summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst18
1 files changed, 12 insertions, 6 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst
index d2b5657ed33e..ff658e27d25b 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst
+++ b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@ of ftrace. Here is a list of some of the key files:
current_tracer:
This is used to set or display the current tracer
- that is configured.
+ that is configured. Changing the current tracer clears
+ the ring buffer content as well as the "snapshot" buffer.
available_tracers:
@@ -126,7 +127,8 @@ of ftrace. Here is a list of some of the key files:
This file holds the output of the trace in a human
readable format (described below). Note, tracing is temporarily
disabled when the file is open for reading. Once all readers
- are closed, tracing is re-enabled.
+ are closed, tracing is re-enabled. Opening this file for
+ writing with the O_TRUNC flag clears the ring buffer content.
trace_pipe:
@@ -185,7 +187,8 @@ of ftrace. Here is a list of some of the key files:
CPU buffer and not total size of all buffers. The
trace buffers are allocated in pages (blocks of memory
that the kernel uses for allocation, usually 4 KB in size).
- If the last page allocated has room for more bytes
+ A few extra pages may be allocated to accommodate buffer management
+ meta-data. If the last page allocated has room for more bytes
than requested, the rest of the page will be used,
making the actual allocation bigger than requested or shown.
( Note, the size may not be a multiple of the page size
@@ -235,7 +238,7 @@ of ftrace. Here is a list of some of the key files:
This interface also allows for commands to be used. See the
"Filter commands" section for more details.
- As a speed up, since processing strings can't be quite expensive
+ As a speed up, since processing strings can be quite expensive
and requires a check of all functions registered to tracing, instead
an index can be written into this file. A number (starting with "1")
written will instead select the same corresponding at the line position
@@ -382,7 +385,7 @@ of ftrace. Here is a list of some of the key files:
By default, 128 comms are saved (see "saved_cmdlines" above). To
increase or decrease the amount of comms that are cached, echo
- in a the number of comms to cache, into this file.
+ the number of comms to cache into this file.
saved_tgids:
@@ -490,6 +493,9 @@ of ftrace. Here is a list of some of the key files:
# echo global > trace_clock
+ Setting a clock clears the ring buffer content as well as the
+ "snapshot" buffer.
+
trace_marker:
This is a very useful file for synchronizing user space
@@ -3324,7 +3330,7 @@ directories after it is created.
As you can see, the new directory looks similar to the tracing directory
itself. In fact, it is very similar, except that the buffer and
-events are agnostic from the main director, or from any other
+events are agnostic from the main directory, or from any other
instances that are created.
The files in the new directory work just like the files with the
OpenPOWER on IntegriCloud