xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/ktrace/ktrace.1 (revision 7bd6fde3)
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32.\"	@(#)ktrace.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd November 6, 2006
36.Dt KTRACE 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm ktrace
40.Nd enable kernel process tracing
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl aCcdi
44.Op Fl f Ar trfile
45.Op Fl g Ar pgrp | Fl p Ar pid
46.Op Fl t Ar trstr
47.Nm
48.Op Fl adi
49.Op Fl f Ar trfile
50.Op Fl t Ar trstr
51.Ar command
52.Sh DESCRIPTION
53The
54.Nm
55utility enables kernel trace logging for the specified processes.
56Kernel trace data is logged to the file
57.Pa ktrace.out .
58The kernel operations that are traced include system calls, namei
59translations, signal processing, and
60.Tn I/O .
61.Pp
62Once tracing is enabled on a process, trace data will be logged until
63either the process exits or the trace point is cleared.
64A traced process can generate enormous amounts of log data quickly;
65It is strongly suggested that users memorize how to disable tracing before
66attempting to trace a process.
67The following command is sufficient to disable tracing on all user-owned
68processes, and, if executed by root, all processes:
69.Pp
70.Dl \&$ ktrace -C
71.Pp
72The trace file is not human readable; use
73.Xr kdump 1
74to decode it.
75.Pp
76The utility may be used only with a kernel that has been built with the
77.Dq KTRACE
78option in the kernel configuration file.
79.Pp
80The options are:
81.Bl -tag -width indent
82.It Fl a
83Append to the trace file instead of recreating it.
84.It Fl C
85Disable tracing on all user-owned processes, and, if executed by root, all
86processes in the system.
87.It Fl c
88Clear the trace points associated with the specified file or processes.
89.It Fl d
90Descendants; perform the operation for all current children of the
91designated processes.
92.It Fl f Ar trfile
93Log trace records to
94.Ar trfile
95instead of
96.Pa ktrace.out .
97.It Fl g Ar pgid
98Enable (disable) tracing on all processes in the process group (only one
99.Fl g
100flag is permitted).
101.It Fl i
102Inherit; pass the trace flags to all future children of the designated
103processes.
104.It Fl p Ar pid
105Enable (disable) tracing on the indicated process id (only one
106.Fl p
107flag is permitted).
108.It Fl t Ar trstr
109The string argument represents the kernel trace points, one per letter.
110The following table equates the letters with the tracepoints:
111.Pp
112.Bl -tag -width flag -compact
113.It Cm c
114trace system calls
115.It Cm n
116trace namei translations
117.It Cm i
118trace
119.Tn I/O
120.It Cm s
121trace signal processing
122.It Cm u
123userland traces
124.It Cm w
125context switches
126.It Cm +
127trace the default set of trace points -
128.Cm c , n , i , s , u
129.El
130.It Ar command
131Execute
132.Ar command
133with the specified trace flags.
134.El
135.Pp
136The
137.Fl p ,
138.Fl g ,
139and
140.Ar command
141options are mutually exclusive.
142.Sh EXAMPLES
143# trace all kernel operations of process id 34
144.Dl $ ktrace -p 34
145.Pp
146# trace all kernel operations of processes in process group 15 and
147# pass the trace flags to all current and future children
148.Dl $ ktrace -idg 15
149.Pp
150# disable all tracing of process 65
151.Dl $ ktrace -cp 65
152.Pp
153# disable tracing signals on process 70 and all current children
154.Dl $ ktrace -t s -cdp 70
155.Pp
156# enable tracing of
157.Tn I/O
158on process 67
159.Dl $ ktrace -ti -p 67
160.Pp
161# run the command "w", tracing only system calls
162.Dl $ ktrace -tc w
163.Pp
164# disable all tracing to the file "tracedata"
165.Dl $ ktrace -c -f tracedata
166.Pp
167# disable tracing of all user-owned processes
168.Dl $ ktrace -C
169.Sh SEE ALSO
170.Xr kdump 1
171.Sh HISTORY
172The
173.Nm
174command appeared in
175.Bx 4.4 .
176.Sh BUGS
177Only works if
178.Ar trfile
179is a regular file.
180