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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/trace')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/trace/tracepoints.txt | 24 |
1 files changed, 24 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/tracepoints.txt b/Documentation/trace/tracepoints.txt index 6b018b53177a..a3efac621c5a 100644 --- a/Documentation/trace/tracepoints.txt +++ b/Documentation/trace/tracepoints.txt @@ -115,6 +115,30 @@ If the tracepoint has to be used in kernel modules, an EXPORT_TRACEPOINT_SYMBOL_GPL() or EXPORT_TRACEPOINT_SYMBOL() can be used to export the defined tracepoints. +If you need to do a bit of work for a tracepoint parameter, and +that work is only used for the tracepoint, that work can be encapsulated +within an if statement with the following: + + if (trace_foo_bar_enabled()) { + int i; + int tot = 0; + + for (i = 0; i < count; i++) + tot += calculate_nuggets(); + + trace_foo_bar(tot); + } + +All trace_<tracepoint>() calls have a matching trace_<tracepoint>_enabled() +function defined that returns true if the tracepoint is enabled and +false otherwise. The trace_<tracepoint>() should always be within the +block of the if (trace_<tracepoint>_enabled()) to prevent races between +the tracepoint being enabled and the check being seen. + +The advantage of using the trace_<tracepoint>_enabled() is that it uses +the static_key of the tracepoint to allow the if statement to be implemented +with jump labels and avoid conditional branches. + Note: The convenience macro TRACE_EVENT provides an alternative way to define tracepoints. Check http://lwn.net/Articles/379903, http://lwn.net/Articles/381064 and http://lwn.net/Articles/383362 |