only be used on a 'common_pid'.  The
95      reason for this is that the execname is simply the 'comm' value
96      saved for the 'current' process when an event was triggered,
97      which is the same as the common_pid value saved by the event
98      tracing code.  Trying to apply that comm value to other pid
99      values wouldn't be correct, and typically events that care save
100      pid-specific comm fields in the event itself.
101
102  A typical usage scenario would be the following to enable a hist
103  trigger, read its current contents, and then turn it off::
104
105    # echo 'hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=len' > \
106      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_rx/trigger
107
108    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_rx/hist
109
110    # echo '!hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=len' > \
111      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_rx/trigger
112
113  The trigger file itself can be read to show the details of the
114  currently attached hist trigger.  This information is also displayed
115  at the top of the 'hist' file when read.
116
117  By default, the size of the hash table is 2048 entries.  The 'size'
118  parameter can be used to specify more or fewer than that.  The units
119  are in terms of hashtable entries - if a run uses more entries than
120  specified, the results will show the number of 'drops', the number
121  of hits that were ignored.  The size should be a power of 2 between
122  128 and 131072 (any non- power-of-2 number specified will be rounded
123  up).
124
125  The 'sort' parameter can be used to specify a value field to sort
126  on.  The default if unspecified is 'hitcount' and the default sort
127  order is 'ascending'.  To sort in the opposite direction, append
128  .descending' to the sort key.
129
130  The 'pause' parameter can be used to pause an existing hist trigger
131  or to start a hist trigger but not log any events until told to do
132  so.  'continue' or 'cont' can be used to start or restart a paused
133  hist trigger.
134
135  The 'clear' parameter will clear the contents of a running hist
136  trigger and leave its current paused/active state.
137
138  Note that the 'pause', 'cont', and 'clear' parameters should be
139  applied using 'append' shell operator ('>>') if applied to an
140  existing trigger, rather than via the '>' operator, which will cause
141  the trigger to be removed through truncation.
142
143  The 'nohitcount' (or NOHC) parameter will suppress display of
144  raw hitcount in the histogram. This option requires at least one
145  value field which is not a 'raw hitcount'. For example,
146  'hist:...:vals=hitcount:nohitcount' is rejected, but
147  'hist:...:vals=hitcount.percent:nohitcount' is OK.
148
149- enable_hist/disable_hist
150
151  The enable_hist and disable_hist triggers can be used to have one
152  event conditionally start and stop another event's already-attached
153  hist trigger.  Any number of enable_hist and disable_hist triggers
154  can be attached to a given event, allowing that event to kick off
155  and stop aggregations on a host of other events.
156
157  The format is very similar to the enable/disable_event triggers::
158
159      enable_hist:<system>:<event>[:count]
160      disable_hist:<system>:<event>[:count]
161
162  Instead of enabling or disabling the tracing of the target event
163  into the trace buffer as the enable/disable_event triggers do, the
164  enable/disable_hist triggers enable or disable the aggregation of
165  the target event into a hash table.
166
167  A typical usage scenario for the enable_hist/disable_hist triggers
168  would be to first set up a paused hist trigger on some event,
169  followed by an enable_hist/disable_hist pair that turns the hist
170  aggregation on and off when conditions of interest are hit::
171
172   # echo 'hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=len:pause' > \
173      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/trigger
174
175    # echo 'enable_hist:net:netif_receive_skb if filename==/usr/bin/wget' > \
176      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_exec/trigger
177
178    # echo 'disable_hist:net:netif_receive_skb if comm==wget' > \
179      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_exit/trigger
180
181  The above sets up an initially paused hist trigger which is unpaused
182  and starts aggregating events when a given program is executed, and
183  which stops aggregating when the process exits and the hist trigger
184  is paused again.
185
186  The examples below provide a more concrete illustration of the
187  concepts and typical usage patterns discussed above.
188
189'special' event fields
190------------------------
191
192  There are a number of 'special event fields' available for use as
193  keys or values in a hist trigger.  These look like and behave as if
194  they were actual event fields, but aren't really part of the event's
195  field definition or format file.  They are however available for any
196  event, and can be used anywhere an actual event field could be.
197  They are:
198
199    ====================== ==== =======================================
200    common_timestamp       u64  timestamp (from ring buffer) associated
201                                with the event, in nanoseconds.  May be
202			        modified by .usecs to have timestamps
203			        interpreted as microseconds.
204    common_cpu             int  the cpu on which the event occurred.
205    ====================== ==== =======================================
206
207Extended error information
208--------------------------
209
210  For some error conditions encountered when invoking a hist trigger
211  command, extended error information is available via the
212  tracing/error_log file.  See Error Conditions in
213  :file:`Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst` for details.
214
2156.2 'hist' trigger examples
216---------------------------
217
218  The first set of examples creates aggregations using the kmalloc
219  event.  The fields that can be used for the hist trigger are listed
220  in the kmalloc event's format file::
221
222    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/format
223    name: kmalloc
224    ID: 374
225    format:
226	field:unsigned short common_type;	offset:0;	size:2;	signed:0;
227	field:unsigned char common_flags;	offset:2;	size:1;	signed:0;
228	field:unsigned char common_preempt_count;		offset:3;	size:1;	signed:0;
229	field:int common_pid;					offset:4;	size:4;	signed:1;
230
231	field:unsigned long call_site;				offset:8;	size:8;	signed:0;
232	field:const void * ptr;					offset:16;	size:8;	signed:0;
233	field:size_t bytes_req;					offset:24;	size:8;	signed:0;
234	field:size_t bytes_alloc;				offset:32;	size:8;	signed:0;
235	field:gfp_t gfp_flags;					offset:40;	size:4;	signed:0;
236
237  We'll start by creating a hist trigger that generates a simple table
238  that lists the total number of bytes requested for each function in
239  the kernel that made one or more calls to kmalloc::
240
241    # echo 'hist:key=call_site:val=bytes_req.buckets=32' > \
242            /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
243
244  This tells the tracing system to create a 'hist' trigger using the
245  call_site field of the kmalloc event as the key for the table, which
246  just means that each unique call_site address will have an entry
247  created for it in the table.  The 'val=bytes_req' parameter tells
248  the hist trigger that for each unique entry (call_site) in the
249  table, it should keep a running total of the number of bytes
250  requested by that call_site.
251
252  We'll let it run for awhile and then dump the contents of the 'hist'
253  file in the kmalloc event's subdirectory (for readability, a number
254  of entries have been omitted)::
255
256    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/hist
257    # trigger info: hist:keys=call_site:vals=bytes_req:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
258
259    { call_site: 18446744072106379007 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:        176
260    { call_site: 18446744071579557049 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:       1024
261    { call_site: 18446744071580608289 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:      16384
262    { call_site: 18446744071581827654 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:         24
263    { call_site: 18446744071580700980 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          8
264    { call_site: 18446744071579359876 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:        152
265    { call_site: 18446744071580795365 } hitcount:          3  bytes_req:        144
266    { call_site: 18446744071581303129 } hitcount:          3  bytes_req:        144
267    { call_site: 18446744071580713234 } hitcount:          4  bytes_req:       2560
268    { call_site: 18446744071580933750 } hitcount:          4  bytes_req:        736
269    .
270    .
271    .
272    { call_site: 18446744072106047046 } hitcount:         69  bytes_req:       5576
273    { call_site: 18446744071582116407 } hitcount:         73  bytes_req:       2336
274    { call_site: 18446744072106054684 } hitcount:        136  bytes_req:     140504
275    { call_site: 18446744072106224230 } hitcount:        136  bytes_req:      19584
276    { call_site: 18446744072106078074 } hitcount:        153  bytes_req:       2448
277    { call_site: 18446744072106062406 } hitcount:        153  bytes_req:      36720
278    { call_site: 18446744071582507929 } hitcount:        153  bytes_req:      37088
279    { call_site: 18446744072102520590 } hitcount:        273  bytes_req:      10920
280    { call_site: 18446744071582143559 } hitcount:        358  bytes_req:        716
281    { call_site: 18446744072106465852 } hitcount:        417  bytes_req:      56712
282    { call_site: 18446744072102523378 } hitcount:        485  bytes_req:      27160
283    { call_site: 18446744072099568646 } hitcount:       1676  bytes_req:      33520
284
285    Totals:
286        Hits: 4610
287        Entries: 45
288        Dropped: 0
289
290  The output displays a line for each entry, beginning with the key
291  specified in the trigger, followed by the value(s) also specified in
292  the trigger.  At the beginning of the output is a line that displays
293  the trigger info, which can also be displayed by reading the
294  'trigger' file::
295
296    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
297    hist:keys=call_site:vals=bytes_req:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
298
299  At the end of the output are a few lines that display the overall
300  totals for the run.  The 'Hits' field shows the total number of
301  times the event trigger was hit, the 'Entries' field shows the total
302  number of used entries in the hash table, and the 'Dropped' field
303  shows the number of hits that were dropped because the number of
304  used entries for the run exceeded the maximum number of entries
305  allowed for the table (normally 0, but if not a hint that you may
306  want to increase the size of the table using the 'size' parameter).
307
308  Notice in the above output that there's an extra field, 'hitcount',
309  which wasn't specified in the trigger.  Also notice that in the
310  trigger info output, there's a parameter, 'sort=hitcount', which
311  wasn't specified in the trigger either.  The reason for that is that
312  every trigger implicitly keeps a count of the total number of hits
313  attributed to a given entry, called the 'hitcount'.  That hitcount
314  information is explicitly displayed in the output, and in the
315  absence of a user-specified sort parameter, is used as the default
316  sort field.
317
318  The value 'hitcount' can be used in place of an explicit value in
319  the 'values' parameter if you don't really need to have any
320  particular field summed and are mainly interested in hit
321  frequencies.
322
323  To turn the hist trigger off, simply call up the trigger in the
324  command history and re-execute it with a '!' prepended::
325
326    # echo '!hist:key=call_site:val=bytes_req' > \
327           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
328
329  Finally, notice that the call_site as displayed in the output above
330  isn't really very useful.  It's an address, but normally addresses
331  are displayed in hex.  To have a numeric field displayed as a hex
332  value, simply append '.hex' to the field name in the trigger::
333
334    # echo 'hist:key=call_site.hex:val=bytes_req' > \
335           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
336
337    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/hist
338    # trigger info: hist:keys=call_site.hex:vals=bytes_req:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
339
340    { call_site: ffffffffa026b291 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:        433
341    { call_site: ffffffffa07186ff } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:        176
342    { call_site: ffffffff811ae721 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:      16384
343    { call_site: ffffffff811c5134 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          8
344    { call_site: ffffffffa04a9ebb } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:        511
345    { call_site: ffffffff8122e0a6 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:         12
346    { call_site: ffffffff8107da84 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:        152
347    { call_site: ffffffff812d8246 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:         24
348    { call_site: ffffffff811dc1e5 } hitcount:          3  bytes_req:        144
349    { call_site: ffffffffa02515e8 } hitcount:          3  bytes_req:        648
350    { call_site: ffffffff81258159 } hitcount:          3  bytes_req:        144
351    { call_site: ffffffff811c80f4 } hitcount:          4  bytes_req:        544
352    .
353    .
354    .
355    { call_site: ffffffffa06c7646 } hitcount:        106  bytes_req:       8024
356    { call_site: ffffffffa06cb246 } hitcount:        132  bytes_req:      31680
357    { call_site: ffffffffa06cef7a } hitcount:        132  bytes_req:       2112
358    { call_site: ffffffff8137e399 } hitcount:        132  bytes_req:      23232
359    { call_site: ffffffffa06c941c } hitcount:        185  bytes_req:     171360
360    { call_site: ffffffffa06f2a66 } hitcount:        185  bytes_req:      26640
361    { call_site: ffffffffa036a70e } hitcount:        265  bytes_req:      10600
362    { call_site: ffffffff81325447 } hitcount:        292  bytes_req:        584
363    { call_site: ffffffffa072da3c } hitcount:        446  bytes_req:      60656
364    { call_site: ffffffffa036b1f2 } hitcount:        526  bytes_req:      29456
365    { call_site: ffffffffa0099c06 } hitcount:       1780  bytes_req:      35600
366
367    Totals:
368        Hits: 4775
369        Entries: 46
370        Dropped: 0
371
372  Even that's only marginally more useful - while hex values do look
373  more like addresses, what users are typically more interested in
374  when looking at text addresses are the corresponding symbols
375  instead.  To have an address displayed as symbolic value instead,
376  simply append '.sym' or '.sym-offset' to the field name in the
377  trigger::
378
379    # echo 'hist:key=call_site.sym:val=bytes_req' > \
380           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
381
382    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/hist
383    # trigger info: hist:keys=call_site.sym:vals=bytes_req:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
384
385    { call_site: [ffffffff810adcb9] syslog_print_all                              } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:       1024
386    { call_site: [ffffffff8154bc62] usb_control_msg                               } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          8
387    { call_site: [ffffffffa00bf6fe] hidraw_send_report [hid]                      } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          7
388    { call_site: [ffffffff8154acbe] usb_alloc_urb                                 } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:        192
389    { call_site: [ffffffffa00bf1ca] hidraw_report_event [hid]                     } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          7
390    { call_site: [ffffffff811e3a25] __seq_open_private                            } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:         40
391    { call_site: [ffffffff8109524a] alloc_fair_sched_group                        } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        128
392    { call_site: [ffffffff811febd5] fsnotify_alloc_group                          } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        528
393    { call_site: [ffffffff81440f58] __tty_buffer_request_room                     } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:       2624
394    { call_site: [ffffffff81200ba6] inotify_new_group                             } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:         96
395    { call_site: [ffffffffa05e19af] ieee80211_start_tx_ba_session [mac80211]      } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        464
396    { call_site: [ffffffff81672406] tcp_get_metrics                               } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        304
397    { call_site: [ffffffff81097ec2] alloc_rt_sched_group                          } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        128
398    { call_site: [ffffffff81089b05] sched_create_group                            } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:       1424
399    .
400    .
401    .
402    { call_site: [ffffffffa04a580c] intel_crtc_page_flip [i915]                   } hitcount:       1185  bytes_req:     123240
403    { call_site: [ffffffffa0287592] drm_mode_page_flip_ioctl [drm]                } hitcount:       1185  bytes_req:     104280
404    { call_site: [ffffffffa04c4a3c] intel_plane_duplicate_state [i915]            } hitcount:       1402  bytes_req:     190672
405    { call_site: [ffffffff812891ca] ext4_find_extent                              } hitcount:       1518  bytes_req:     146208
406    { call_site: [ffffffffa029070e] drm_vma_node_allow [drm]                      } hitcount:       1746  bytes_req:      69840
407    { call_site: [ffffffffa045e7c4] i915_gem_do_execbuffer.isra.23 [i915]         } hitcount:       2021  bytes_req:     792312
408    { call_site: [ffffffffa02911f2] drm_modeset_lock_crtc [drm]                   } hitcount:       2592  bytes_req:     145152
409    { call_site: [ffffffffa0489a66] intel_ring_begin [i915]                       } hitcount:       2629  bytes_req:     378576
410    { call_site: [ffffffffa046041c] i915_gem_execbuffer2 [i915]                   } hitcount:       2629  bytes_req:    3783248
411    { call_site: [ffffffff81325607] apparmor_file_alloc_security                  } hitcount:       5192  bytes_req:      10384
412    { call_site: [ffffffffa00b7c06] hid_report_raw_event [hid]                    } hitcount:       5529  bytes_req:     110584
413    { call_site: [ffffffff8131ebf7] aa_alloc_task_context                         } hitcount:      21943  bytes_req:     702176
414    { call_site: [ffffffff8125847d] ext4_htree_store_dirent                       } hitcount:      55759  bytes_req:    5074265
415
416    Totals:
417        Hits: 109928
418        Entries: 71
419        Dropped: 0
420
421  Because the default sort key above is 'hitcount', the above shows a
422  the list of call_sites by increasing hitcount, so that at the bottom
423  we see the functions that made the most kmalloc calls during the
424  run.  If instead we wanted to see the top kmalloc callers in
425  terms of the number of bytes requested rather than the number of
426  calls, and we wanted the top caller to appear at the top, we can use
427  the 'sort' parameter, along with the 'descending' modifier::
428
429    # echo 'hist:key=call_site.sym:val=bytes_req:sort=bytes_req.descending' > \
430           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
431
432    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/hist
433    # trigger info: hist:keys=call_site.sym:vals=bytes_req:sort=bytes_req.descending:size=2048 [active]
434
435    { call_site: [ffffffffa046041c] i915_gem_execbuffer2 [i915]                   } hitcount:       2186  bytes_req:    3397464
436    { call_site: [ffffffffa045e7c4] i915_gem_do_execbuffer.isra.23 [i915]         } hitcount:       1790  bytes_req:     712176
437    { call_site: [ffffffff8125847d] ext4_htree_store_dirent                       } hitcount:       8132  bytes_req:     513135
438    { call_site: [ffffffff811e2a1b] seq_buf_alloc                                 } hitcount:        106  bytes_req:     440128
439    { call_site: [ffffffffa0489a66] intel_ring_begin [i915]                       } hitcount:       2186  bytes_req:     314784
440    { call_site: [ffffffff812891ca] ext4_find_extent                              } hitcount:       2174  bytes_req:     208992
441    { call_site: [ffffffff811ae8e1] __kmalloc                                     } hitcount:          8  bytes_req:     131072
442    { call_site: [ffffffffa04c4a3c] intel_plane_duplicate_state [i915]            } hitcount:        859  bytes_req:     116824
443    { call_site: [ffffffffa02911f2] drm_modeset_lock_crtc [drm]                   } hitcount:       1834  bytes_req:     102704
444    { call_site: [ffffffffa04a580c] intel_crtc_page_flip [i915]                   } hitcount:        972  bytes_req:     101088
445    { call_site: [ffffffffa0287592] drm_mode_page_flip_ioctl [drm]                } hitcount:        972  bytes_req:      85536
446    { call_site: [ffffffffa00b7c06] hid_report_raw_event [hid]                    } hitcount:       3333  bytes_req:      66664
447    { call_site: [ffffffff8137e559] sg_kmalloc                                    } hitcount:        209  bytes_req:      61632
448    .
449    .
450    .
451    { call_site: [ffffffff81095225] alloc_fair_sched_group                        } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        128
452    { call_site: [ffffffff81097ec2] alloc_rt_sched_group                          } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        128
453    { call_site: [ffffffff812d8406] copy_semundo                                  } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:         48
454    { call_site: [ffffffff81200ba6] inotify_new_group                             } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:         48
455    { call_site: [ffffffffa027121a] drm_getmagic [drm]                            } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:         48
456    { call_site: [ffffffff811e3a25] __seq_open_private                            } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:         40
457    { call_site: [ffffffff811c52f4] bprm_change_interp                            } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:         16
458    { call_site: [ffffffff8154bc62] usb_control_msg                               } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          8
459    { call_site: [ffffffffa00bf1ca] hidraw_report_event [hid]                     } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          7
460    { call_site: [ffffffffa00bf6fe] hidraw_send_report [hid]                      } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          7
461
462    Totals:
463        Hits: 32133
464        Entries: 81
465        Dropped: 0
466
467  To display the offset and size information in addition to the symbol
468  name, just use 'sym-offset' instead::
469
470    # echo 'hist:key=call_site.sym-offset:val=bytes_req:sort=bytes_req.descending' > \
471           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
472
473    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/hist
474    # trigger info: hist:keys=call_site.sym-offset:vals=bytes_req:sort=bytes_req.descending:size=2048 [active]
475
476    { call_site: [ffffffffa046041c] i915_gem_execbuffer2+0x6c/0x2c0 [i915]                  } hitcount:       4569  bytes_req:    3163720
477    { call_site: [ffffffffa0489a66] intel_ring_begin+0xc6/0x1f0 [i915]                      } hitcount:       4569  bytes_req:     657936
478    { call_site: [ffffffffa045e7c4] i915_gem_do_execbuffer.isra.23+0x694/0x1020 [i915]      } hitcount:       1519  bytes_req:     472936
479    { call_site: [ffffffffa045e646] i915_gem_do_execbuffer.isra.23+0x516/0x1020 [i915]      } hitcount:       3050  bytes_req:     211832
480    { call_site: [ffffffff811e2a1b] seq_buf_alloc+0x1b/0x50                                 } hitcount:         34  bytes_req:     148384
481    { call_site: [ffffffffa04a580c] intel_crtc_page_flip+0xbc/0x870 [i915]                  } hitcount:       1385  bytes_req:     144040
482    { call_site: [ffffffff811ae8e1] __kmalloc+0x191/0x1b0                                   } hitcount:          8  bytes_req:     131072
483    { call_site: [ffffffffa0287592] drm_mode_page_flip_ioctl+0x282/0x360 [drm]              } hitcount:       1385  bytes_req:     121880
484    { call_site: [ffffffffa02911f2] drm_modeset_lock_crtc+0x32/0x100 [drm]                  } hitcount:       1848  bytes_req:     103488
485    { call_site: [ffffffffa04c4a3c] intel_plane_duplicate_state+0x2c/0xa0 [i915]            } hitcount:        461  bytes_req:      62696
486    { call_site: [ffffffffa029070e] drm_vma_node_allow+0x2e/0xd0 [drm]                      } hitcount:       1541  bytes_req:      61640
487    { call_site: [ffffffff815f8d7b] sk_prot_alloc+0xcb/0x1b0                                } hitcount:         57  bytes_req:      57456
488    .
489    .
490    .
491    { call_site: [ffffffff8109524a] alloc_fair_sched_group+0x5a/0x1a0                       } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        128
492    { call_site: [ffffffffa027b921] drm_vm_open_locked+0x31/0xa0 [drm]                      } hitcount:          3  bytes_req:         96
493    { call_site: [ffffffff8122e266] proc_self_follow_link+0x76/0xb0                         } hitcount:          8  bytes_req:         96
494    { call_site: [ffffffff81213e80] load_elf_binary+0x240/0x1650                            } hitcount:          3  bytes_req:         84
495    { call_site: [ffffffff8154bc62] usb_control_msg+0x42/0x110                              } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          8
496    { call_site: [ffffffffa00bf6fe] hidraw_send_report+0x7e/0x1a0 [hid]                     } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          7
497    { call_site: [ffffffffa00bf1ca] hidraw_report_event+0x8a/0x120 [hid]                    } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          7
498
499    Totals:
500        Hits: 26098
501        Entries: 64
502        Dropped: 0
503
504  We can also add multiple fields to the 'values' parameter.  For
505  example, we might want to see the total number of bytes allocated
506  alongside bytes requested, and display the result sorted by bytes
507  allocated in a descending order::
508
509    # echo 'hist:keys=call_site.sym:values=bytes_req,bytes_alloc:sort=bytes_alloc.descending' > \
510           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
511
512    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/hist
513    # trigger info: hist:keys=call_site.sym:vals=bytes_req,bytes_alloc:sort=bytes_alloc.descending:size=2048 [active]
514
515    { call_site: [ffffffffa046041c] i915_gem_execbuffer2 [i915]                   } hitcount:       7403  bytes_req:    4084360  bytes_alloc:    5958016
516    { call_site: [ffffffff811e2a1b] seq_buf_alloc                                 } hitcount:        541  bytes_req:    2213968  bytes_alloc:    2228224
517    { call_site: [ffffffffa0489a66] intel_ring_begin [i915]                       } hitcount:       7404  bytes_req:    1066176  bytes_alloc:    1421568
518    { call_site: [ffffffffa045e7c4] i915_gem_do_execbuffer.isra.23 [i915]         } hitcount:       1565  bytes_req:     557368  bytes_alloc:    1037760
519    { call_site: [ffffffff8125847d] ext4_htree_store_dirent                       } hitcount:       9557  bytes_req:     595778  bytes_alloc:     695744
520    { call_site: [ffffffffa045e646] i915_gem_do_execbuffer.isra.23 [i915]         } hitcount:       5839  bytes_req:     430680  bytes_alloc:     470400
521    { call_site: [ffffffffa04c4a3c] intel_plane_duplicate_state [i915]            } hitcount:       2388  bytes_req:     324768  bytes_alloc:     458496
522    { call_site: [ffffffffa02911f2] drm_modeset_lock_crtc [drm]                   } hitcount:       3911  bytes_req:     219016  bytes_alloc:     250304
523    { call_site: [ffffffff815f8d7b] sk_prot_alloc                                 } hitcount:        235  bytes_req:     236880  bytes_alloc:     240640
524    { call_site: [ffffffff8137e559] sg_kmalloc                                    } hitcount:        557  bytes_req:     169024  bytes_alloc:     221760
525    { call_site: [ffffffffa00b7c06] hid_report_raw_event [hid]                    } hitcount:       9378  bytes_req:     187548  bytes_alloc:     206312
526    { call_site: [ffffffffa04a580c] intel_crtc_page_flip [i915]                   } hitcount:       1519  bytes_req:     157976  bytes_alloc:     194432
527    .
528    .
529    .
530    { call_site: [ffffffff8109bd3b] sched_autogroup_create_attach                 } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        144  bytes_alloc:        192
531    { call_site: [ffffffff81097ee8] alloc_rt_sched_group                          } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        128  bytes_alloc:        128
532    { call_site: [ffffffff8109524a] alloc_fair_sched_group                        } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        128  bytes_alloc:        128
533    { call_site: [ffffffff81095225] alloc_fair_sched_group                        } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        128  bytes_alloc:        128
534    { call_site: [ffffffff81097ec2] alloc_rt_sched_group                          } hitcount:          2  bytes_req:        128  bytes_alloc:        128
535    { call_site: [ffffffff81213e80] load_elf_binary                               } hitcount:          3  bytes_req:         84  bytes_alloc:         96
536    { call_site: [ffffffff81079a2e] kthread_create_on_node                        } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:         56  bytes_alloc:         64
537    { call_site: [ffffffffa00bf6fe] hidraw_send_report [hid]                      } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          7  bytes_alloc:          8
538    { call_site: [ffffffff8154bc62] usb_control_msg                               } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          8  bytes_alloc:          8
539    { call_site: [ffffffffa00bf1ca] hidraw_report_event [hid]                     } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:          7  bytes_alloc:          8
540
541    Totals:
542        Hits: 66598
543        Entries: 65
544        Dropped: 0
545
546  Finally, to finish off our kmalloc example, instead of simply having
547  the hist trigger display symbolic call_sites, we can have the hist
548  trigger additionally display the complete set of kernel stack traces
549  that led to each call_site.  To do that, we simply use the special
550  value 'stacktrace' for the key parameter::
551
552    # echo 'hist:keys=stacktrace:values=bytes_req,bytes_alloc:sort=bytes_alloc' > \
553           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/trigger
554
555  The above trigger will use the kernel stack trace in effect when an
556  event is triggered as the key for the hash table.  This allows the
557  enumeration of every kernel callpath that led up to a particular
558  event, along with a running total of any of the event fields for
559  that event.  Here we tally bytes requested and bytes allocated for
560  every callpath in the system that led up to a kmalloc (in this case
561  every callpath to a kmalloc for a kernel compile)::
562
563    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kmem/kmalloc/hist
564    # trigger info: hist:keys=stacktrace:vals=bytes_req,bytes_alloc:sort=bytes_alloc:size=2048 [active]
565
566    { stacktrace:
567         __kmalloc_track_caller+0x10b/0x1a0
568         kmemdup+0x20/0x50
569         hidraw_report_event+0x8a/0x120 [hid]
570         hid_report_raw_event+0x3ea/0x440 [hid]
571         hid_input_report+0x112/0x190 [hid]
572         hid_irq_in+0xc2/0x260 [usbhid]
573         __usb_hcd_giveback_urb+0x72/0x120
574         usb_giveback_urb_bh+0x9e/0xe0
575         tasklet_hi_action+0xf8/0x100
576         __do_softirq+0x114/0x2c0
577         irq_exit+0xa5/0xb0
578         do_IRQ+0x5a/0xf0
579         ret_from_intr+0x0/0x30
580         cpuidle_enter+0x17/0x20
581         cpu_startup_entry+0x315/0x3e0
582         rest_init+0x7c/0x80
583    } hitcount:          3  bytes_req:         21  bytes_alloc:         24
584    { stacktrace:
585         __kmalloc_track_caller+0x10b/0x1a0
586         kmemdup+0x20/0x50
587         hidraw_report_event+0x8a/0x120 [hid]
588         hid_report_raw_event+0x3ea/0x440 [hid]
589         hid_input_report+0x112/0x190 [hid]
590         hid_irq_in+0xc2/0x260 [usbhid]
591         __usb_hcd_giveback_urb+0x72/0x120
592         usb_giveback_urb_bh+0x9e/0xe0
593         tasklet_hi_action+0xf8/0x100
594         __do_softirq+0x114/0x2c0
595         irq_exit+0xa5/0xb0
596         do_IRQ+0x5a/0xf0
597         ret_from_intr+0x0/0x30
598    } hitcount:          3  bytes_req:         21  bytes_alloc:         24
599    { stacktrace:
600         kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0xeb/0x150
601         aa_alloc_task_context+0x27/0x40
602         apparmor_cred_prepare+0x1f/0x50
603         security_prepare_creds+0x16/0x20
604         prepare_creds+0xdf/0x1a0
605         SyS_capset+0xb5/0x200
606         system_call_fastpath+0x12/0x6a
607    } hitcount:          1  bytes_req:         32  bytes_alloc:         32
608    .
609    .
610    .
611    { stacktrace:
612         __kmalloc+0x11b/0x1b0
613         i915_gem_execbuffer2+0x6c/0x2c0 [i915]
614         drm_ioctl+0x349/0x670 [drm]
615         do_vfs_ioctl+0x2f0/0x4f0
616         SyS_ioctl+0x81/0xa0
617         system_call_fastpath+0x12/0x6a
618    } hitcount:      17726  bytes_req:   13944120  bytes_alloc:   19593808
619    { stacktrace:
620         __kmalloc+0x11b/0x1b0
621         load_elf_phdrs+0x76/0xa0
622         load_elf_binary+0x102/0x1650
623         search_binary_handler+0x97/0x1d0
624         do_execveat_common.isra.34+0x551/0x6e0
625         SyS_execve+0x3a/0x50
626         return_from_execve+0x0/0x23
627    } hitcount:      33348  bytes_req:   17152128  bytes_alloc:   20226048
628    { stacktrace:
629         kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0xeb/0x150
630         apparmor_file_alloc_security+0x27/0x40
631         security_file_alloc+0x16/0x20
632         get_empty_filp+0x93/0x1c0
633         path_openat+0x31/0x5f0
634         do_filp_open+0x3a/0x90
635         do_sys_open+0x128/0x220
636         SyS_open+0x1e/0x20
637         system_call_fastpath+0x12/0x6a
638    } hitcount:    4766422  bytes_req:    9532844  bytes_alloc:   38131376
639    { stacktrace:
640         __kmalloc+0x11b/0x1b0
641         seq_buf_alloc+0x1b/0x50
642         seq_read+0x2cc/0x370
643         proc_reg_read+0x3d/0x80
644         __vfs_read+0x28/0xe0
645         vfs_read+0x86/0x140
646         SyS_read+0x46/0xb0
647         system_call_fastpath+0x12/0x6a
648    } hitcount:      19133  bytes_req:   78368768  bytes_alloc:   78368768
649
650    Totals:
651        Hits: 6085872
652        Entries: 253
653        Dropped: 0
654
655  If you key a hist trigger on common_pid, in order for example to
656  gather and display sorted totals for each process, you can use the
657  special .execname modifier to display the executable names for the
658  processes in the table rather than raw pids.  The example below
659  keeps a per-process sum of total bytes read::
660
661    # echo 'hist:key=common_pid.execname:val=count:sort=count.descending' > \
662           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/syscalls/sys_enter_read/trigger
663
664    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/syscalls/sys_enter_read/hist
665    # trigger info: hist:keys=common_pid.execname:vals=count:sort=count.descending:size=2048 [active]
666
667    { common_pid: gnome-terminal  [      3196] } hitcount:        280  count:    1093512
668    { common_pid: Xorg            [      1309] } hitcount:        525  count:     256640
669    { common_pid: compiz          [      2889] } hitcount:         59  count:     254400
670    { common_pid: bash            [      8710] } hitcount:          3  count:      66369
671    { common_pid: dbus-daemon-lau [      8703] } hitcount:         49  count:      47739
672    { common_pid: irqbalance      [      1252] } hitcount:         27  count:      27648
673    { common_pid: 01ifupdown      [      8705] } hitcount:          3  count:      17216
674    { common_pid: dbus-daemon     [       772] } hitcount:         10  count:      12396
675    { common_pid: Socket Thread   [      8342] } hitcount:         11  count:      11264
676    { common_pid: nm-dhcp-client. [      8701] } hitcount:          6  count:       7424
677    { common_pid: gmain           [      1315] } hitcount:         18  count:       6336
678    .
679    .
680    .
681    { common_pid: postgres        [      1892] } hitcount:          2  count:         32
682    { common_pid: postgres        [      1891] } hitcount:          2  count:         32
683    { common_pid: gmain           [      8704] } hitcount:          2  count:         32
684    { common_pid: upstart-dbus-br [      2740] } hitcount:         21  count:         21
685    { common_pid: nm-dispatcher.a [      8696] } hitcount:          1  count:         16
686    { common_pid: indicator-datet [      2904] } hitcount:          1  count:         16
687    { common_pid: gdbus           [      2998] } hitcount:          1  count:         16
688    { common_pid: rtkit-daemon    [      2052] } hitcount:          1  count:          8
689    { common_pid: init            [         1] } hitcount:          2  count:          2
690
691    Totals:
692        Hits: 2116
693        Entries: 51
694        Dropped: 0
695
696  Similarly, if you key a hist trigger on syscall id, for example to
697  gather and display a list of systemwide syscall hits, you can use
698  the special .syscall modifier to display the syscall names rather
699  than raw ids.  The example below keeps a running total of syscall
700  counts for the system during the run::
701
702    # echo 'hist:key=id.syscall:val=hitcount' > \
703           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/raw_syscalls/sys_enter/trigger
704
705    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/raw_syscalls/sys_enter/hist
706    # trigger info: hist:keys=id.syscall:vals=hitcount:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
707
708    { id: sys_fsync                     [ 74] } hitcount:          1
709    { id: sys_newuname                  [ 63] } hitcount:          1
710    { id: sys_prctl                     [157] } hitcount:          1
711    { id: sys_statfs                    [137] } hitcount:          1
712    { id: sys_symlink                   [ 88] } hitcount:          1
713    { id: sys_sendmmsg                  [307] } hitcount:          1
714    { id: sys_semctl                    [ 66] } hitcount:          1
715    { id: sys_readlink                  [ 89] } hitcount:          3
716    { id: sys_bind                      [ 49] } hitcount:          3
717    { id: sys_getsockname               [ 51] } hitcount:          3
718    { id: sys_unlink                    [ 87] } hitcount:          3
719    { id: sys_rename                    [ 82] } hitcount:          4
720    { id: unknown_syscall               [ 58] } hitcount:          4
721    { id: sys_connect                   [ 42] } hitcount:          4
722    { id: sys_getpid                    [ 39] } hitcount:          4
723    .
724    .
725    .
726    { id: sys_rt_sigprocmask            [ 14] } hitcount:        952
727    { id: sys_futex                     [202] } hitcount:       1534
728    { id: sys_write                     [  1] } hitcount:       2689
729    { id: sys_setitimer                 [ 38] } hitcount:       2797
730    { id: sys_read                      [  0] } hitcount:       3202
731    { id: sys_select                    [ 23] } hitcount:       3773
732    { id: sys_writev                    [ 20] } hitcount:       4531
733    { id: sys_poll                      [  7] } hitcount:       8314
734    { id: sys_recvmsg                   [ 47] } hitcount:      13738
735    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16] } hitcount:      21843
736
737    Totals:
738        Hits: 67612
739        Entries: 72
740        Dropped: 0
741
742  The syscall counts above provide a rough overall picture of system
743  call activity on the system; we can see for example that the most
744  popular system call on this system was the 'sys_ioctl' system call.
745
746  We can use 'compound' keys to refine that number and provide some
747  further insight as to which processes exactly contribute to the
748  overall ioctl count.
749
750  The command below keeps a hitcount for every unique combination of
751  system call id and pid - the end result is essentially a table
752  that keeps a per-pid sum of system call hits.  The results are
753  sorted using the system call id as the primary key, and the
754  hitcount sum as the secondary key::
755
756    # echo 'hist:key=id.syscall,common_pid.execname:val=hitcount:sort=id,hitcount' > \
757           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/raw_syscalls/sys_enter/trigger
758
759    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/raw_syscalls/sys_enter/hist
760    # trigger info: hist:keys=id.syscall,common_pid.execname:vals=hitcount:sort=id.syscall,hitcount:size=2048 [active]
761
762    { id: sys_read                      [  0], common_pid: rtkit-daemon    [      1877] } hitcount:          1
763    { id: sys_read                      [  0], common_pid: gdbus           [      2976] } hitcount:          1
764    { id: sys_read                      [  0], common_pid: console-kit-dae [      3400] } hitcount:          1
765    { id: sys_read                      [  0], common_pid: postgres        [      1865] } hitcount:          1
766    { id: sys_read                      [  0], common_pid: deja-dup-monito [      3543] } hitcount:          2
767    { id: sys_read                      [  0], common_pid: NetworkManager  [       890] } hitcount:          2
768    { id: sys_read                      [  0], common_pid: evolution-calen [      3048] } hitcount:          2
769    { id: sys_read                      [  0], common_pid: postgres        [      1864] } hitcount:          2
770    { id: sys_read                      [  0], common_pid: nm-applet       [      3022] } hitcount:          2
771    { id: sys_read                      [  0], common_pid: whoopsie        [      1212] } hitcount:          2
772    .
773    .
774    .
775    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: bash            [      8479] } hitcount:          1
776    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: bash            [      3472] } hitcount:         12
777    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: gnome-terminal  [      3199] } hitcount:         16
778    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: Xorg            [      1267] } hitcount:       1808
779    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: compiz          [      2994] } hitcount:       5580
780    .
781    .
782    .
783    { id: sys_waitid                    [247], common_pid: upstart-dbus-br [      2690] } hitcount:          3
784    { id: sys_waitid                    [247], common_pid: upstart-dbus-br [      2688] } hitcount:         16
785    { id: sys_inotify_add_watch         [254], common_pid: gmain           [       975] } hitcount:          2
786    { id: sys_inotify_add_watch         [254], common_pid: gmain           [      3204] } hitcount:          4
787    { id: sys_inotify_add_watch         [254], common_pid: gmain           [      2888] } hitcount:          4
788    { id: sys_inotify_add_watch         [254], common_pid: gmain           [      3003] } hitcount:          4
789    { id: sys_inotify_add_watch         [254], common_pid: gmain           [      2873] } hitcount:          4
790    { id: sys_inotify_add_watch         [254], common_pid: gmain           [      3196] } hitcount:          6
791    { id: sys_openat                    [257], common_pid: java            [      2623] } hitcount:          2
792    { id: sys_eventfd2                  [290], common_pid: ibus-ui-gtk3    [      2760] } hitcount:          4
793    { id: sys_eventfd2                  [290], common_pid: compiz          [      2994] } hitcount:          6
794
795    Totals:
796        Hits: 31536
797        Entries: 323
798        Dropped: 0
799
800  The above list does give us a breakdown of the ioctl syscall by
801  pid, but it also gives us quite a bit more than that, which we
802  don't really care about at the moment.  Since we know the syscall
803  id for sys_ioctl (16, displayed next to the sys_ioctl name), we
804  can use that to filter out all the other syscalls::
805
806    # echo 'hist:key=id.syscall,common_pid.execname:val=hitcount:sort=id,hitcount if id == 16' > \
807           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/raw_syscalls/sys_enter/trigger
808
809    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/raw_syscalls/sys_enter/hist
810    # trigger info: hist:keys=id.syscall,common_pid.execname:vals=hitcount:sort=id.syscall,hitcount:size=2048 if id == 16 [active]
811
812    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: gmain           [      2769] } hitcount:          1
813    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: evolution-addre [      8571] } hitcount:          1
814    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: gmain           [      3003] } hitcount:          1
815    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: gmain           [      2781] } hitcount:          1
816    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: gmain           [      2829] } hitcount:          1
817    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: bash            [      8726] } hitcount:          1
818    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: bash            [      8508] } hitcount:          1
819    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: gmain           [      2970] } hitcount:          1
820    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: gmain           [      2768] } hitcount:          1
821    .
822    .
823    .
824    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: pool            [      8559] } hitcount:         45
825    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: pool            [      8555] } hitcount:         48
826    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: pool            [      8551] } hitcount:         48
827    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: avahi-daemon    [       896] } hitcount:         66
828    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: Xorg            [      1267] } hitcount:      26674
829    { id: sys_ioctl                     [ 16], common_pid: compiz          [      2994] } hitcount:      73443
830
831    Totals:
832        Hits: 101162
833        Entries: 103
834        Dropped: 0
835
836  The above output shows that 'compiz' and 'Xorg' are far and away
837  the heaviest ioctl callers (which might lead to questions about
838  whether they really need to be making all those calls and to
839  possible avenues for further investigation.)
840
841  The compound key examples used a key and a sum value (hitcount) to
842  sort the output, but we can just as easily use two keys instead.
843  Here's an example where we use a compound key composed of the the
844  common_pid and size event fields.  Sorting with pid as the primary
845  key and 'size' as the secondary key allows us to display an
846  ordered summary of the recvfrom sizes, with counts, received by
847  each process::
848
849    # echo 'hist:key=common_pid.execname,size:val=hitcount:sort=common_pid,size' > \
850           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/syscalls/sys_enter_recvfrom/trigger
851
852    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/syscalls/sys_enter_recvfrom/hist
853    # trigger info: hist:keys=common_pid.execname,size:vals=hitcount:sort=common_pid.execname,size:size=2048 [active]
854
855    { common_pid: smbd            [       784], size:          4 } hitcount:          1
856    { common_pid: dnsmasq         [      1412], size:       4096 } hitcount:        672
857    { common_pid: postgres        [      1796], size:       1000 } hitcount:          6
858    { common_pid: postgres        [      1867], size:       1000 } hitcount:         10
859    { common_pid: bamfdaemon      [      2787], size:         28 } hitcount:          2
860    { common_pid: bamfdaemon      [      2787], size:      14360 } hitcount:          1
861    { common_pid: compiz          [      2994], size:          8 } hitcount:          1
862    { common_pid: compiz          [      2994], size:         20 } hitcount:         11
863    { common_pid: gnome-terminal  [      3199], size:          4 } hitcount:          2
864    { common_pid: firefox         [      8817], size:          4 } hitcount:          1
865    { common_pid: firefox         [      8817], size:          8 } hitcount:          5
866    { common_pid: firefox         [      8817], size:        588 } hitcount:          2
867    { common_pid: firefox         [      8817], size:        628 } hitcount:          1
868    { common_pid: firefox         [      8817], size:       6944 } hitcount:          1
869    { common_pid: firefox         [      8817], size:     408880 } hitcount:          2
870    { common_pid: firefox         [      8822], size:          8 } hitcount:          2
871    { common_pid: firefox         [      8822], size:        160 } hitcount:          2
872    { common_pid: firefox         [      8822], size:        320 } hitcount:          2
873    { common_pid: firefox         [      8822], size:        352 } hitcount:          1
874    .
875    .
876    .
877    { common_pid: pool            [      8923], size:       1960 } hitcount:         10
878    { common_pid: pool            [      8923], size:       2048 } hitcount:         10
879    { common_pid: pool            [      8924], size:       1960 } hitcount:         10
880    { common_pid: pool            [      8924], size:       2048 } hitcount:         10
881    { common_pid: pool            [      8928], size:       1964 } hitcount:          4
882    { common_pid: pool            [      8928], size:       1965 } hitcount:          2
883    { common_pid: pool            [      8928], size:       2048 } hitcount:          6
884    { common_pid: pool            [      8929], size:       1982 } hitcount:          1
885    { common_pid: pool            [      8929], size:       2048 } hitcount:          1
886
887    Totals:
888        Hits: 2016
889        Entries: 224
890        Dropped: 0
891
892  The above example also illustrates the fact that although a compound
893  key is treated as a single entity for hashing purposes, the sub-keys
894  it's composed of can be accessed independently.
895
896  The next example uses a string field as the hash key and
897  demonstrates how you can manually pause and continue a hist trigger.
898  In this example, we'll aggregate fork counts and don't expect a
899  large number of entries in the hash table, so we'll drop it to a
900  much smaller number, say 256::
901
902    # echo 'hist:key=child_comm:val=hitcount:size=256' > \
903           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_fork/trigger
904
905    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_fork/hist
906    # trigger info: hist:keys=child_comm:vals=hitcount:sort=hitcount:size=256 [active]
907
908    { child_comm: dconf worker                        } hitcount:          1
909    { child_comm: ibus-daemon                         } hitcount:          1
910    { child_comm: whoopsie                            } hitcount:          1
911    { child_comm: smbd                                } hitcount:          1
912    { child_comm: gdbus                               } hitcount:          1
913    { child_comm: kthreadd                            } hitcount:          1
914    { child_comm: dconf worker                        } hitcount:          1
915    { child_comm: evolution-alarm                     } hitcount:          2
916    { child_comm: Socket Thread                       } hitcount:          2
917    { child_comm: postgres                            } hitcount:          2
918    { child_comm: bash                                } hitcount:          3
919    { child_comm: compiz                              } hitcount:          3
920    { child_comm: evolution-sourc                     } hitcount:          4
921    { child_comm: dhclient                            } hitcount:          4
922    { child_comm: pool                                } hitcount:          5
923    { child_comm: nm-dispatcher.a                     } hitcount:          8
924    { child_comm: firefox                             } hitcount:          8
925    { child_comm: dbus-daemon                         } hitcount:          8
926    { child_comm: glib-pacrunner                      } hitcount:         10
927    { child_comm: evolution                           } hitcount:         23
928
929    Totals:
930        Hits: 89
931        Entries: 20
932        Dropped: 0
933
934  If we want to pause the hist trigger, we can simply append :pause to
935  the command that started the trigger.  Notice that the trigger info
936  displays as [paused]::
937
938    # echo 'hist:key=child_comm:val=hitcount:size=256:pause' >> \
939           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_fork/trigger
940
941    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_fork/hist
942    # trigger info: hist:keys=child_comm:vals=hitcount:sort=hitcount:size=256 [paused]
943
944    { child_comm: dconf worker                        } hitcount:          1
945    { child_comm: kthreadd                            } hitcount:          1
946    { child_comm: dconf worker                        } hitcount:          1
947    { child_comm: gdbus                               } hitcount:          1
948    { child_comm: ibus-daemon                         } hitcount:          1
949    { child_comm: Socket Thread                       } hitcount:          2
950    { child_comm: evolution-alarm                     } hitcount:          2
951    { child_comm: smbd                                } hitcount:          2
952    { child_comm: bash                                } hitcount:          3
953    { child_comm: whoopsie                            } hitcount:          3
954    { child_comm: compiz                              } hitcount:          3
955    { child_comm: evolution-sourc                     } hitcount:          4
956    { child_comm: pool                                } hitcount:          5
957    { child_comm: postgres                            } hitcount:          6
958    { child_comm: firefox                             } hitcount:          8
959    { child_comm: dhclient                            } hitcount:         10
960    { child_comm: emacs                               } hitcount:         12
961    { child_comm: dbus-daemon                         } hitcount:         20
962    { child_comm: nm-dispatcher.a                     } hitcount:         20
963    { child_comm: evolution                           } hitcount:         35
964    { child_comm: glib-pacrunner                      } hitcount:         59
965
966    Totals:
967        Hits: 199
968        Entries: 21
969        Dropped: 0
970
971  To manually continue having the trigger aggregate events, append
972  :cont instead.  Notice that the trigger info displays as [active]
973  again, and the data has changed::
974
975    # echo 'hist:key=child_comm:val=hitcount:size=256:cont' >> \
976           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_fork/trigger
977
978    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_fork/hist
979    # trigger info: hist:keys=child_comm:vals=hitcount:sort=hitcount:size=256 [active]
980
981    { child_comm: dconf worker                        } hitcount:          1
982    { child_comm: dconf worker                        } hitcount:          1
983    { child_comm: kthreadd                            } hitcount:          1
984    { child_comm: gdbus                               } hitcount:          1
985    { child_comm: ibus-daemon                         } hitcount:          1
986    { child_comm: Socket Thread                       } hitcount:          2
987    { child_comm: evolution-alarm                     } hitcount:          2
988    { child_comm: smbd                                } hitcount:          2
989    { child_comm: whoopsie                            } hitcount:          3
990    { child_comm: compiz                              } hitcount:          3
991    { child_comm: evolution-sourc                     } hitcount:          4
992    { child_comm: bash                                } hitcount:          5
993    { child_comm: pool                                } hitcount:          5
994    { child_comm: postgres                            } hitcount:          6
995    { child_comm: firefox                             } hitcount:          8
996    { child_comm: dhclient                            } hitcount:         11
997    { child_comm: emacs                               } hitcount:         12
998    { child_comm: dbus-daemon                         } hitcount:         22
999    { child_comm: nm-dispatcher.a                     } hitcount:         22
1000    { child_comm: evolution                           } hitcount:         35
1001    { child_comm: glib-pacrunner                      } hitcount:         59
1002
1003    Totals:
1004        Hits: 206
1005        Entries: 21
1006        Dropped: 0
1007
1008  The previous example showed how to start and stop a hist trigger by
1009  appending 'pause' and 'continue' to the hist trigger command.  A
1010  hist trigger can also be started in a paused state by initially
1011  starting the trigger with ':pause' appended.  This allows you to
1012  start the trigger only when you're ready to start collecting data
1013  and not before.  For example, you could start the trigger in a
1014  paused state, then unpause it and do something you want to measure,
1015  then pause the trigger again when done.
1016
1017  Of course, doing this manually can be difficult and error-prone, but
1018  it is possible to automatically start and stop a hist trigger based
1019  on some condition, via the enable_hist and disable_hist triggers.
1020
1021  For example, suppose we wanted to take a look at the relative
1022  weights in terms of skb length for each callpath that leads to a
1023  netif_receive_skb event when downloading a decent-sized file using
1024  wget.
1025
1026  First we set up an initially paused stacktrace trigger on the
1027  netif_receive_skb event::
1028
1029    # echo 'hist:key=stacktrace:vals=len:pause' > \
1030           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/trigger
1031
1032  Next, we set up an 'enable_hist' trigger on the sched_process_exec
1033  event, with an 'if filename==/usr/bin/wget' filter.  The effect of
1034  this new trigger is that it will 'unpause' the hist trigger we just
1035  set up on netif_receive_skb if and only if it sees a
1036  sched_process_exec event with a filename of '/usr/bin/wget'.  When
1037  that happens, all netif_receive_skb events are aggregated into a
1038  hash table keyed on stacktrace::
1039
1040    # echo 'enable_hist:net:netif_receive_skb if filename==/usr/bin/wget' > \
1041           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_exec/trigger
1042
1043  The aggregation continues until the netif_receive_skb is paused
1044  again, which is what the following disable_hist event does by
1045  creating a similar setup on the sched_process_exit event, using the
1046  filter 'comm==wget'::
1047
1048    # echo 'disable_hist:net:netif_receive_skb if comm==wget' > \
1049           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_exit/trigger
1050
1051  Whenever a process exits and the comm field of the disable_hist
1052  trigger filter matches 'comm==wget', the netif_receive_skb hist
1053  trigger is disabled.
1054
1055  The overall effect is that netif_receive_skb events are aggregated
1056  into the hash table for only the duration of the wget.  Executing a
1057  wget command and then listing the 'hist' file will display the
1058  output generated by the wget command::
1059
1060    $ wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/patch-3.19.xz
1061
1062    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/hist
1063    # trigger info: hist:keys=stacktrace:vals=len:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [paused]
1064
1065    { stacktrace:
1066         __netif_receive_skb_core+0x46d/0x990
1067         __netif_receive_skb+0x18/0x60
1068         netif_receive_skb_internal+0x23/0x90
1069         napi_gro_receive+0xc8/0x100
1070         ieee80211_deliver_skb+0xd6/0x270 [mac80211]
1071         ieee80211_rx_handlers+0xccf/0x22f0 [mac80211]
1072         ieee80211_prepare_and_rx_handle+0x4e7/0xc40 [mac80211]
1073         ieee80211_rx+0x31d/0x900 [mac80211]
1074         iwlagn_rx_reply_rx+0x3db/0x6f0 [iwldvm]
1075         iwl_rx_dispatch+0x8e/0xf0 [iwldvm]
1076         iwl_pcie_irq_handler+0xe3c/0x12f0 [iwlwifi]
1077         irq_thread_fn+0x20/0x50
1078         irq_thread+0x11f/0x150
1079         kthread+0xd2/0xf0
1080         ret_from_fork+0x42/0x70
1081    } hitcount:         85  len:      28884
1082    { stacktrace:
1083         __netif_receive_skb_core+0x46d/0x990
1084         __netif_receive_skb+0x18/0x60
1085         netif_receive_skb_internal+0x23/0x90
1086         napi_gro_complete+0xa4/0xe0
1087         dev_gro_receive+0x23a/0x360
1088         napi_gro_receive+0x30/0x100
1089         ieee80211_deliver_skb+0xd6/0x270 [mac80211]
1090         ieee80211_rx_handlers+0xccf/0x22f0 [mac80211]
1091         ieee80211_prepare_and_rx_handle+0x4e7/0xc40 [mac80211]
1092         ieee80211_rx+0x31d/0x900 [mac80211]
1093         iwlagn_rx_reply_rx+0x3db/0x6f0 [iwldvm]
1094         iwl_rx_dispatch+0x8e/0xf0 [iwldvm]
1095         iwl_pcie_irq_handler+0xe3c/0x12f0 [iwlwifi]
1096         irq_thread_fn+0x20/0x50
1097         irq_thread+0x11f/0x150
1098         kthread+0xd2/0xf0
1099    } hitcount:         98  len:     664329
1100    { stacktrace:
1101         __netif_receive_skb_core+0x46d/0x990
1102         __netif_receive_skb+0x18/0x60
1103         process_backlog+0xa8/0x150
1104         net_rx_action+0x15d/0x340
1105         __do_softirq+0x114/0x2c0
1106         do_softirq_own_stack+0x1c/0x30
1107         do_softirq+0x65/0x70
1108         __local_bh_enable_ip+0xb5/0xc0
1109         ip_finish_output+0x1f4/0x840
1110         ip_output+0x6b/0xc0
1111         ip_local_out_sk+0x31/0x40
1112         ip_send_skb+0x1a/0x50
1113         udp_send_skb+0x173/0x2a0
1114         udp_sendmsg+0x2bf/0x9f0
1115         inet_sendmsg+0x64/0xa0
1116         sock_sendmsg+0x3d/0x50
1117    } hitcount:        115  len:      13030
1118    { stacktrace:
1119         __netif_receive_skb_core+0x46d/0x990
1120         __netif_receive_skb+0x18/0x60
1121         netif_receive_skb_internal+0x23/0x90
1122         napi_gro_complete+0xa4/0xe0
1123         napi_gro_flush+0x6d/0x90
1124         iwl_pcie_irq_handler+0x92a/0x12f0 [iwlwifi]
1125         irq_thread_fn+0x20/0x50
1126         irq_thread+0x11f/0x150
1127         kthread+0xd2/0xf0
1128         ret_from_fork+0x42/0x70
1129    } hitcount:        934  len:    5512212
1130
1131    Totals:
1132        Hits: 1232
1133        Entries: 4
1134        Dropped: 0
1135
1136  The above shows all the netif_receive_skb callpaths and their total
1137  lengths for the duration of the wget command.
1138
1139  The 'clear' hist trigger param can be used to clear the hash table.
1140  Suppose we wanted to try another run of the previous example but
1141  this time also wanted to see the complete list of events that went
1142  into the histogram.  In order to avoid having to set everything up
1143  again, we can just clear the histogram first::
1144
1145    # echo 'hist:key=stacktrace:vals=len:clear' >> \
1146           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/trigger
1147
1148  Just to verify that it is in fact cleared, here's what we now see in
1149  the hist file::
1150
1151    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/hist
1152    # trigger info: hist:keys=stacktrace:vals=len:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [paused]
1153
1154    Totals:
1155        Hits: 0
1156        Entries: 0
1157        Dropped: 0
1158
1159  Since we want to see the detailed list of every netif_receive_skb
1160  event occurring during the new run, which are in fact the same
1161  events being aggregated into the hash table, we add some additional
1162  'enable_event' events to the triggering sched_process_exec and
1163  sched_process_exit events as such::
1164
1165    # echo 'enable_event:net:netif_receive_skb if filename==/usr/bin/wget' > \
1166           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_exec/trigger
1167
1168    # echo 'disable_event:net:netif_receive_skb if comm==wget' > \
1169           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_exit/trigger
1170
1171  If you read the trigger files for the sched_process_exec and
1172  sched_process_exit triggers, you should see two triggers for each:
1173  one enabling/disabling the hist aggregation and the other
1174  enabling/disabling the logging of events::
1175
1176    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_exec/trigger
1177    enable_event:net:netif_receive_skb:unlimited if filename==/usr/bin/wget
1178    enable_hist:net:netif_receive_skb:unlimited if filename==/usr/bin/wget
1179
1180    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_exit/trigger
1181    enable_event:net:netif_receive_skb:unlimited if comm==wget
1182    disable_hist:net:netif_receive_skb:unlimited if comm==wget
1183
1184  In other words, whenever either of the sched_process_exec or
1185  sched_process_exit events is hit and matches 'wget', it enables or
1186  disables both the histogram and the event log, and what you end up
1187  with is a hash table and set of events just covering the specified
1188  duration.  Run the wget command again::
1189
1190    $ wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/patch-3.19.xz
1191
1192  Displaying the 'hist' file should show something similar to what you
1193  saw in the last run, but this time you should also see the
1194  individual events in the trace file::
1195
1196    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/trace
1197
1198    # tracer: nop
1199    #
1200    # entries-in-buffer/entries-written: 183/1426   #P:4
1201    #
1202    #                              _-----=> irqs-off
1203    #                             / _----=> need-resched
1204    #                            | / _---=> hardirq/softirq
1205    #                            || / _--=> preempt-depth
1206    #                            ||| /     delay
1207    #           TASK-PID   CPU#  ||||    TIMESTAMP  FUNCTION
1208    #              | |       |   ||||       |         |
1209                wget-15108 [000] ..s1 31769.606929: netif_receive_skb: dev=lo skbaddr=ffff88009c353100 len=60
1210                wget-15108 [000] ..s1 31769.606999: netif_receive_skb: dev=lo skbaddr=ffff88009c353200 len=60
1211             dnsmasq-1382  [000] ..s1 31769.677652: netif_receive_skb: dev=lo skbaddr=ffff88009c352b00 len=130
1212             dnsmasq-1382  [000] ..s1 31769.685917: netif_receive_skb: dev=lo skbaddr=ffff88009c352200 len=138
1213    ##### CPU 2 buffer started ####
1214      irq/29-iwlwifi-559   [002] ..s. 31772.031529: netif_receive_skb: dev=wlan0 skbaddr=ffff88009d433d00 len=2948
1215      irq/29-iwlwifi-559   [002] ..s. 31772.031572: netif_receive_skb: dev=wlan0 skbaddr=ffff88009d432200 len=1500
1216      irq/29-iwlwifi-559   [002] ..s. 31772.032196: netif_receive_skb: dev=wlan0 skbaddr=ffff88009d433100 len=2948
1217      irq/29-iwlwifi-559   [002] ..s. 31772.032761: netif_receive_skb: dev=wlan0 skbaddr=ffff88009d433000 len=2948
1218      irq/29-iwlwifi-559   [002] ..s. 31772.033220: netif_receive_skb: dev=wlan0 skbaddr=ffff88009d432e00 len=1500
1219    .
1220    .
1221    .
1222
1223  The following example demonstrates how multiple hist triggers can be
1224  attached to a given event.  This capability can be useful for
1225  creating a set of different summaries derived from the same set of
1226  events, or for comparing the effects of different filters, among
1227  other things::
1228
1229    # echo 'hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=len if len < 0' >> \
1230           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/trigger
1231    # echo 'hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=len if len > 4096' >> \
1232           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/trigger
1233    # echo 'hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=len if len == 256' >> \
1234           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/trigger
1235    # echo 'hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=len' >> \
1236           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/trigger
1237    # echo 'hist:keys=len:vals=common_preempt_count' >> \
1238           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/trigger
1239
1240  The above set of commands create four triggers differing only in
1241  their filters, along with a completely different though fairly
1242  nonsensical trigger.  Note that in order to append multiple hist
1243  triggers to the same file, you should use the '>>' operator to
1244  append them ('>' will also add the new hist trigger, but will remove
1245  any existing hist triggers beforehand).
1246
1247  Displaying the contents of the 'hist' file for the event shows the
1248  contents of all five histograms::
1249
1250    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/hist
1251
1252    # event histogram
1253    #
1254    # trigger info: hist:keys=len:vals=hitcount,common_preempt_count:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
1255    #
1256
1257    { len:        176 } hitcount:          1  common_preempt_count:          0
1258    { len:        223 } hitcount:          1  common_preempt_count:          0
1259    { len:       4854 } hitcount:          1  common_preempt_count:          0
1260    { len:        395 } hitcount:          1  common_preempt_count:          0
1261    { len:        177 } hitcount:          1  common_preempt_count:          0
1262    { len:        446 } hitcount:          1  common_preempt_count:          0
1263    { len:       1601 } hitcount:          1  common_preempt_count:          0
1264    .
1265    .
1266    .
1267    { len:       1280 } hitcount:         66  common_preempt_count:          0
1268    { len:        116 } hitcount:         81  common_preempt_count:         40
1269    { len:        708 } hitcount:        112  common_preempt_count:          0
1270    { len:         46 } hitcount:        221  common_preempt_count:          0
1271    { len:       1264 } hitcount:        458  common_preempt_count:          0
1272
1273    Totals:
1274        Hits: 1428
1275        Entries: 147
1276        Dropped: 0
1277
1278
1279    # event histogram
1280    #
1281    # trigger info: hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=hitcount,len:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
1282    #
1283
1284    { skbaddr: ffff8800baee5e00 } hitcount:          1  len:        130
1285    { skbaddr: ffff88005f3d5600 } hitcount:          1  len:       1280
1286    { skbaddr: ffff88005f3d4900 } hitcount:          1  len:       1280
1287    { skbaddr: ffff88009fed6300 } hitcount:          1  len:        115
1288    { skbaddr: ffff88009fe0ad00 } hitcount:          1  len:        115
1289    { skbaddr: ffff88008cdb1900 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1290    { skbaddr: ffff880064b5ef00 } hitcount:          1  len:        118
1291    { skbaddr: ffff880044e3c700 } hitcount:          1  len:         60
1292    { skbaddr: ffff880100065900 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1293    { skbaddr: ffff8800d46bd500 } hitcount:          1  len:        116
1294    { skbaddr: ffff88005f3d5f00 } hitcount:          1  len:       1280
1295    { skbaddr: ffff880100064700 } hitcount:          1  len:        365
1296    { skbaddr: ffff8800badb6f00 } hitcount:          1  len:         60
1297    .
1298    .
1299    .
1300    { skbaddr: ffff88009fe0be00 } hitcount:         27  len:      24677
1301    { skbaddr: ffff88009fe0a400 } hitcount:         27  len:      23052
1302    { skbaddr: ffff88009fe0b700 } hitcount:         31  len:      25589
1303    { skbaddr: ffff88009fe0b600 } hitcount:         32  len:      27326
1304    { skbaddr: ffff88006a462800 } hitcount:         68  len:      71678
1305    { skbaddr: ffff88006a463700 } hitcount:         70  len:      72678
1306    { skbaddr: ffff88006a462b00 } hitcount:         71  len:      77589
1307    { skbaddr: ffff88006a463600 } hitcount:         73  len:      71307
1308    { skbaddr: ffff88006a462200 } hitcount:         81  len:      81032
1309
1310    Totals:
1311        Hits: 1451
1312        Entries: 318
1313        Dropped: 0
1314
1315
1316    # event histogram
1317    #
1318    # trigger info: hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=hitcount,len:sort=hitcount:size=2048 if len == 256 [active]
1319    #
1320
1321
1322    Totals:
1323        Hits: 0
1324        Entries: 0
1325        Dropped: 0
1326
1327
1328    # event histogram
1329    #
1330    # trigger info: hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=hitcount,len:sort=hitcount:size=2048 if len > 4096 [active]
1331    #
1332
1333    { skbaddr: ffff88009fd2c300 } hitcount:          1  len:       7212
1334    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcce00 } hitcount:          1  len:       7212
1335    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcd700 } hitcount:          1  len:       7212
1336    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcda00 } hitcount:          1  len:      21492
1337    { skbaddr: ffff8800ae2e2d00 } hitcount:          1  len:       7212
1338    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcdb00 } hitcount:          1  len:       7212
1339    { skbaddr: ffff88006a4df500 } hitcount:          1  len:       4854
1340    { skbaddr: ffff88008ce47b00 } hitcount:          1  len:      18636
1341    { skbaddr: ffff8800ae2e2200 } hitcount:          1  len:      12924
1342    { skbaddr: ffff88005f3e1000 } hitcount:          1  len:       4356
1343    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcdc00 } hitcount:          2  len:      24420
1344    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcc200 } hitcount:          2  len:      12996
1345
1346    Totals:
1347        Hits: 14
1348        Entries: 12
1349        Dropped: 0
1350
1351
1352    # event histogram
1353    #
1354    # trigger info: hist:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=hitcount,len:sort=hitcount:size=2048 if len < 0 [active]
1355    #
1356
1357
1358    Totals:
1359        Hits: 0
1360        Entries: 0
1361        Dropped: 0
1362
1363  Named triggers can be used to have triggers share a common set of
1364  histogram data.  This capability is mostly useful for combining the
1365  output of events generated by tracepoints contained inside inline
1366  functions, but names can be used in a hist trigger on any event.
1367  For example, these two triggers when hit will update the same 'len'
1368  field in the shared 'foo' histogram data::
1369
1370    # echo 'hist:name=foo:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=len' > \
1371           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/trigger
1372    # echo 'hist:name=foo:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=len' > \
1373           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_rx/trigger
1374
1375  You can see that they're updating common histogram data by reading
1376  each event's hist files at the same time::
1377
1378    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_receive_skb/hist;
1379      cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_rx/hist
1380
1381    # event histogram
1382    #
1383    # trigger info: hist:name=foo:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=hitcount,len:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
1384    #
1385
1386    { skbaddr: ffff88000ad53500 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1387    { skbaddr: ffff8800af5a1500 } hitcount:          1  len:         76
1388    { skbaddr: ffff8800d62a1900 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1389    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bccb00 } hitcount:          1  len:        468
1390    { skbaddr: ffff8800d3c69900 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1391    { skbaddr: ffff88009ff09100 } hitcount:          1  len:         52
1392    { skbaddr: ffff88010f13ab00 } hitcount:          1  len:        168
1393    { skbaddr: ffff88006a54f400 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1394    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcc500 } hitcount:          1  len:        260
1395    { skbaddr: ffff880064505000 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1396    { skbaddr: ffff8800baf24e00 } hitcount:          1  len:         32
1397    { skbaddr: ffff88009fe0ad00 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1398    { skbaddr: ffff8800d3edff00 } hitcount:          1  len:         44
1399    { skbaddr: ffff88009fe0b400 } hitcount:          1  len:        168
1400    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1c55a00 } hitcount:          1  len:         40
1401    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcd100 } hitcount:          1  len:         40
1402    { skbaddr: ffff880064505f00 } hitcount:          1  len:        174
1403    { skbaddr: ffff8800a8bff200 } hitcount:          1  len:        160
1404    { skbaddr: ffff880044e3cc00 } hitcount:          1  len:         76
1405    { skbaddr: ffff8800a8bfe700 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1406    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcdc00 } hitcount:          1  len:         32
1407    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1f64800 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1408    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcde00 } hitcount:          1  len:        988
1409    { skbaddr: ffff88006a5dea00 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1410    { skbaddr: ffff88002e37a200 } hitcount:          1  len:         44
1411    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1f32c00 } hitcount:          2  len:        676
1412    { skbaddr: ffff88000ad52600 } hitcount:          2  len:        107
1413    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1f91e00 } hitcount:          2  len:         92
1414    { skbaddr: ffff8800af5a0200 } hitcount:          2  len:        142
1415    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcc600 } hitcount:          2  len:        220
1416    { skbaddr: ffff8800ba36f500 } hitcount:          2  len:         92
1417    { skbaddr: ffff8800d021f800 } hitcount:          2  len:         92
1418    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1f33600 } hitcount:          2  len:        675
1419    { skbaddr: ffff8800a8bfff00 } hitcount:          3  len:        138
1420    { skbaddr: ffff8800d62a1300 } hitcount:          3  len:        138
1421    { skbaddr: ffff88002e37a100 } hitcount:          4  len:        184
1422    { skbaddr: ffff880064504400 } hitcount:          4  len:        184
1423    { skbaddr: ffff8800a8bfec00 } hitcount:          4  len:        184
1424    { skbaddr: ffff88000ad53700 } hitcount:          5  len:        230
1425    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcdb00 } hitcount:          5  len:        196
1426    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1f90000 } hitcount:          6  len:        276
1427    { skbaddr: ffff88006a54f900 } hitcount:          6  len:        276
1428
1429    Totals:
1430        Hits: 81
1431        Entries: 42
1432        Dropped: 0
1433    # event histogram
1434    #
1435    # trigger info: hist:name=foo:keys=skbaddr.hex:vals=hitcount,len:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
1436    #
1437
1438    { skbaddr: ffff88000ad53500 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1439    { skbaddr: ffff8800af5a1500 } hitcount:          1  len:         76
1440    { skbaddr: ffff8800d62a1900 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1441    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bccb00 } hitcount:          1  len:        468
1442    { skbaddr: ffff8800d3c69900 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1443    { skbaddr: ffff88009ff09100 } hitcount:          1  len:         52
1444    { skbaddr: ffff88010f13ab00 } hitcount:          1  len:        168
1445    { skbaddr: ffff88006a54f400 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1446    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcc500 } hitcount:          1  len:        260
1447    { skbaddr: ffff880064505000 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1448    { skbaddr: ffff8800baf24e00 } hitcount:          1  len:         32
1449    { skbaddr: ffff88009fe0ad00 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1450    { skbaddr: ffff8800d3edff00 } hitcount:          1  len:         44
1451    { skbaddr: ffff88009fe0b400 } hitcount:          1  len:        168
1452    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1c55a00 } hitcount:          1  len:         40
1453    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcd100 } hitcount:          1  len:         40
1454    { skbaddr: ffff880064505f00 } hitcount:          1  len:        174
1455    { skbaddr: ffff8800a8bff200 } hitcount:          1  len:        160
1456    { skbaddr: ffff880044e3cc00 } hitcount:          1  len:         76
1457    { skbaddr: ffff8800a8bfe700 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1458    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcdc00 } hitcount:          1  len:         32
1459    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1f64800 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1460    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcde00 } hitcount:          1  len:        988
1461    { skbaddr: ffff88006a5dea00 } hitcount:          1  len:         46
1462    { skbaddr: ffff88002e37a200 } hitcount:          1  len:         44
1463    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1f32c00 } hitcount:          2  len:        676
1464    { skbaddr: ffff88000ad52600 } hitcount:          2  len:        107
1465    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1f91e00 } hitcount:          2  len:         92
1466    { skbaddr: ffff8800af5a0200 } hitcount:          2  len:        142
1467    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcc600 } hitcount:          2  len:        220
1468    { skbaddr: ffff8800ba36f500 } hitcount:          2  len:         92
1469    { skbaddr: ffff8800d021f800 } hitcount:          2  len:         92
1470    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1f33600 } hitcount:          2  len:        675
1471    { skbaddr: ffff8800a8bfff00 } hitcount:          3  len:        138
1472    { skbaddr: ffff8800d62a1300 } hitcount:          3  len:        138
1473    { skbaddr: ffff88002e37a100 } hitcount:          4  len:        184
1474    { skbaddr: ffff880064504400 } hitcount:          4  len:        184
1475    { skbaddr: ffff8800a8bfec00 } hitcount:          4  len:        184
1476    { skbaddr: ffff88000ad53700 } hitcount:          5  len:        230
1477    { skbaddr: ffff8800d2bcdb00 } hitcount:          5  len:        196
1478    { skbaddr: ffff8800a1f90000 } hitcount:          6  len:        276
1479    { skbaddr: ffff88006a54f900 } hitcount:          6  len:        276
1480
1481    Totals:
1482        Hits: 81
1483        Entries: 42
1484        Dropped: 0
1485
1486  And here's an example that shows how to combine histogram data from
1487  any two events even if they don't share any 'compatible' fields
1488  other than 'hitcount' and 'stacktrace'.  These commands create a
1489  couple of triggers named 'bar' using those fields::
1490
1491    # echo 'hist:name=bar:key=stacktrace:val=hitcount' > \
1492           /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_fork/trigger
1493    # echo 'hist:name=bar:key=stacktrace:val=hitcount' > \
1494          /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_rx/trigger
1495
1496  And displaying the output of either shows some interesting if
1497  somewhat confusing output::
1498
1499    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_fork/hist
1500    # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/net/netif_rx/hist
1501
1502    # event histogram
1503    #
1504    # trigger info: hist:name=bar:keys=stacktrace:vals=hitcount:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
1505    #
1506
1507    { stacktrace:
1508             kernel_clone+0x18e/0x330
1509             kernel_thread+0x29/0x30
1510             kthreadd+0x154/0x1b0
1511             ret_from_fork+0x3f/0x70
1512    } hitcount:          1
1513    { stacktrace:
1514             netif_rx_internal+0xb2/0xd0
1515             netif_rx_ni+0x20/0x70
1516             dev_loopback_xmit+0xaa/0xd0
1517             ip_mc_output+0x126/0x240
1518             ip_local_out_sk+0x31/0x40
1519             igmp_send_report+0x1e9/0x230
1520             igmp_timer_expire+0xe9/0x120
1521             call_timer_fn+0x39/0xf0
1522             run_timer_softirq+0x1e1/0x290
1523             __do_softirq+0xfd/0x290
1524             irq_exit+0x98/0xb0
1525             smp_apic_timer_interrupt+0x4a/0x60
1526             apic_timer_interrupt+0x6d/0x80
1527             cpuidle_enter+0x17/0x20
1528             call_cpuidle+0x3b/0x60
1529             cpu_startup_entry+0x22d/0x310
1530    } hitcount:          1
1531    { stacktrace:
1532             netif_rx_internal+0xb2/0xd0
1533             netif_rx_ni+0x20/0x70
1534             dev_loopback_xmit+0xaa/0xd0
1535             ip_mc_output+0x17f/0x240
1536             ip_local_out_sk+0x31/0x40
1537             ip_send_skb+0x1a/0x50
1538             udp_send_skb+0x13e/0x270
1539             udp_sendmsg+0x2bf/0x980
1540             inet_sendmsg+0x67/0xa0
1541             sock_sendmsg+0x38/0x50
1542             SYSC_sendto+0xef/0x170
1543             SyS_sendto+0xe/0x10
1544             entry_SYSCALL_64_fastpath+0x12/0x6a
1545    } hitcount:          2
1546    { stacktrace:
1547             netif_rx_internal+0xb2/0xd0
1548             netif_rx+0x1c/0x60
1549             loopback_xmit+0x6c/0xb0
1550             dev_hard_start_xmit+0x219/0x3a0
1551             __dev_queue_xmit+0x415/0x4f0
1552             dev_queue_xmit_sk+0x13/0x20
1553             ip_finish_output2+0x237/0x340
1554             ip_finish_output+0x113/0x1d0
1555             ip_output+0x66/0xc0
1556             ip_local_out_sk+0x31/0x40
1557             ip_send_skb+0x1a/0x50
1558             udp_send_skb+0x16d/0x270
1559             udp_sendmsg+0x2bf/0x980
1560             inet_sendmsg+0x67/0xa0
1561             sock_sendmsg+0x38/0x50
1562             ___sys_sendmsg+0x14e/0x270
1563    } hitcount:         76
1564    { stacktrace:
1565             netif_rx_internal+0xb2/0xd0
1566             netif_rx+0x1c/0x60
1567             loopback_xmit+0x6c/0xb0
1568             dev_hard_start_xmit+0x219/0x3a0
1569             __dev_queue_xmit+0x415/0x4f0
1570             dev_queue_xmit_sk+0x13/0x20
1571             ip_finish_output2+0x237/0x340
1572             ip_finish_output+0x113/0x1d0
1573             ip_output+0x66/0xc0
1574             ip_local_out_sk+0x31/0x40
1575             ip_send_skb+0x1a/0x50
1576             udp_send_skb+0x16d/0x270
1577             udp_sendmsg+0x2bf/0x980
1578             inet_sendmsg+0x67/0xa0
1579             sock_sendmsg+0x38/0x50
1580             ___sys_sendmsg+0x269/0x270
1581    } hitcount:         77
1582    { stacktrace:
1583             netif_rx_internal+0xb2/0xd0
1584             netif_rx+0x1c/0x60
1585             loopback_xmit+0x6c/0xb0
1586             dev_hard_start_xmit+0x219/0x3a0
1587             __dev_queue_xmit+0x415/0x4f0
1588             dev_queue_xmit_sk+0x13/0x20
1589             ip_finish_output2+0x237/0x340
1590             ip_finish_output+0x113/0x1d0
1591             ip_output+0x66/0xc0
1592             ip_local_out_sk+0x31/0x40
1593             ip_send_skb+0x1a/0x50
1594             udp_send_skb+0x16d/0x270
1595             udp_sendmsg+0x2bf/0x980
1596             inet_sendmsg+0x67/0xa0
1597             sock_sendmsg+0x38/0x50
1598             SYSC_sendto+0xef/0x170
1599    } hitcount:         88
1600    { stacktrace:
1601             kernel_clone+0x18e/0x330
1602             SyS_clone+0x19/0x20
1603             entry_SYSCALL_64_fastpath+0x12/0x6a
1604    } hitcount:        244
1605
1606    Totals:
1607        Hits: 489
1608        Entries: 7
1609        Dropped: 0
1610
16112.2 Inter-event hist triggers
1612-----------------------------
1613
1614Inter-event hist triggers are hist triggers that combine values from
1615one or more other events and create a histogram using that data.  Data
1616from an inter-event histogram can in turn become the source for
1617further combined histograms, thus providing a chain of related
1618histograms, which is important for some applications.
1619
1620The most important example of an inter-event quantity that can be used
1621in this manner is latency, which is simply a difference in timestamps
1622between two events.  Although latency is the most important
1623inter-event quantity, note that because the support is completely
1624general across the trace event subsystem, any event field can be used
1625in an inter-event quantity.
1626
1627An example of a histogram that combines data from other histograms
1628into a useful chain would be a 'wakeupswitch latency' histogram that
1629combines a 'wakeup latency' histogram and a 'switch latency'
1630histogram.
1631
1632Normally, a hist trigger specification consists of a (possibly
1633compound) key along with one or more numeric values, which are
1634continually updated sums associated with that key.  A histogram
1635specification in this case consists of individual key and value
1636specifications that refer to trace event fields associated with a
1637single event type.
1638
1639The inter-event hist trigger extension allows fields from multiple
1640events to be referenced and combined into a multi-event histogram
1641specification.  In support of this overall goal, a few enabling
1642features have been added to the hist trigger support:
1643
1644  - In order to compute an inter-event quantity, a value from one
1645    event needs to saved and then referenced from another event.  This
1646    requires the introduction of support for histogram 'variables'.
1647
1648  - The computation of inter-event quantities and their combination
1649    require some minimal amount of support for applying simple
1650    expressions to variables (+ and -).
1651
1652  - A histogram consisting of inter-event quantities isn't logically a
1653    histogram on either event (so having the 'hist' file for either
1654    event host the histogram output doesn't really make sense).  To
1655    address the idea that the histogram is associated with a
1656    combination of events, support is added allowing the creation of
1657    'synthetic' events that are events derived from other events.
1658    These synthetic events are full-fledged events just like any other
1659    and can be used as such, as for instance to create the
1660    'combination' histograms mentioned previously.
1661
1662  - A set of 'actions' can be associated with histogram entries -
1663    these can be used to generate the previously mentioned synthetic
1664    events, but can also be used for other purposes, such as for
1665    example saving context when a 'max' latency has been hit.
1666
1667  - Trace events don't have a 'timestamp' associated with them, but
1668    there is an implicit timestamp saved along with an event in the
1669    underlying ftrace ring buffer.  This timestamp is now exposed as a
1670    a synthetic field named 'common_timestamp' which can be used in
1671    histograms as if it were any other event field; it isn't an actual
1672    field in the trace format but rather is a synthesized value that
1673    nonetheless can be used as if it were an actual field.  By default
1674    it is in units of nanoseconds; appending '.usecs' to a
1675    common_timestamp field changes the units to microseconds.
1676
1677A note on inter-event timestamps: If common_timestamp is used in a
1678histogram, the trace buffer is automatically switched over to using
1679absolute timestamps and the "global" trace clock, in order to avoid
1680bogus timestamp differences with other clocks that aren't coherent
1681across CPUs.  This can be overridden by specifying one of the other
1682trace clocks instead, using the "clock=XXX" hist trigger attribute,
1683where XXX is any of the clocks listed in the tracing/trace_clock
1684pseudo-file.
1685
1686These features are described in more detail in the following sections.
1687
16882.2.1 Histogram Variables
1689-------------------------
1690
1691Variables are simply named locations used for saving and retrieving
1692values between matching events.  A 'matching' event is defined as an
1693event that has a matching key - if a variable is saved for a histogram
1694entry corresponding to that key, any subsequent event with a matching
1695key can access that variable.
1696
1697A variable's value is normally available to any subsequent event until
1698it is set to something else by a subsequent event.  The one exception
1699to that rule is that any variable used in an expression is essentially
1700'read-once' - once it's used by an expression in a subsequent event,
1701it's reset to its 'unset' state, which means it can't be used again
1702unless it's set again.  This ensures not only that an event doesn't
1703use an uninitialized variable in a calculation, but that that variable
1704is used only once and not for any unrelated subsequent match.
1705
1706The basic syntax for saving a variable is to simply prefix a unique
1707variable name not corresponding to any keyword along with an '=' sign
1708to any event field.
1709
1710Either keys or values can be saved and retrieved in this way.  This
1711creates a variable named 'ts0' for a histogram entry with the key
1712'next_pid'::
1713
1714  # echo 'hist:keys=next_pid:vals=$ts0:ts0=common_timestamp ... >> \
1715	event/trigger
1716
1717The ts0 variable can be accessed by any subsequent event having the
1718same pid as 'next_pid'.
1719
1720Variable references are formed by prepending the variable name with
1721the '$' sign.  Thus for example, the ts0 variable above would be
1722referenced as '$ts0' in expressions.
1723
1724Because 'vals=' is used, the common_timestamp variable value above
1725will also be summed as a normal histogram value would (though for a
1726timestamp it makes little sense).
1727
1728The below shows that a key value can also be saved in the same way::
1729
1730  # echo 'hist:timer_pid=common_pid:key=timer_pid ...' >> event/trigger
1731
1732If a variable isn't a key variable or prefixed with 'vals=', the
1733associated event field will be saved in a variable but won't be summed
1734as a value::
1735
1736  # echo 'hist:keys=next_pid:ts1=common_timestamp ...' >> event/trigger
1737
1738Multiple variables can be assigned at the same time.  The below would
1739result in both ts0 and b being created as variables, with both
1740common_timestamp and field1 additionally being summed as values::
1741
1742  # echo 'hist:keys=pid:vals=$ts0,$b:ts0=common_timestamp,b=field1 ...' >> \
1743	event/trigger
1744
1745Note that variable assignments can appear either preceding or
1746following their use.  The command below behaves identically to the
1747command above::
1748
1749  # echo 'hist:keys=pid:ts0=common_timestamp,b=field1:vals=$ts0,$b ...' >> \
1750	event/trigger
1751
1752Any number of variables not bound to a 'vals=' prefix can also be
1753assigned by simply separating them with colons.  Below is the same
1754thing but without the values being summed in the histogram::
1755
1756  # echo 'hist:keys=pid:ts0=common_timestamp:b=field1 ...' >> event/trigger
1757
1758Variables set as above can be referenced and used in expressions on
1759another event.
1760
1761For example, here's how a latency can be calculated::
1762
1763  # echo 'hist:keys=pid,prio:ts0=common_timestamp ...' >> event1/trigger
1764  # echo 'hist:keys=next_pid:wakeup_lat=common_timestamp-$ts0 ...' >> event2/trigger
1765
1766In the first line above, the event's timestamp is saved into the
1767variable ts0.  In the next line, ts0 is subtracted from the second
1768event's timestamp to produce the latency, which is then assigned into
1769yet another variable, 'wakeup_lat'.  The hist trigger below in turn
1770makes use of the wakeup_lat variable to compute a combined latency
1771using the same key and variable from yet another event::
1772
1773  # echo 'hist:key=pid:wakeupswitch_lat=$wakeup_lat+$switchtime_lat ...' >> event3/trigger
1774
1775Expressions support the use of addition, subtraction, multiplication and
1776division operators (+-\*/).
1777
1778Note if division by zero cannot be detected at parse time (i.e. the
1779divisor is not a constant), the result will be -1.
1780
1781Numeric constants can also be used directly in an expression::
1782
1783  # echo 'hist:keys=next_pid:timestamp_secs=common_timestamp/1000000 ...' >> event/trigger
1784
1785or assigned to a variable and referenced in a subsequent expression::
1786
1787  # echo 'hist:keys=next_pid:us_per_sec=1000000 ...' >> event/trigger
1788  # echo 'hist:keys=next_pid:timestamp_secs=common_timestamp/$us_per_sec ...' >> event/trigger
1789
1790Variables can even hold stacktraces, which are useful with synthetic events.
1791
17922.2.2 Synthetic Events
1793----------------------
1794
1795Synthetic events are user-defined events generated from hist trigger
1796variables or fields associated with one or more other events.  Their
1797purpose is to provide a mechanism for displaying data spanning
1798multiple events consistent with the existing and already familiar
1799usage for normal events.
1800
1801To define a synthetic event, the user writes a simple specification
1802consisting of the name of the new event along with one or more
1803variables and their types, which can be any valid field type,
1804separated by semicolons, to the tracing/synthetic_events file.
1805
1806See synth_field_size() for available types.
1807
1808If field_name contains [n], the field is considered to be a static array.
1809
1810If field_names contains[] (no subscript), the field is considered to
1811be a dynamic array, which will only take as much space in the event as
1812is required to hold the array.
1813
1814A string field can be specified using either the static notation:
1815
1816  char name[32];
1817
1818Or the dynamic:
1819
1820  char name[];
1821
1822The size limit for either is 256.
1823
1824For instance, the following creates a new event named 'wakeup_latency'
1825with 3 fields: lat, pid, and prio.  Each of those fields is simply a
1826variable reference to a variable on another event::
1827
1828  # echo 'wakeup_latency \
1829          u64 lat; \
1830          pid_t pid; \
1831	  int prio' >> \
1832	  /sys/kernel/tracing/synthetic_events
1833
1834Reading the tracing/synthetic_events file lists all the currently
1835defined synthetic events, in this case the event defined above::
1836
1837  # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/synthetic_events
1838    wakeup_latency u64 lat; pid_t pid; int prio
1839
1840An existing synthetic event definition can be removed by prepending
1841the command that defined it with a '!'::
1842
1843  # echo '!wakeup_latency u64 lat pid_t pid int prio' >> \
1844    /sys/kernel/tracing/synthetic_events
1845
1846At this point, there isn't yet an actual 'wakeup_latency' event
1847instantiated in the event subsystem - for this to happen, a 'hist
1848trigger action' needs to be instantiated and bound to actual fields
1849and variables defined on other events (see Section 2.2.3 below on
1850how that is done using hist trigger 'onmatch' action). Once that is
1851done, the 'wakeup_latency' synthetic event instance is created.
1852
1853The new event is created under the tracing/events/synthetic/ directory
1854and looks and behaves just like any other event::
1855
1856  # ls /sys/kernel/tracing/events/synthetic/wakeup_latency
1857        enable  filter  format  hist  id  trigger
1858
1859A histogram can now be defined for the new synthetic event::
1860
1861  # echo 'hist:keys=pid,prio,lat.log2:sort=lat' >> \
1862        /sys/kernel/tracing/events/synthetic/wakeup_latency/trigger
1863
1864The above shows the latency "lat" in a power of 2 grouping.
1865
1866Like any other event, once a histogram is enabled for the event, the
1867output can be displayed by reading the event's 'hist' file::
1868
1869  # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/synthetic/wakeup_latency/hist
1870
1871  # event histogram
1872  #
1873  # trigger info: hist:keys=pid,prio,lat.log2:vals=hitcount:sort=lat.log2:size=2048 [active]
1874  #
1875
1876  { pid:       2035, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:         43
1877  { pid:       2034, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:         60
1878  { pid:       2029, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:        965
1879  { pid:       2034, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:          9
1880  { pid:       2033, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:          5
1881  { pid:       2030, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:        335
1882  { pid:       2030, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:         10
1883  { pid:       2032, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:          1
1884  { pid:       2035, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:          2
1885  { pid:       2031, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:        176
1886  { pid:       2028, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:         15
1887  { pid:       2033, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:         91
1888  { pid:       2032, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:        125
1889  { pid:       2029, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:          4
1890  { pid:       2031, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^2  } hitcount:          3
1891  { pid:       2029, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:          2
1892  { pid:       2035, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:         41
1893  { pid:       2030, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:          1
1894  { pid:       2032, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:         32
1895  { pid:       2031, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:         44
1896  { pid:       2034, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:         40
1897  { pid:       2030, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:         29
1898  { pid:       2033, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:         31
1899  { pid:       2029, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:         31
1900  { pid:       2028, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:         18
1901  { pid:       2031, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^3  } hitcount:          2
1902  { pid:       2028, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^4  } hitcount:          1
1903  { pid:       2029, prio:          9, lat: ~ 2^4  } hitcount:          4
1904  { pid:       2031, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^7  } hitcount:          1
1905  { pid:       2032, prio:        120, lat: ~ 2^7  } hitcount:          1
1906
1907  Totals:
1908      Hits: 2122
1909      Entries: 30
1910      Dropped: 0
1911
1912
1913The latency values can also be grouped linearly by a given size with
1914the ".buckets" modifier and specify a size (in this case groups of 10)::
1915
1916  # echo 'hist:keys=pid,prio,lat.buckets=10:sort=lat' >> \
1917        /sys/kernel/tracing/events/synthetic/wakeup_latency/trigger
1918
1919  # event histogram
1920  #
1921  # trigger info: hist:keys=pid,prio,lat.buckets=10:vals=hitcount:sort=lat.buckets=10:size=2048 [active]
1922  #
1923
1924  { pid:       2067, prio:          9, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:        220
1925  { pid:       2068, prio:          9, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:        157
1926  { pid:       2070, prio:          9, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:        100
1927  { pid:       2067, prio:        120, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:          6
1928  { pid:       2065, prio:        120, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:          2
1929  { pid:       2066, prio:        120, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:          2
1930  { pid:       2069, prio:          9, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:        122
1931  { pid:       2069, prio:        120, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:          8
1932  { pid:       2070, prio:        120, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:          1
1933  { pid:       2068, prio:        120, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:          7
1934  { pid:       2066, prio:          9, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:        365
1935  { pid:       2064, prio:        120, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:         35
1936  { pid:       2065, prio:          9, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:        998
1937  { pid:       2071, prio:          9, lat: ~ 0-9 } hitcount:         85
1938  { pid:       2065, prio:          9, lat: ~ 10-19 } hitcount:          2
1939  { pid:       2064, prio:        120, lat: ~ 10-19 } hitcount:          2
1940
1941  Totals:
1942      Hits: 2112
1943      Entries: 16
1944      Dropped: 0
1945
1946To save stacktraces, create a synthetic event with a field of type "unsigned long[]"
1947or even just "long[]". For example, to see how long a task is blocked in an
1948uninterruptible state::
1949
1950  # cd /sys/kernel/tracing
1951  # echo 's:block_lat pid_t pid; u64 delta; unsigned long[] stack;' > dynamic_events
1952  # echo 'hist:keys=next_pid:ts=common_timestamp.usecs,st=stacktrace  if prev_state == 2' >> events/sched/sched_switch/trigger
1953  # echo 'hist:keys=prev_pid:delta=common_timestamp.usecs-$ts,s=$st:onmax($delta).trace(block_lat,prev_pid,$delta,$s)' >> events/sched/sched_switch/trigger
1954  # echo 1 > events/synthetic/block_lat/enable
1955  # cat trace
1956
1957  # tracer: nop
1958  #
1959  # entries-in-buffer/entries-written: 2/2   #P:8
1960  #
1961  #                                _-----=> irqs-off/BH-disabled
1962  #                               / _----=> need-resched
1963  #                              | / _---=> hardirq/softirq
1964  #                              || / _--=> preempt-depth
1965  #                              ||| / _-=> migrate-disable
1966  #                              |||| /     delay
1967  #           TASK-PID     CPU#  |||||  TIMESTAMP  FUNCTION
1968  #              | |         |   |||||     |         |
1969            <idle>-0       [005] d..4.   521.164922: block_lat: pid=0 delta=8322 stack=STACK:
1970  => __schedule+0x448/0x7b0
1971  => schedule+0x5a/0xb0
1972  => io_schedule+0x42/0x70
1973  => bit_wait_io+0xd/0x60
1974  => __wait_on_bit+0x4b/0x140
1975  => out_of_line_wait_on_bit+0x91/0xb0
1976  => jbd2_journal_commit_transaction+0x1679/0x1a70
1977  => kjournald2+0xa9/0x280
1978  => kthread+0xe9/0x110
1979  => ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x50
1980
1981             <...>-2       [004] d..4.   525.184257: block_lat: pid=2 delta=76 stack=STACK:
1982  => __schedule+0x448/0x7b0
1983  => schedule+0x5a/0xb0
1984  => schedule_timeout+0x11a/0x150
1985  => wait_for_completion_killable+0x144/0x1f0
1986  => __kthread_create_on_node+0xe7/0x1e0
1987  => kthread_create_on_node+0x51/0x70
1988  => create_worker+0xcc/0x1a0
1989  => worker_thread+0x2ad/0x380
1990  => kthread+0xe9/0x110
1991  => ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x50
1992
1993A synthetic event that has a stacktrace field may use it as a key in
1994histogram::
1995
1996  # echo 'hist:keys=delta.buckets=100,stack.stacktrace:sort=delta' > events/synthetic/block_lat/trigger
1997  # cat events/synthetic/block_lat/hist
1998
1999  # event histogram
2000  #
2001  # trigger info: hist:keys=delta.buckets=100,stack.stacktrace:vals=hitcount:sort=delta.buckets=100:size=2048 [active]
2002  #
2003  { delta: ~ 0-99, stack.stacktrace         __schedule+0xa19/0x1520
2004         schedule+0x6b/0x110
2005         io_schedule+0x46/0x80
2006         bit_wait_io+0x11/0x80
2007         __wait_on_bit+0x4e/0x120
2008         out_of_line_wait_on_bit+0x8d/0xb0
2009         __wait_on_buffer+0x33/0x40
2010         jbd2_journal_commit_transaction+0x155a/0x19b0
2011         kjournald2+0xab/0x270
2012         kthread+0xfa/0x130
2013         ret_from_fork+0x29/0x50
2014  } hitcount:          1
2015  { delta: ~ 0-99, stack.stacktrace         __schedule+0xa19/0x1520
2016         schedule+0x6b/0x110
2017         io_schedule+0x46/0x80
2018         rq_qos_wait+0xd0/0x170
2019         wbt_wait+0x9e/0xf0
2020         __rq_qos_throttle+0x25/0x40
2021         blk_mq_submit_bio+0x2c3/0x5b0
2022         __submit_bio+0xff/0x190
2023         submit_bio_noacct_nocheck+0x25b/0x2b0
2024         submit_bio_noacct+0x20b/0x600
2025         submit_bio+0x28/0x90
2026         ext4_bio_write_page+0x1e0/0x8c0
2027         mpage_submit_page+0x60/0x80
2028         mpage_process_page_bufs+0x16c/0x180
2029         mpage_prepare_extent_to_map+0x23f/0x530
2030  } hitcount:          1
2031  { delta: ~ 0-99, stack.stacktrace         __schedule+0xa19/0x1520
2032         schedule+0x6b/0x110
2033         schedule_hrtimeout_range_clock+0x97/0x110
2034         schedule_hrtimeout_range+0x13/0x20
2035         usleep_range_state+0x65/0x90
2036         __intel_wait_for_register+0x1c1/0x230 [i915]
2037         intel_psr_wait_for_idle_locked+0x171/0x2a0 [i915]
2038         intel_pipe_update_start+0x169/0x360 [i915]
2039         intel_update_crtc+0x112/0x490 [i915]
2040         skl_commit_modeset_enables+0x199/0x600 [i915]
2041         intel_atomic_commit_tail+0x7c4/0x1080 [i915]
2042         intel_atomic_commit_work+0x12/0x20 [i915]
2043         process_one_work+0x21c/0x3f0
2044         worker_thread+0x50/0x3e0
2045         kthread+0xfa/0x130
2046  } hitcount:          3
2047  { delta: ~ 0-99, stack.stacktrace         __schedule+0xa19/0x1520
2048         schedule+0x6b/0x110
2049         schedule_timeout+0x11e/0x160
2050         __wait_for_common+0x8f/0x190
2051         wait_for_completion+0x24/0x30
2052         __flush_work.isra.0+0x1cc/0x360
2053         flush_work+0xe/0x20
2054         drm_mode_rmfb+0x18b/0x1d0 [drm]
2055         drm_mode_rmfb_ioctl+0x10/0x20 [drm]
2056         drm_ioctl_kernel+0xb8/0x150 [drm]
2057         drm_ioctl+0x243/0x560 [drm]
2058         __x64_sys_ioctl+0x92/0xd0
2059         do_syscall_64+0x59/0x90
2060         entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc
2061  } hitcount:          1
2062  { delta: ~ 0-99, stack.stacktrace         __schedule+0xa19/0x1520
2063         schedule+0x6b/0x110
2064         schedule_timeout+0x87/0x160
2065         __wait_for_common+0x8f/0x190
2066         wait_for_completion_timeout+0x1d/0x30
2067         drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_flip_done+0x57/0x90 [drm_kms_helper]
2068         intel_atomic_commit_tail+0x8ce/0x1080 [i915]
2069         intel_atomic_commit_work+0x12/0x20 [i915]
2070         process_one_work+0x21c/0x3f0
2071         worker_thread+0x50/0x3e0
2072         kthread+0xfa/0x130
2073         ret_from_fork+0x29/0x50
2074  } hitcount:          1
2075  { delta: ~ 100-199, stack.stacktrace         __schedule+0xa19/0x1520
2076         schedule+0x6b/0x110
2077         schedule_hrtimeout_range_clock+0x97/0x110
2078         schedule_hrtimeout_range+0x13/0x20
2079         usleep_range_state+0x65/0x90
2080         pci_set_low_power_state+0x17f/0x1f0
2081         pci_set_power_state+0x49/0x250
2082         pci_finish_runtime_suspend+0x4a/0x90
2083         pci_pm_runtime_suspend+0xcb/0x1b0
2084         __rpm_callback+0x48/0x120
2085         rpm_callback+0x67/0x70
2086         rpm_suspend+0x167/0x780
2087         rpm_idle+0x25a/0x380
2088         pm_runtime_work+0x93/0xc0
2089         process_one_work+0x21c/0x3f0
2090  } hitcount:          1
2091
2092  Totals:
2093    Hits: 10
2094    Entries: 7
2095    Dropped: 0
2096
20972.2.3 Hist trigger 'handlers' and 'actions'
2098-------------------------------------------
2099
2100A hist trigger 'action' is a function that's executed (in most cases
2101conditionally) whenever a histogram entry is added or updated.
2102
2103When a histogram entry is added or updated, a hist trigger 'handler'
2104is what decides whether the corresponding action is actually invoked
2105or not.
2106
2107Hist trigger handlers and actions are paired together in the general
2108form:
2109
2110  <handler>.<action>
2111
2112To specify a handler.action pair for a given event, simply specify
2113that handler.action pair between colons in the hist trigger
2114specification.
2115
2116In theory, any handler can be combined with any action, but in
2117practice, not every handler.action combination is currently supported;
2118if a given handler.action combination isn't supported, the hist
2119trigger will fail with -EINVAL;
2120
2121The default 'handler.action' if none is explicitly specified is as it
2122always has been, to simply update the set of values associated with an
2123entry.  Some applications, however, may want to perform additional
2124actions at that point, such as generate another event, or compare and
2125save a maximum.
2126
2127The supported handlers and actions are listed below, and each is
2128described in more detail in the following paragraphs, in the context
2129of descriptions of some common and useful handler.action combinations.
2130
2131The available handlers are:
2132
2133  - onmatch(matching.event)    - invoke action on any addition or update
2134  - onmax(var)                 - invoke action if var exceeds current max
2135  - onchange(var)              - invoke action if var changes
2136
2137The available actions are:
2138
2139  - trace(<synthetic_event_name>,param list)   - generate synthetic event
2140  - save(field,...)                            - save current event fields
2141  - snapshot()                                 - snapshot the trace buffer
2142
2143The following commonly-used handler.action pairs are available:
2144
2145  - onmatch(matching.event).trace(<synthetic_event_name>,param list)
2146
2147    The 'onmatch(matching.event).trace(<synthetic_event_name>,param
2148    list)' hist trigger action is invoked whenever an event matches
2149    and the histogram entry would be added or updated.  It causes the
2150    named synthetic event to be generated with the values given in the
2151    'param list'.  The result is the generation of a synthetic event
2152    that consists of the values contained in those variables at the
2153    time the invoking event was hit.  For example, if the synthetic
2154    event name is 'wakeup_latency', a wakeup_latency event is
2155    generated using onmatch(event).trace(wakeup_latency,arg1,arg2).
2156
2157    There is also an equivalent alternative form available for
2158    generating synthetic events.  In this form, the synthetic event
2159    name is used as if it were a function name.  For example, using
2160    the 'wakeup_latency' synthetic event name again, the
2161    wakeup_latency event would be generated by invoking it as if it
2162    were a function call, with the event field values passed in as
2163    arguments: onmatch(event).wakeup_latency(arg1,arg2).  The syntax
2164    for this form is:
2165
2166      onmatch(matching.event).<synthetic_event_name>(param list)
2167
2168    In either case, the 'param list' consists of one or more
2169    parameters which may be either variables or fields defined on
2170    either the 'matching.event' or the target event.  The variables or
2171    fields specified in the param list may be either fully-qualified
2172    or unqualified.  If a variable is specified as unqualified, it
2173    must be unique between the two events.  A field name used as a
2174    param can be unqualified if it refers to the target event, but
2175    must be fully qualified if it refers to the matching event.  A
2176    fully-qualified name is of the form 'system.event_name.$var_name'
2177    or 'system.event_name.field'.
2178
2179    The 'matching.event' specification is simply the fully qualified
2180    event name of the event that matches the target event for the
2181    onmatch() functionality, in the form 'system.event_name'. Histogram
2182    keys of both events are compared to find if events match. In case
2183    multiple histogram keys are used, they all must match in the specified
2184    order.
2185
2186    Finally, the number and type of variables/fields in the 'param
2187    list' must match the number and types of the fields in the
2188    synthetic event being generated.
2189
2190    As an example the below defines a simple synthetic event and uses
2191    a variable defined on the sched_wakeup_new event as a parameter
2192    when invoking the synthetic event.  Here we define the synthetic
2193    event::
2194
2195      # echo 'wakeup_new_test pid_t pid' >> \
2196             /sys/kernel/tracing/synthetic_events
2197
2198      # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/synthetic_events
2199            wakeup_new_test pid_t pid
2200
2201    The following hist trigger both defines the missing testpid
2202    variable and specifies an onmatch() action that generates a
2203    wakeup_new_test synthetic event whenever a sched_wakeup_new event
2204    occurs, which because of the 'if comm == "cyclictest"' filter only
2205    happens when the executable is cyclictest::
2206
2207      # echo 'hist:keys=$testpid:testpid=pid:onmatch(sched.sched_wakeup_new).\
2208              wakeup_new_test($testpid) if comm=="cyclictest"' >> \
2209              /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_wakeup_new/trigger
2210
2211    Or, equivalently, using the 'trace' keyword syntax::
2212
2213      # echo 'hist:keys=$testpid:testpid=pid:onmatch(sched.sched_wakeup_new).\
2214              trace(wakeup_new_test,$testpid) if comm=="cyclictest"' >> \
2215              /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_wakeup_new/trigger
2216
2217    Creating and displaying a histogram based on those events is now
2218    just a matter of using the fields and new synthetic event in the
2219    tracing/events/synthetic directory, as usual::
2220
2221      # echo 'hist:keys=pid:sort=pid' >> \
2222             /sys/kernel/tracing/events/synthetic/wakeup_new_test/trigger
2223
2224    Running 'cyclictest' should cause wakeup_new events to generate
2225    wakeup_new_test synthetic events which should result in histogram
2226    output in the wakeup_new_test event's hist file::
2227
2228      # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/synthetic/wakeup_new_test/hist
2229
2230    A more typical usage would be to use two events to calculate a
2231    latency.  The following example uses a set of hist triggers to
2232    produce a 'wakeup_latency' histogram.
2233
2234    First, we define a 'wakeup_latency' synthetic event::
2235
2236      # echo 'wakeup_latency u64 lat; pid_t pid; int prio' >> \
2237              /sys/kernel/tracing/synthetic_events
2238
2239    Next, we specify that whenever we see a sched_waking event for a
2240    cyclictest thread, save the timestamp in a 'ts0' variable::
2241
2242      # echo 'hist:keys=$saved_pid:saved_pid=pid:ts0=common_timestamp.usecs \
2243              if comm=="cyclictest"' >> \
2244	      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_waking/trigger
2245
2246    Then, when the corresponding thread is actually scheduled onto the
2247    CPU by a sched_switch event (saved_pid matches next_pid), calculate
2248    the latency and use that along with another variable and an event field
2249    to generate a wakeup_latency synthetic event::
2250
2251      # echo 'hist:keys=next_pid:wakeup_lat=common_timestamp.usecs-$ts0:\
2252              onmatch(sched.sched_waking).wakeup_latency($wakeup_lat,\
2253	              $saved_pid,next_prio) if next_comm=="cyclictest"' >> \
2254	      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_switch/trigger
2255
2256    We also need to create a histogram on the wakeup_latency synthetic
2257    event in order to aggregate the generated synthetic event data::
2258
2259      # echo 'hist:keys=pid,prio,lat:sort=pid,lat' >> \
2260              /sys/kernel/tracing/events/synthetic/wakeup_latency/trigger
2261
2262    Finally, once we've run cyclictest to actually generate some
2263    events, we can see the output by looking at the wakeup_latency
2264    synthetic event's hist file::
2265
2266      # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/synthetic/wakeup_latency/hist
2267
2268  - onmax(var).save(field,..	.)
2269
2270    The 'onmax(var).save(field,...)' hist trigger action is invoked
2271    whenever the value of 'var' associated with a histogram entry
2272    exceeds the current maximum contained in that variable.
2273
2274    The end result is that the trace event fields specified as the
2275    onmax.save() params will be saved if 'var' exceeds the current
2276    maximum for that hist trigger entry.  This allows context from the
2277    event that exhibited the new maximum to be saved for later
2278    reference.  When the histogram is displayed, additional fields
2279    displaying the saved values will be printed.
2280
2281    As an example the below defines a couple of hist triggers, one for
2282    sched_waking and another for sched_switch, keyed on pid.  Whenever
2283    a sched_waking occurs, the timestamp is saved in the entry
2284    corresponding to the current pid, and when the scheduler switches
2285    back to that pid, the timestamp difference is calculated.  If the
2286    resulting latency, stored in wakeup_lat, exceeds the current
2287    maximum latency, the values specified in the save() fields are
2288    recorded::
2289
2290      # echo 'hist:keys=pid:ts0=common_timestamp.usecs \
2291              if comm=="cyclictest"' >> \
2292              /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_waking/trigger
2293
2294      # echo 'hist:keys=next_pid:\
2295              wakeup_lat=common_timestamp.usecs-$ts0:\
2296              onmax($wakeup_lat).save(next_comm,prev_pid,prev_prio,prev_comm) \
2297              if next_comm=="cyclictest"' >> \
2298              /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_switch/trigger
2299
2300    When the histogram is displayed, the max value and the saved
2301    values corresponding to the max are displayed following the rest
2302    of the fields::
2303
2304      # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_switch/hist
2305        { next_pid:       2255 } hitcount:        239
2306          common_timestamp-ts0:          0
2307          max:         27
2308	  next_comm: cyclictest
2309          prev_pid:          0  prev_prio:        120  prev_comm: swapper/1
2310
2311        { next_pid:       2256 } hitcount:       2355
2312          common_timestamp-ts0: 0
2313          max:         49  next_comm: cyclictest
2314          prev_pid:          0  prev_prio:        120  prev_comm: swapper/0
2315
2316        Totals:
2317            Hits: 12970
2318            Entries: 2
2319            Dropped: 0
2320
2321  - onmax(var).snapshot()
2322
2323    The 'onmax(var).snapshot()' hist trigger action is invoked
2324    whenever the value of 'var' associated with a histogram entry
2325    exceeds the current maximum contained in that variable.
2326
2327    The end result is that a global snapshot of the trace buffer will
2328    be saved in the tracing/snapshot file if 'var' exceeds the current
2329    maximum for any hist trigger entry.
2330
2331    Note that in this case the maximum is a global maximum for the
2332    current trace instance, which is the maximum across all buckets of
2333    the histogram.  The key of the specific trace event that caused
2334    the global maximum and the global maximum itself are displayed,
2335    along with a message stating that a snapshot has been taken and
2336    where to find it.  The user can use the key information displayed
2337    to locate the corresponding bucket in the histogram for even more
2338    detail.
2339
2340    As an example the below defines a couple of hist triggers, one for
2341    sched_waking and another for sched_switch, keyed on pid.  Whenever
2342    a sched_waking event occurs, the timestamp is saved in the entry
2343    corresponding to the current pid, and when the scheduler switches
2344    back to that pid, the timestamp difference is calculated.  If the
2345    resulting latency, stored in wakeup_lat, exceeds the current
2346    maximum latency, a snapshot is taken.  As part of the setup, all
2347    the scheduler events are also enabled, which are the events that
2348    will show up in the snapshot when it is taken at some point::
2349
2350      # echo 1 > /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/enable
2351
2352      # echo 'hist:keys=pid:ts0=common_timestamp.usecs \
2353              if comm=="cyclictest"' >> \
2354              /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_waking/trigger
2355
2356      # echo 'hist:keys=next_pid:wakeup_lat=common_timestamp.usecs-$ts0: \
2357              onmax($wakeup_lat).save(next_prio,next_comm,prev_pid,prev_prio, \
2358	      prev_comm):onmax($wakeup_lat).snapshot() \
2359	      if next_comm=="cyclictest"' >> \
2360	      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_switch/trigger
2361
2362    When the histogram is displayed, for each bucket the max value
2363    and the saved values corresponding to the max are displayed
2364    following the rest of the fields.
2365
2366    If a snapshot was taken, there is also a message indicating that,
2367    along with the value and event that triggered the global maximum::
2368
2369      # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_switch/hist
2370        { next_pid:       2101 } hitcount:        200
2371	  max:         52  next_prio:        120  next_comm: cyclictest \
2372          prev_pid:          0  prev_prio:        120  prev_comm: swapper/6
2373
2374        { next_pid:       2103 } hitcount:       1326
2375	  max:        572  next_prio:         19  next_comm: cyclictest \
2376          prev_pid:          0  prev_prio:        120  prev_comm: swapper/1
2377
2378        { next_pid:       2102 } hitcount:       1982 \
2379	  max:         74  next_prio:         19  next_comm: cyclictest \
2380          prev_pid:          0  prev_prio:        120  prev_comm: swapper/5
2381
2382      Snapshot taken (see tracing/snapshot).  Details:
2383	  triggering value { onmax($wakeup_lat) }:        572	\
2384	  triggered by event with key: { next_pid:       2103 }
2385
2386      Totals:
2387          Hits: 3508
2388          Entries: 3
2389          Dropped: 0
2390
2391    In the above case, the event that triggered the global maximum has
2392    the key with next_pid == 2103.  If you look at the bucket that has
2393    2103 as the key, you'll find the additional values save()'d along
2394    with the local maximum for that bucket, which should be the same
2395    as the global maximum (since that was the same value that
2396    triggered the global snapshot).
2397
2398    And finally, looking at the snapshot data should show at or near
2399    the end the event that triggered the snapshot (in this case you
2400    can verify the timestamps between the sched_waking and
2401    sched_switch events, which should match the time displayed in the
2402    global maximum)::
2403
2404     # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/snapshot
2405
2406         <...>-2103  [005] d..3   309.873125: sched_switch: prev_comm=cyclictest prev_pid=2103 prev_prio=19 prev_state=D ==> next_comm=swapper/5 next_pid=0 next_prio=120
2407         <idle>-0     [005] d.h3   309.873611: sched_waking: comm=cyclictest pid=2102 prio=19 target_cpu=005
2408         <idle>-0     [005] dNh4   309.873613: sched_wakeup: comm=cyclictest pid=2102 prio=19 target_cpu=005
2409         <idle>-0     [005] d..3   309.873616: sched_switch: prev_comm=swapper/5 prev_pid=0 prev_prio=120 prev_state=S ==> next_comm=cyclictest next_pid=2102 next_prio=19
2410         <...>-2102  [005] d..3   309.873625: sched_switch: prev_comm=cyclictest prev_pid=2102 prev_prio=19 prev_state=D ==> next_comm=swapper/5 next_pid=0 next_prio=120
2411         <idle>-0     [005] d.h3   309.874624: sched_waking: comm=cyclictest pid=2102 prio=19 target_cpu=005
2412         <idle>-0     [005] dNh4   309.874626: sched_wakeup: comm=cyclictest pid=2102 prio=19 target_cpu=005
2413         <idle>-0     [005] dNh3   309.874628: sched_waking: comm=cyclictest pid=2103 prio=19 target_cpu=005
2414         <idle>-0     [005] dNh4   309.874630: sched_wakeup: comm=cyclictest pid=2103 prio=19 target_cpu=005
2415         <idle>-0     [005] d..3   309.874633: sched_switch: prev_comm=swapper/5 prev_pid=0 prev_prio=120 prev_state=S ==> next_comm=cyclictest next_pid=2102 next_prio=19
2416         <idle>-0     [004] d.h3   309.874757: sched_waking: comm=gnome-terminal- pid=1699 prio=120 target_cpu=004
2417         <idle>-0     [004] dNh4   309.874762: sched_wakeup: comm=gnome-terminal- pid=1699 prio=120 target_cpu=004
2418         <idle>-0     [004] d..3   309.874766: sched_switch: prev_comm=swapper/4 prev_pid=0 prev_prio=120 prev_state=S ==> next_comm=gnome-terminal- next_pid=1699 next_prio=120
2419     gnome-terminal--1699  [004] d.h2   309.874941: sched_stat_runtime: comm=gnome-terminal- pid=1699 runtime=180706 [ns] vruntime=1126870572 [ns]
2420         <idle>-0     [003] d.s4   309.874956: sched_waking: comm=rcu_sched pid=9 prio=120 target_cpu=007
2421         <idle>-0     [003] d.s5   309.874960: sched_wake_idle_without_ipi: cpu=7
2422         <idle>-0     [003] d.s5   309.874961: sched_wakeup: comm=rcu_sched pid=9 prio=120 target_cpu=007
2423         <idle>-0     [007] d..3   309.874963: sched_switch: prev_comm=swapper/7 prev_pid=0 prev_prio=120 prev_state=S ==> next_comm=rcu_sched next_pid=9 next_prio=120
2424      rcu_sched-9     [007] d..3   309.874973: sched_stat_runtime: comm=rcu_sched pid=9 runtime=13646 [ns] vruntime=22531430286 [ns]
2425      rcu_sched-9     [007] d..3   309.874978: sched_switch: prev_comm=rcu_sched prev_pid=9 prev_prio=120 prev_state=R+ ==> next_comm=swapper/7 next_pid=0 next_prio=120
2426          <...>-2102  [005] d..4   309.874994: sched_migrate_task: comm=cyclictest pid=2103 prio=19 orig_cpu=5 dest_cpu=1
2427          <...>-2102  [005] d..4   309.875185: sched_wake_idle_without_ipi: cpu=1
2428         <idle>-0     [001] d..3   309.875200: sched_switch: prev_comm=swapper/1 prev_pid=0 prev_prio=120 prev_state=S ==> next_comm=cyclictest next_pid=2103 next_prio=19
2429
2430  - onchange(var).save(field,..	.)
2431
2432    The 'onchange(var).save(field,...)' hist trigger action is invoked
2433    whenever the value of 'var' associated with a histogram entry
2434    changes.
2435
2436    The end result is that the trace event fields specified as the
2437    onchange.save() params will be saved if 'var' changes for that
2438    hist trigger entry.  This allows context from the event that
2439    changed the value to be saved for later reference.  When the
2440    histogram is displayed, additional fields displaying the saved
2441    values will be printed.
2442
2443  - onchange(var).snapshot()
2444
2445    The 'onchange(var).snapshot()' hist trigger action is invoked
2446    whenever the value of 'var' associated with a histogram entry
2447    changes.
2448
2449    The end result is that a global snapshot of the trace buffer will
2450    be saved in the tracing/snapshot file if 'var' changes for any
2451    hist trigger entry.
2452
2453    Note that in this case the changed value is a global variable
2454    associated with current trace instance.  The key of the specific
2455    trace event that caused the value to change and the global value
2456    itself are displayed, along with a message stating that a snapshot
2457    has been taken and where to find it.  The user can use the key
2458    information displayed to locate the corresponding bucket in the
2459    histogram for even more detail.
2460
2461    As an example the below defines a hist trigger on the tcp_probe
2462    event, keyed on dport.  Whenever a tcp_probe event occurs, the
2463    cwnd field is checked against the current value stored in the
2464    $cwnd variable.  If the value has changed, a snapshot is taken.
2465    As part of the setup, all the scheduler and tcp events are also
2466    enabled, which are the events that will show up in the snapshot
2467    when it is taken at some point::
2468
2469      # echo 1 > /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/enable
2470      # echo 1 > /sys/kernel/tracing/events/tcp/enable
2471
2472      # echo 'hist:keys=dport:cwnd=snd_cwnd: \
2473              onchange($cwnd).save(snd_wnd,srtt,rcv_wnd): \
2474	      onchange($cwnd).snapshot()' >> \
2475	      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/tcp/tcp_probe/trigger
2476
2477    When the histogram is displayed, for each bucket the tracked value
2478    and the saved values corresponding to that value are displayed
2479    following the rest of the fields.
2480
2481    If a snapshot was taken, there is also a message indicating that,
2482    along with the value and event that triggered the snapshot::
2483
2484      # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/tcp/tcp_probe/hist
2485
2486      { dport:       1521 } hitcount:          8
2487	changed:         10  snd_wnd:      35456  srtt:     154262  rcv_wnd:      42112
2488
2489      { dport:         80 } hitcount:         23
2490	changed:         10  snd_wnd:      28960  srtt:      19604  rcv_wnd:      29312
2491
2492      { dport:       9001 } hitcount:        172
2493	changed:         10  snd_wnd:      48384  srtt:     260444  rcv_wnd:      55168
2494
2495      { dport:        443 } hitcount:        211
2496	changed:         10  snd_wnd:      26960  srtt:      17379  rcv_wnd:      28800
2497
2498      Snapshot taken (see tracing/snapshot).  Details:
2499
2500          triggering value { onchange($cwnd) }:         10
2501          triggered by event with key: { dport:         80 }
2502
2503      Totals:
2504          Hits: 414
2505          Entries: 4
2506          Dropped: 0
2507
2508    In the above case, the event that triggered the snapshot has the
2509    key with dport == 80.  If you look at the bucket that has 80 as
2510    the key, you'll find the additional values save()'d along with the
2511    changed value for that bucket, which should be the same as the
2512    global changed value (since that was the same value that triggered
2513    the global snapshot).
2514
2515    And finally, looking at the snapshot data should show at or near
2516    the end the event that triggered the snapshot::
2517
2518      # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/snapshot
2519
2520         gnome-shell-1261  [006] dN.3    49.823113: sched_stat_runtime: comm=gnome-shell pid=1261 runtime=49347 [ns] vruntime=1835730389 [ns]
2521       kworker/u16:4-773   [003] d..3    49.823114: sched_switch: prev_comm=kworker/u16:4 prev_pid=773 prev_prio=120 prev_state=R+ ==> next_comm=kworker/3:2 next_pid=135 next_prio=120
2522         gnome-shell-1261  [006] d..3    49.823114: sched_switch: prev_comm=gnome-shell prev_pid=1261 prev_prio=120 prev_state=R+ ==> next_comm=kworker/6:2 next_pid=387 next_prio=120
2523         kworker/3:2-135   [003] d..3    49.823118: sched_stat_runtime: comm=kworker/3:2 pid=135 runtime=5339 [ns] vruntime=17815800388 [ns]
2524         kworker/6:2-387   [006] d..3    49.823120: sched_stat_runtime: comm=kworker/6:2 pid=387 runtime=9594 [ns] vruntime=14589605367 [ns]
2525         kworker/6:2-387   [006] d..3    49.823122: sched_switch: prev_comm=kworker/6:2 prev_pid=387 prev_prio=120 prev_state=R+ ==> next_comm=gnome-shell next_pid=1261 next_prio=120
2526         kworker/3:2-135   [003] d..3    49.823123: sched_switch: prev_comm=kworker/3:2 prev_pid=135 prev_prio=120 prev_state=T ==> next_comm=swapper/3 next_pid=0 next_prio=120
2527              <idle>-0     [004] ..s7    49.823798: tcp_probe: src=10.0.0.10:54326 dest=23.215.104.193:80 mark=0x0 length=32 snd_nxt=0xe3ae2ff5 snd_una=0xe3ae2ecd snd_cwnd=10 ssthresh=2147483647 snd_wnd=28960 srtt=19604 rcv_wnd=29312
2528
25293. User space creating a trigger
2530--------------------------------
2531
2532Writing into /sys/kernel/tracing/trace_marker writes into the ftrace
2533ring buffer. This can also act like an event, by writing into the trigger
2534file located in /sys/kernel/tracing/events/ftrace/print/
2535
2536Modifying cyclictest to write into the trace_marker file before it sleeps
2537and after it wakes up, something like this::
2538
2539  static void traceputs(char *str)
2540  {
2541	/* tracemark_fd is the trace_marker file descriptor */
2542	if (tracemark_fd < 0)
2543		return;
2544	/* write the tracemark message */
2545	write(tracemark_fd, str, strlen(str));
2546  }
2547
2548And later add something like::
2549
2550	traceputs("start");
2551	clock_nanosleep(...);
2552	traceputs("end");
2553
2554We can make a histogram from this::
2555
2556 # cd /sys/kernel/tracing
2557 # echo 'latency u64 lat' > synthetic_events
2558 # echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:ts0=common_timestamp.usecs if buf == "start"' > events/ftrace/print/trigger
2559 # echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:lat=common_timestamp.usecs-$ts0:onmatch(ftrace.print).latency($lat) if buf == "end"' >> events/ftrace/print/trigger
2560 # echo 'hist:keys=lat,common_pid:sort=lat' > events/synthetic/latency/trigger
2561
2562The above created a synthetic event called "latency" and two histograms
2563against the trace_marker, one gets triggered when "start" is written into the
2564trace_marker file and the other when "end" is written. If the pids match, then
2565it will call the "latency" synthetic event with the calculated latency as its
2566parameter. Finally, a histogram is added to the latency synthetic event to
2567record the calculated latency along with the pid.
2568
2569Now running cyclictest with::
2570
2571 # ./cyclictest -p80 -d0 -i250 -n -a -t --tracemark -b 1000
2572
2573 -p80  : run threads at priority 80
2574 -d0   : have all threads run at the same interval
2575 -i250 : start the interval at 250 microseconds (all threads will do this)
2576 -n    : sleep with nanosleep
2577 -a    : affine all threads to a separate CPU
2578 -t    : one thread per available CPU
2579 --tracemark : enable trace mark writing
2580 -b 1000 : stop if any latency is greater than 1000 microseconds
2581
2582Note, the -b 1000 is used just to make --tracemark available.
2583
2584Then we can see the histogram created by this with::
2585
2586 # cat events/synthetic/latency/hist
2587 # event histogram
2588 #
2589 # trigger info: hist:keys=lat,common_pid:vals=hitcount:sort=lat:size=2048 [active]
2590 #
2591
2592 { lat:        107, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2593 { lat:        122, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2594 { lat:        166, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2595 { lat:        174, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2596 { lat:        194, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2597 { lat:        196, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          1
2598 { lat:        197, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          1
2599 { lat:        198, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2600 { lat:        199, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2601 { lat:        200, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2602 { lat:        201, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          2
2603 { lat:        202, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          1
2604 { lat:        202, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2605 { lat:        203, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2606 { lat:        203, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          1
2607 { lat:        203, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2608 { lat:        206, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          2
2609 { lat:        207, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2610 { lat:        207, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          1
2611 { lat:        208, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          1
2612 { lat:        209, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2613 { lat:        210, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2614 { lat:        211, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          4
2615 { lat:        212, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2616 { lat:        212, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          2
2617 { lat:        213, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2618 { lat:        214, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          1
2619 { lat:        214, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          2
2620 { lat:        214, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          1
2621 { lat:        215, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2622 { lat:        217, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          1
2623 { lat:        217, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          1
2624 { lat:        217, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2625 { lat:        218, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          6
2626 { lat:        219, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          9
2627 { lat:        220, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:         11
2628 { lat:        221, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          5
2629 { lat:        221, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          1
2630 { lat:        222, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          7
2631 { lat:        223, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          1
2632 { lat:        223, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          3
2633 { lat:        224, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          4
2634 { lat:        224, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:          1
2635 { lat:        224, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          2
2636 { lat:        225, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          5
2637 { lat:        225, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          1
2638 { lat:        226, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          7
2639 { lat:        226, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          4
2640 { lat:        227, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          6
2641 { lat:        227, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         12
2642 { lat:        227, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2643 { lat:        228, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          7
2644 { lat:        228, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         14
2645 { lat:        229, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          9
2646 { lat:        229, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          8
2647 { lat:        229, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          1
2648 { lat:        230, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:         11
2649 { lat:        230, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          6
2650 { lat:        230, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2651 { lat:        230, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          2
2652 { lat:        231, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2653 { lat:        231, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          6
2654 { lat:        231, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2655 { lat:        231, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          8
2656 { lat:        232, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:          1
2657 { lat:        232, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          6
2658 { lat:        232, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          2
2659 { lat:        232, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          5
2660 { lat:        232, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2661 { lat:        233, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          5
2662 { lat:        233, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:         11
2663 { lat:        234, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          4
2664 { lat:        234, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          2
2665 { lat:        234, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          2
2666 { lat:        234, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         11
2667 { lat:        234, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          1
2668 { lat:        235, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:          2
2669 { lat:        235, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          8
2670 { lat:        235, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          2
2671 { lat:        235, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          5
2672 { lat:        235, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          2
2673 { lat:        235, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          4
2674 { lat:        235, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2675 { lat:        236, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          7
2676 { lat:        236, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:          1
2677 { lat:        236, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          5
2678 { lat:        236, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          3
2679 { lat:        236, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          9
2680 { lat:        236, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          7
2681 { lat:        237, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:          1
2682 { lat:        237, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          1
2683 { lat:        237, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          9
2684 { lat:        237, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          3
2685 { lat:        237, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          8
2686 { lat:        237, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          2
2687 { lat:        237, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          2
2688 { lat:        238, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         10
2689 { lat:        238, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          1
2690 { lat:        238, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:          9
2691 { lat:        238, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          1
2692 { lat:        238, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2693 { lat:        238, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          3
2694 { lat:        238, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          7
2695 { lat:        239, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2696 { lat:        239, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         11
2697 { lat:        239, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         11
2698 { lat:        239, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          6
2699 { lat:        239, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          7
2700 { lat:        239, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          1
2701 { lat:        239, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          9
2702 { lat:        240, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         29
2703 { lat:        240, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         15
2704 { lat:        240, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:         44
2705 { lat:        240, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2706 { lat:        240, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          2
2707 { lat:        240, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          1
2708 { lat:        240, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         10
2709 { lat:        240, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:         13
2710 { lat:        241, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         21
2711 { lat:        241, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:         36
2712 { lat:        241, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         34
2713 { lat:        241, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:         14
2714 { lat:        241, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:         94
2715 { lat:        241, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:         12
2716 { lat:        241, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          2
2717 { lat:        241, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         28
2718 { lat:        242, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:        109
2719 { lat:        242, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:        506
2720 { lat:        242, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:        155
2721 { lat:        242, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:         21
2722 { lat:        242, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         52
2723 { lat:        242, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         21
2724 { lat:        242, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         16
2725 { lat:        242, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:        156
2726 { lat:        243, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         46
2727 { lat:        243, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:         40
2728 { lat:        243, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:        119
2729 { lat:        243, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:        611
2730 { lat:        243, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         69
2731 { lat:        243, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:        784
2732 { lat:        243, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:        323
2733 { lat:        243, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         14
2734 { lat:        244, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         35
2735 { lat:        244, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:        305
2736 { lat:        244, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          8
2737 { lat:        244, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:       4515
2738 { lat:        244, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:        371
2739 { lat:        244, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         31
2740 { lat:        244, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:        114
2741 { lat:        244, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:       3396
2742 { lat:        245, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:        700
2743 { lat:        245, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:       2772
2744 { lat:        245, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:        268
2745 { lat:        245, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:        472
2746 { lat:        245, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:       2758
2747 { lat:        245, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:       3833
2748 { lat:        245, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:       3105
2749 { lat:        245, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:        645
2750 { lat:        246, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:       3451
2751 { lat:        246, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:        142
2752 { lat:        246, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:       5101
2753 { lat:        246, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:         68
2754 { lat:        246, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:       5099
2755 { lat:        246, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:       5608
2756 { lat:        246, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:       3723
2757 { lat:        246, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:       4738
2758 { lat:        247, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:        312
2759 { lat:        247, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:       2385
2760 { lat:        247, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:        452
2761 { lat:        247, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:        792
2762 { lat:        247, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:         78
2763 { lat:        247, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:       2375
2764 { lat:        247, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:       1834
2765 { lat:        247, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:       2655
2766 { lat:        248, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         36
2767 { lat:        248, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:         11
2768 { lat:        248, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:        122
2769 { lat:        248, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:        135
2770 { lat:        248, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:         26
2771 { lat:        248, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:        503
2772 { lat:        248, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         66
2773 { lat:        248, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:         46
2774 { lat:        249, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         29
2775 { lat:        249, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          1
2776 { lat:        249, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         29
2777 { lat:        249, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          8
2778 { lat:        249, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:         56
2779 { lat:        249, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:         27
2780 { lat:        249, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:         11
2781 { lat:        249, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         27
2782 { lat:        250, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          1
2783 { lat:        250, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         30
2784 { lat:        250, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:         19
2785 { lat:        250, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         22
2786 { lat:        250, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:         20
2787 { lat:        250, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2788 { lat:        250, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          6
2789 { lat:        250, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         48
2790 { lat:        251, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         43
2791 { lat:        251, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2792 { lat:        251, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         12
2793 { lat:        251, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          2
2794 { lat:        251, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2795 { lat:        251, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         15
2796 { lat:        251, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          3
2797 { lat:        252, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          1
2798 { lat:        252, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:         12
2799 { lat:        252, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         21
2800 { lat:        252, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:         14
2801 { lat:        253, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         21
2802 { lat:        253, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          2
2803 { lat:        253, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          9
2804 { lat:        253, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          6
2805 { lat:        253, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          1
2806 { lat:        254, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          8
2807 { lat:        254, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          3
2808 { lat:        254, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2809 { lat:        254, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          1
2810 { lat:        254, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2811 { lat:        254, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:         12
2812 { lat:        255, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2813 { lat:        255, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:          2
2814 { lat:        255, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          2
2815 { lat:        255, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          8
2816 { lat:        256, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2817 { lat:        256, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          4
2818 { lat:        256, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          6
2819 { lat:        257, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          5
2820 { lat:        257, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          4
2821 { lat:        258, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          5
2822 { lat:        258, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          2
2823 { lat:        259, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          7
2824 { lat:        259, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          7
2825 { lat:        260, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          8
2826 { lat:        260, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          6
2827 { lat:        261, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          5
2828 { lat:        261, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          7
2829 { lat:        262, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          5
2830 { lat:        262, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          5
2831 { lat:        263, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          7
2832 { lat:        263, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          7
2833 { lat:        264, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          9
2834 { lat:        264, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          9
2835 { lat:        265, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          5
2836 { lat:        265, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2837 { lat:        266, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          1
2838 { lat:        266, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          3
2839 { lat:        267, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          1
2840 { lat:        267, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          3
2841 { lat:        268, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          1
2842 { lat:        268, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          6
2843 { lat:        269, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          1
2844 { lat:        269, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2845 { lat:        269, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          2
2846 { lat:        270, common_pid:       2040 } hitcount:          1
2847 { lat:        270, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          6
2848 { lat:        271, common_pid:       2041 } hitcount:          1
2849 { lat:        271, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          5
2850 { lat:        272, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:         10
2851 { lat:        273, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          8
2852 { lat:        274, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          2
2853 { lat:        275, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2854 { lat:        276, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          2
2855 { lat:        276, common_pid:       2037 } hitcount:          1
2856 { lat:        276, common_pid:       2038 } hitcount:          1
2857 { lat:        277, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2858 { lat:        277, common_pid:       2042 } hitcount:          1
2859 { lat:        278, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2860 { lat:        279, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          4
2861 { lat:        279, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2862 { lat:        280, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          3
2863 { lat:        283, common_pid:       2036 } hitcount:          2
2864 { lat:        284, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2865 { lat:        284, common_pid:       2043 } hitcount:          1
2866 { lat:        288, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2867 { lat:        289, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2868 { lat:        300, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2869 { lat:        384, common_pid:       2039 } hitcount:          1
2870
2871 Totals:
2872     Hits: 67625
2873     Entries: 278
2874     Dropped: 0
2875
2876Note, the writes are around the sleep, so ideally they will all be of 250
2877microseconds. If you are wondering how there are several that are under
2878250 microseconds, that is because the way cyclictest works, is if one
2879iteration comes in late, the next one will set the timer to wake up less that
2880250. That is, if an iteration came in 50 microseconds late, the next wake up
2881will be at 200 microseconds.
2882
2883But this could easily be done in userspace. To make this even more
2884interesting, we can mix the histogram between events that happened in the
2885kernel with trace_marker::
2886
2887 # cd /sys/kernel/tracing
2888 # echo 'latency u64 lat' > synthetic_events
2889 # echo 'hist:keys=pid:ts0=common_timestamp.usecs' > events/sched/sched_waking/trigger
2890 # echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:lat=common_timestamp.usecs-$ts0:onmatch(sched.sched_waking).latency($lat) if buf == "end"' > events/ftrace/print/trigger
2891 # echo 'hist:keys=lat,common_pid:sort=lat' > events/synthetic/latency/trigger
2892
2893The difference this time is that instead of using the trace_marker to start
2894the latency, the sched_waking event is used, matching the common_pid for the
2895trace_marker write with the pid that is being woken by sched_waking.
2896
2897After running cyclictest again with the same parameters, we now have::
2898
2899 # cat events/synthetic/latency/hist
2900 # event histogram
2901 #
2902 # trigger info: hist:keys=lat,common_pid:vals=hitcount:sort=lat:size=2048 [active]
2903 #
2904
2905 { lat:          7, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:        640
2906 { lat:          7, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:         42
2907 { lat:          7, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:         18
2908 { lat:          7, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:        166
2909 { lat:          7, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:          1
2910 { lat:          7, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:         91
2911 { lat:          7, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:         17
2912 { lat:          8, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:       8296
2913 { lat:          8, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:       6864
2914 { lat:          8, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:       9464
2915 { lat:          8, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:       9213
2916 { lat:          8, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:       6246
2917 { lat:          8, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:       8797
2918 { lat:          8, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:       8771
2919 { lat:          8, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:       8119
2920 { lat:          9, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:       1519
2921 { lat:          9, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:       2346
2922 { lat:          9, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:       2841
2923 { lat:          9, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:       1846
2924 { lat:          9, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:       3861
2925 { lat:          9, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:       1210
2926 { lat:          9, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:       2762
2927 { lat:          9, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:       4247
2928 { lat:         10, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:         16
2929 { lat:         10, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:        333
2930 { lat:         10, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:         16
2931 { lat:         10, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:        168
2932 { lat:         10, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:        240
2933 { lat:         10, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:         28
2934 { lat:         10, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:         95
2935 { lat:         10, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:         18
2936 { lat:         11, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:          5
2937 { lat:         11, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          8
2938 { lat:         11, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:        221
2939 { lat:         11, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:         76
2940 { lat:         11, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:         26
2941 { lat:         11, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:        125
2942 { lat:         11, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          2
2943 { lat:         12, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          3
2944 { lat:         12, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:          6
2945 { lat:         12, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:         90
2946 { lat:         12, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          4
2947 { lat:         12, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:          1
2948 { lat:         12, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:        122
2949 { lat:         13, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:         12
2950 { lat:         13, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:          1
2951 { lat:         13, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:         32
2952 { lat:         13, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          5
2953 { lat:         13, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          1
2954 { lat:         13, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:          1
2955 { lat:         13, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:         61
2956 { lat:         14, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:          4
2957 { lat:         14, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:          5
2958 { lat:         14, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          4
2959 { lat:         14, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:         62
2960 { lat:         14, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:         19
2961 { lat:         14, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:         33
2962 { lat:         14, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          1
2963 { lat:         14, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:          4
2964 { lat:         15, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          1
2965 { lat:         15, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:         25
2966 { lat:         15, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:         11
2967 { lat:         15, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          5
2968 { lat:         15, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:          1
2969 { lat:         15, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          8
2970 { lat:         15, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:          1
2971 { lat:         15, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:          6
2972 { lat:         16, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:         31
2973 { lat:         16, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:          3
2974 { lat:         16, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:          5
2975 { lat:         17, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          6
2976 { lat:         17, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:          1
2977 { lat:         18, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          1
2978 { lat:         18, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          8
2979 { lat:         18, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          1
2980 { lat:         18, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:          1
2981 { lat:         19, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:          4
2982 { lat:         19, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          5
2983 { lat:         19, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          4
2984 { lat:         19, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          3
2985 { lat:         19, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:          1
2986 { lat:         19, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:          4
2987 { lat:         19, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          5
2988 { lat:         20, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          2
2989 { lat:         20, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          3
2990 { lat:         20, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          1
2991 { lat:         20, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:          2
2992 { lat:         20, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:          2
2993 { lat:         20, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:          3
2994 { lat:         21, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          1
2995 { lat:         21, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          5
2996 { lat:         21, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:          4
2997 { lat:         21, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          7
2998 { lat:         21, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:          1
2999 { lat:         21, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:          5
3000 { lat:         21, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          2
3001 { lat:         22, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          5
3002 { lat:         22, common_pid:       2303 } hitcount:          1
3003 { lat:         22, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:          3
3004 { lat:         22, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:          2
3005 { lat:         22, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:          1
3006 { lat:         22, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          1
3007 { lat:         22, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          1
3008 { lat:         22, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          1
3009 { lat:         23, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          1
3010 { lat:         23, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:          2
3011 { lat:         23, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          6
3012 { lat:         24, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          3
3013 { lat:         24, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:          1
3014 { lat:         24, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:          2
3015 { lat:         24, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          1
3016 { lat:         24, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          1
3017 { lat:         25, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:          1
3018 { lat:         25, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          4
3019 { lat:         26, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          2
3020 { lat:         27, common_pid:       2305 } hitcount:          1
3021 { lat:         27, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:          1
3022 { lat:         27, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          3
3023 { lat:         28, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:          1
3024 { lat:         28, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          4
3025 { lat:         29, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          1
3026 { lat:         29, common_pid:       2300 } hitcount:          2
3027 { lat:         29, common_pid:       2306 } hitcount:          1
3028 { lat:         29, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          1
3029 { lat:         30, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          4
3030 { lat:         31, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          6
3031 { lat:         32, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          1
3032 { lat:         33, common_pid:       2299 } hitcount:          1
3033 { lat:         33, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          3
3034 { lat:         34, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          2
3035 { lat:         35, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          1
3036 { lat:         35, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          1
3037 { lat:         36, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          4
3038 { lat:         37, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          6
3039 { lat:         38, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          2
3040 { lat:         39, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          2
3041 { lat:         39, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          1
3042 { lat:         40, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          2
3043 { lat:         40, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          5
3044 { lat:         41, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          1
3045 { lat:         41, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          8
3046 { lat:         42, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          6
3047 { lat:         42, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          1
3048 { lat:         43, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          3
3049 { lat:         43, common_pid:       2304 } hitcount:          4
3050 { lat:         44, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          6
3051 { lat:         45, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          5
3052 { lat:         46, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          5
3053 { lat:         47, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          7
3054 { lat:         48, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:          1
3055 { lat:         48, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          9
3056 { lat:         49, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          3
3057 { lat:         50, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          1
3058 { lat:         50, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:          1
3059 { lat:         51, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          2
3060 { lat:         51, common_pid:       2301 } hitcount:          1
3061 { lat:         61, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          1
3062 { lat:        110, common_pid:       2302 } hitcount:          1
3063
3064 Totals:
3065     Hits: 89565
3066     Entries: 158
3067     Dropped: 0
3068
3069This doesn't tell us any information about how late cyclictest may have
3070woken up, but it does show us a nice histogram of how long it took from
3071the time that cyclictest was woken to the time it made it into user space.
3072