alistair23-linux/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-probe.txt
Masami Hiramatsu 2a9c8c3609 perf probe: Add lazy line matching support
Add lazy line matching support for specifying new probes.
This also changes the syntax of perf probe a bit. Now
perf probe accepts one of below probe event definitions.

1) Define event based on function name
 [EVENT=]FUNC[@SRC][:RLN|+OFF|%return|;PTN] [ARG ...]

2) Define event based on source file with line number
 [EVENT=]SRC:ALN [ARG ...]

3) Define event based on source file with lazy pattern
 [EVENT=]SRC;PTN [ARG ...]

- New lazy matching pattern(PTN) follows ';' (semicolon). And it
  must be put the end of the definition.
- So, @SRC is no longer the part which must be put at the end
  of the definition.

Note that ';' (semicolon) can be interpreted as the end of
a command by the shell. This means that you need to quote it.
(anyway you will need to quote the lazy pattern itself too,
because it may contains other sensitive characters, like
'[',']' etc.).

Lazy matching
-------------
The lazy line matching is similar to glob matching except
ignoring spaces in both of pattern and target.

e.g.
'a=*' can matches 'a=b', 'a = b', 'a == b' and so on.

This provides some sort of flexibility and robustness to
probe point definitions against minor code changes.
(for example, actual 10th line of schedule() can be changed
 easily by modifying schedule(), but the same line matching
 'rq=cpu_rq*' may still exist.)

Changes in v3:
 - Cast Dwarf_Addr to uintmax_t for printf-formats.

Changes in v2:
 - Cast Dwarf_Addr to unsigned long long for printf-formats.

Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@redhat.com>
Cc: systemtap <systemtap@sources.redhat.com>
Cc: DLE <dle-develop@lists.sourceforge.net>
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@gmail.com>
Cc: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Paul Mackerras <paulus@samba.org>
Cc: Mike Galbraith <efault@gmx.de>
Cc: K.Prasad <prasad@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@gmail.com>
Cc: Ananth N Mavinakayanahalli <ananth@in.ibm.com>
LKML-Reference: <20100225133611.6725.45078.stgit@localhost6.localdomain6>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
2010-02-25 17:49:30 +01:00

130 lines
4.2 KiB
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perf-probe(1)
=============
NAME
----
perf-probe - Define new dynamic tracepoints
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'perf probe' [options] --add='PROBE' [...]
or
'perf probe' [options] PROBE
or
'perf probe' [options] --del='[GROUP:]EVENT' [...]
or
'perf probe' --list
or
'perf probe' --line='FUNC[:RLN[+NUM|:RLN2]]|SRC:ALN[+NUM|:ALN2]'
DESCRIPTION
-----------
This command defines dynamic tracepoint events, by symbol and registers
without debuginfo, or by C expressions (C line numbers, C function names,
and C local variables) with debuginfo.
OPTIONS
-------
-k::
--vmlinux=PATH::
Specify vmlinux path which has debuginfo (Dwarf binary).
-v::
--verbose::
Be more verbose (show parsed arguments, etc).
-a::
--add=::
Define a probe event (see PROBE SYNTAX for detail).
-d::
--del=::
Delete probe events. This accepts glob wildcards('*', '?') and character
classes(e.g. [a-z], [!A-Z]).
-l::
--list::
List up current probe events.
-L::
--line=::
Show source code lines which can be probed. This needs an argument
which specifies a range of the source code. (see LINE SYNTAX for detail)
-f::
--force::
Forcibly add events with existing name.
PROBE SYNTAX
------------
Probe points are defined by following syntax.
1) Define event based on function name
[EVENT=]FUNC[@SRC][:RLN|+OFFS|%return|;PTN] [ARG ...]
2) Define event based on source file with line number
[EVENT=]SRC:ALN [ARG ...]
3) Define event based on source file with lazy pattern
[EVENT=]SRC;PTN [ARG ...]
'EVENT' specifies the name of new event, if omitted, it will be set the name of the probed function. Currently, event group name is set as 'probe'.
'FUNC' specifies a probed function name, and it may have one of the following options; '+OFFS' is the offset from function entry address in bytes, ':RLN' is the relative-line number from function entry line, and '%return' means that it probes function return. And ';PTN' means lazy matching pattern (see LAZY MATCHING). Note that ';PTN' must be the end of the probe point definition. In addition, '@SRC' specifies a source file which has that function.
It is also possible to specify a probe point by the source line number or lazy matching by using 'SRC:ALN' or 'SRC;PTN' syntax, where 'SRC' is the source file path, ':ALN' is the line number and ';PTN' is the lazy matching pattern.
'ARG' specifies the arguments of this probe point. You can use the name of local variable, or kprobe-tracer argument format (e.g. $retval, %ax, etc).
LINE SYNTAX
-----------
Line range is descripted by following syntax.
"FUNC[:RLN[+NUM|:RLN2]]|SRC:ALN[+NUM|:ALN2]"
FUNC specifies the function name of showing lines. 'RLN' is the start line
number from function entry line, and 'RLN2' is the end line number. As same as
probe syntax, 'SRC' means the source file path, 'ALN' is start line number,
and 'ALN2' is end line number in the file. It is also possible to specify how
many lines to show by using 'NUM'.
So, "source.c:100-120" shows lines between 100th to l20th in source.c file. And "func:10+20" shows 20 lines from 10th line of func function.
LAZY MATCHING
-------------
The lazy line matching is similar to glob matching but ignoring spaces in both of pattern and target. So this accepts wildcards('*', '?') and character classes(e.g. [a-z], [!A-Z]).
e.g.
'a=*' can matches 'a=b', 'a = b', 'a == b' and so on.
This provides some sort of flexibility and robustness to probe point definitions against minor code changes. For example, actual 10th line of schedule() can be moved easily by modifying schedule(), but the same line matching 'rq=cpu_rq*' may still exist in the function.)
EXAMPLES
--------
Display which lines in schedule() can be probed:
./perf probe --line schedule
Add a probe on schedule() function 12th line with recording cpu local variable:
./perf probe schedule:12 cpu
or
./perf probe --add='schedule:12 cpu'
this will add one or more probes which has the name start with "schedule".
Add probes on lines in schedule() function which calls update_rq_clock().
./perf probe 'schedule;update_rq_clock*'
or
./perf probe --add='schedule;update_rq_clock*'
Delete all probes on schedule().
./perf probe --del='schedule*'
SEE ALSO
--------
linkperf:perf-trace[1], linkperf:perf-record[1]