diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/ABI/testing/debugfs-kmemtrace | 71 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt | 10 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/sysrq.txt | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/tracers/mmiotrace.txt | 6 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/vm/kmemtrace.txt | 126 |
5 files changed, 211 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/ABI/testing/debugfs-kmemtrace b/Documentation/ABI/testing/debugfs-kmemtrace new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..5e6a92a02d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/ABI/testing/debugfs-kmemtrace @@ -0,0 +1,71 @@ +What: /sys/kernel/debug/kmemtrace/ +Date: July 2008 +Contact: Eduard - Gabriel Munteanu <eduard.munteanu@linux360.ro> +Description: + +In kmemtrace-enabled kernels, the following files are created: + +/sys/kernel/debug/kmemtrace/ + cpu<n> (0400) Per-CPU tracing data, see below. (binary) + total_overruns (0400) Total number of bytes which were dropped from + cpu<n> files because of full buffer condition, + non-binary. (text) + abi_version (0400) Kernel's kmemtrace ABI version. (text) + +Each per-CPU file should be read according to the relay interface. That is, +the reader should set affinity to that specific CPU and, as currently done by +the userspace application (though there are other methods), use poll() with +an infinite timeout before every read(). Otherwise, erroneous data may be +read. The binary data has the following _core_ format: + + Event ID (1 byte) Unsigned integer, one of: + 0 - represents an allocation (KMEMTRACE_EVENT_ALLOC) + 1 - represents a freeing of previously allocated memory + (KMEMTRACE_EVENT_FREE) + Type ID (1 byte) Unsigned integer, one of: + 0 - this is a kmalloc() / kfree() + 1 - this is a kmem_cache_alloc() / kmem_cache_free() + 2 - this is a __get_free_pages() et al. + Event size (2 bytes) Unsigned integer representing the + size of this event. Used to extend + kmemtrace. Discard the bytes you + don't know about. + Sequence number (4 bytes) Signed integer used to reorder data + logged on SMP machines. Wraparound + must be taken into account, although + it is unlikely. + Caller address (8 bytes) Return address to the caller. + Pointer to mem (8 bytes) Pointer to target memory area. Can be + NULL, but not all such calls might be + recorded. + +In case of KMEMTRACE_EVENT_ALLOC events, the next fields follow: + + Requested bytes (8 bytes) Total number of requested bytes, + unsigned, must not be zero. + Allocated bytes (8 bytes) Total number of actually allocated + bytes, unsigned, must not be lower + than requested bytes. + Requested flags (4 bytes) GFP flags supplied by the caller. + Target CPU (4 bytes) Signed integer, valid for event id 1. + If equal to -1, target CPU is the same + as origin CPU, but the reverse might + not be true. + +The data is made available in the same endianness the machine has. + +Other event ids and type ids may be defined and added. Other fields may be +added by increasing event size, but see below for details. +Every modification to the ABI, including new id definitions, are followed +by bumping the ABI version by one. + +Adding new data to the packet (features) is done at the end of the mandatory +data: + Feature size (2 byte) + Feature ID (1 byte) + Feature data (Feature size - 3 bytes) + + +Users: + kmemtrace-user - git://repo.or.cz/kmemtrace-user.git + diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt index 8511d3532c2..ac613a661f4 100644 --- a/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt +++ b/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt @@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ parameter is applicable: ISAPNP ISA PnP code is enabled. ISDN Appropriate ISDN support is enabled. JOY Appropriate joystick support is enabled. + KMEMTRACE kmemtrace is enabled. LIBATA Libata driver is enabled LP Printer support is enabled. LOOP Loopback device support is enabled. @@ -1050,6 +1051,15 @@ and is between 256 and 4096 characters. It is defined in the file use the HighMem zone if it exists, and the Normal zone if it does not. + kmemtrace.enable= [KNL,KMEMTRACE] Format: { yes | no } + Controls whether kmemtrace is enabled + at boot-time. + + kmemtrace.subbufs=n [KNL,KMEMTRACE] Overrides the number of + subbufs kmemtrace's relay channel has. Set this + higher than default (KMEMTRACE_N_SUBBUFS in code) if + you experience buffer overruns. + movablecore=nn[KMG] [KNL,X86-32,IA-64,PPC,X86-64] This parameter is similar to kernelcore except it specifies the amount of memory used for migratable allocations. diff --git a/Documentation/sysrq.txt b/Documentation/sysrq.txt index 9e592c718af..535aeb936db 100644 --- a/Documentation/sysrq.txt +++ b/Documentation/sysrq.txt @@ -113,6 +113,8 @@ On all - write a character to /proc/sysrq-trigger. e.g.: 'x' - Used by xmon interface on ppc/powerpc platforms. +'z' - Dump the ftrace buffer + '0'-'9' - Sets the console log level, controlling which kernel messages will be printed to your console. ('0', for example would make it so that only emergency messages like PANICs or OOPSes would diff --git a/Documentation/tracers/mmiotrace.txt b/Documentation/tracers/mmiotrace.txt index cde23b4a12a..5731c67abc5 100644 --- a/Documentation/tracers/mmiotrace.txt +++ b/Documentation/tracers/mmiotrace.txt @@ -78,12 +78,10 @@ to view your kernel log and look for "mmiotrace has lost events" warning. If events were lost, the trace is incomplete. You should enlarge the buffers and try again. Buffers are enlarged by first seeing how large the current buffers are: -$ cat /debug/tracing/trace_entries +$ cat /debug/tracing/buffer_size_kb gives you a number. Approximately double this number and write it back, for instance: -$ echo 0 > /debug/tracing/tracing_enabled -$ echo 128000 > /debug/tracing/trace_entries -$ echo 1 > /debug/tracing/tracing_enabled +$ echo 128000 > /debug/tracing/buffer_size_kb Then start again from the top. If you are doing a trace for a driver project, e.g. Nouveau, you should also diff --git a/Documentation/vm/kmemtrace.txt b/Documentation/vm/kmemtrace.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..a956d9b7f94 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/kmemtrace.txt @@ -0,0 +1,126 @@ + kmemtrace - Kernel Memory Tracer + + by Eduard - Gabriel Munteanu + <eduard.munteanu@linux360.ro> + +I. Introduction +=============== + +kmemtrace helps kernel developers figure out two things: +1) how different allocators (SLAB, SLUB etc.) perform +2) how kernel code allocates memory and how much + +To do this, we trace every allocation and export information to the userspace +through the relay interface. We export things such as the number of requested +bytes, the number of bytes actually allocated (i.e. including internal +fragmentation), whether this is a slab allocation or a plain kmalloc() and so +on. + +The actual analysis is performed by a userspace tool (see section III for +details on where to get it from). It logs the data exported by the kernel, +processes it and (as of writing this) can provide the following information: +- the total amount of memory allocated and fragmentation per call-site +- the amount of memory allocated and fragmentation per allocation +- total memory allocated and fragmentation in the collected dataset +- number of cross-CPU allocation and frees (makes sense in NUMA environments) + +Moreover, it can potentially find inconsistent and erroneous behavior in +kernel code, such as using slab free functions on kmalloc'ed memory or +allocating less memory than requested (but not truly failed allocations). + +kmemtrace also makes provisions for tracing on some arch and analysing the +data on another. + +II. Design and goals +==================== + +kmemtrace was designed to handle rather large amounts of data. Thus, it uses +the relay interface to export whatever is logged to userspace, which then +stores it. Analysis and reporting is done asynchronously, that is, after the +data is collected and stored. By design, it allows one to log and analyse +on different machines and different arches. + +As of writing this, the ABI is not considered stable, though it might not +change much. However, no guarantees are made about compatibility yet. When +deemed stable, the ABI should still allow easy extension while maintaining +backward compatibility. This is described further in Documentation/ABI. + +Summary of design goals: + - allow logging and analysis to be done across different machines + - be fast and anticipate usage in high-load environments (*) + - be reasonably extensible + - make it possible for GNU/Linux distributions to have kmemtrace + included in their repositories + +(*) - one of the reasons Pekka Enberg's original userspace data analysis + tool's code was rewritten from Perl to C (although this is more than a + simple conversion) + + +III. Quick usage guide +====================== + +1) Get a kernel that supports kmemtrace and build it accordingly (i.e. enable +CONFIG_KMEMTRACE). + +2) Get the userspace tool and build it: +$ git-clone git://repo.or.cz/kmemtrace-user.git # current repository +$ cd kmemtrace-user/ +$ ./autogen.sh +$ ./configure +$ make + +3) Boot the kmemtrace-enabled kernel if you haven't, preferably in the +'single' runlevel (so that relay buffers don't fill up easily), and run +kmemtrace: +# '$' does not mean user, but root here. +$ mount -t debugfs none /sys/kernel/debug +$ mount -t proc none /proc +$ cd path/to/kmemtrace-user/ +$ ./kmemtraced +Wait a bit, then stop it with CTRL+C. +$ cat /sys/kernel/debug/kmemtrace/total_overruns # Check if we didn't + # overrun, should + # be zero. +$ (Optionally) [Run kmemtrace_check separately on each cpu[0-9]*.out file to + check its correctness] +$ ./kmemtrace-report + +Now you should have a nice and short summary of how the allocator performs. + +IV. FAQ and known issues +======================== + +Q: 'cat /sys/kernel/debug/kmemtrace/total_overruns' is non-zero, how do I fix +this? Should I worry? +A: If it's non-zero, this affects kmemtrace's accuracy, depending on how +large the number is. You can fix it by supplying a higher +'kmemtrace.subbufs=N' kernel parameter. +--- + +Q: kmemtrace_check reports errors, how do I fix this? Should I worry? +A: This is a bug and should be reported. It can occur for a variety of +reasons: + - possible bugs in relay code + - possible misuse of relay by kmemtrace + - timestamps being collected unorderly +Or you may fix it yourself and send us a patch. +--- + +Q: kmemtrace_report shows many errors, how do I fix this? Should I worry? +A: This is a known issue and I'm working on it. These might be true errors +in kernel code, which may have inconsistent behavior (e.g. allocating memory +with kmem_cache_alloc() and freeing it with kfree()). Pekka Enberg pointed +out this behavior may work with SLAB, but may fail with other allocators. + +It may also be due to lack of tracing in some unusual allocator functions. + +We don't want bug reports regarding this issue yet. +--- + +V. See also +=========== + +Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt +Documentation/ABI/testing/debugfs-kmemtrace + |