xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/ktrace/ktrace.1 (revision 076ad2f8)
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28.\"	@(#)ktrace.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd March 31, 2016
32.Dt KTRACE 1
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm ktrace
36.Nd enable kernel process tracing
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38.Nm
39.Op Fl aCcdi
40.Op Fl f Ar trfile
41.Op Fl g Ar pgrp | Fl p Ar pid
42.Op Fl t Ar trstr
43.Nm
44.Op Fl adi
45.Op Fl f Ar trfile
46.Op Fl t Ar trstr
47.Ar command
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The
50.Nm
51utility enables kernel trace logging for the specified processes.
52Kernel trace data is logged to the file
53.Pa ktrace.out .
54The kernel operations that are traced include system calls, namei
55translations, signal processing, and
56.Tn I/O .
57.Pp
58Once tracing is enabled on a process, trace data will be logged until
59either the process exits or the trace point is cleared.
60A traced process can generate enormous amounts of log data quickly;
61It is strongly suggested that users memorize how to disable tracing before
62attempting to trace a process.
63The following command is sufficient to disable tracing on all user-owned
64processes, and, if executed by root, all processes:
65.Pp
66.Dl \&$ ktrace -C
67.Pp
68The trace file is not human readable; use
69.Xr kdump 1
70to decode it.
71.Pp
72The utility may be used only with a kernel that has been built with the
73.Dq KTRACE
74option in the kernel configuration file.
75.Pp
76The options are:
77.Bl -tag -width indent
78.It Fl a
79Append to the trace file instead of recreating it.
80.It Fl C
81Disable tracing on all user-owned processes, and, if executed by root, all
82processes in the system.
83.It Fl c
84Clear the specified trace points associated with the given file or processes.
85.It Fl d
86Descendants; perform the operation for all current children of the
87designated processes.
88.It Fl f Ar trfile
89Log trace records to
90.Ar trfile
91instead of
92.Pa ktrace.out .
93.It Fl g Ar pgid
94Enable (disable) tracing on all processes in the process group (only one
95.Fl g
96flag is permitted).
97.It Fl i
98Inherit; pass the trace flags to all future children of the designated
99processes.
100.It Fl p Ar pid
101Enable (disable) tracing on the indicated process id (only one
102.Fl p
103flag is permitted).
104.It Fl t Ar trstr
105Specify the list of trace points to enable or disable, one per letter.
106If an explicit list is not specified, the default set of trace points is used.
107.Pp
108The following trace points are supported:
109.Pp
110.Bl -tag -width flag -compact
111.It Cm c
112trace system calls
113.It Cm f
114trace page faults
115.It Cm i
116trace
117.Tn I/O
118.It Cm n
119trace namei translations
120.It Cm p
121trace capability check failures
122.It Cm s
123trace signal processing
124.It Cm t
125trace various structures
126.It Cm u
127userland traces
128.It Cm w
129context switches
130.It Cm y
131trace
132.Xr sysctl 3
133requests
134.It Cm +
135trace the default set of trace points -
136.Cm c , i , n , p , s , t , u , y
137.El
138.It Ar command
139Execute
140.Ar command
141with the specified trace flags.
142.El
143.Pp
144The
145.Fl p ,
146.Fl g ,
147and
148.Ar command
149options are mutually exclusive.
150.Sh EXAMPLES
151# trace all kernel operations of process id 34
152.Dl $ ktrace -p 34
153.Pp
154# trace all kernel operations of processes in process group 15 and
155# pass the trace flags to all current and future children
156.Dl $ ktrace -idg 15
157.Pp
158# disable all tracing of process 65
159.Dl $ ktrace -cp 65
160.Pp
161# disable tracing signals on process 70 and all current children
162.Dl $ ktrace -t s -cdp 70
163.Pp
164# enable tracing of
165.Tn I/O
166on process 67
167.Dl $ ktrace -ti -p 67
168.Pp
169# run the command "w", tracing only system calls
170.Dl $ ktrace -tc w
171.Pp
172# disable all tracing to the file "tracedata"
173.Dl $ ktrace -c -f tracedata
174.Pp
175# disable tracing of all user-owned processes
176.Dl $ ktrace -C
177.Sh SEE ALSO
178.Xr kdump 1 ,
179.Xr ktrace 2
180.Sh HISTORY
181The
182.Nm
183command appeared in
184.Bx 4.4 .
185.Sh BUGS
186Only works if
187.Ar trfile
188is a regular file.
189