manpage: Document probe provider compatibility
[lttng-ust.git] / doc / man / lttng-ust.3
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1.TH "LTTNG-UST" "3" "February 16, 2012" "" ""
2
3.SH "NAME"
4lttng-ust \(em Linux Trace Toolkit Next Generation User-Space Tracer
5
6.SH "SYNOPSIS"
7
8.PP
9.nf
10Link liblttng-ust.so with applications, following this manpage.
11.fi
12.SH "DESCRIPTION"
13
14.PP
15LTTng-UST, the Linux Trace Toolkit Next Generation Userspace Tracer, is
16port of the low-overhead tracing capabilities of the LTTng kernel tracer
17to user-space. The library "liblttng-ust" enables tracing of
18applications and libraries.
19
20.SH "USAGE"
21.PP
22The simple way to generate the lttng-ust tracepoint probes is to use the
23lttng-gen-tp(1) tool. See the lttng-gen-tp(1) manpage for explanation.
24.PP
25
26.PP
27Here is the way to do it manually, without the lttng-gen-tp(1) helper
28script, through an example:
29.PP
30
31.SH "CREATION OF TRACEPOINT PROVIDER"
32
33.nf
34
35To create a tracepoint provider, within a build tree similar to
36examples/easy-ust installed with lttng-ust documentation, a
37sample_component_provider.h for the general layout. This manpage will
38focus on the various types that can be recorded into a trace event:
39
40TRACEPOINT_EVENT(
41 /*
42 * provider name, not a variable but a string starting with a
43 * letter and containing either letters, numbers or underscores.
44 * Needs to be the same as TRACEPOINT_PROVIDER. Needs to
45 * follow the namespacing guide-lines in lttng/tracepoint.h:
46 *
47 * Must be included before include tracepoint provider
48 * ex.: project_event
49 * ex.: project_component_event
50 *
51 * Optional company name goes here
52 * ex.: com_efficios_project_component_event
53 *
54 * In this example, "sample" is the project, and "component" is the
55 * component.
56 */
57 sample_component,
58
59 /*
60 * tracepoint name, same format as sample provider. Does not
61 * need to be declared before. in this case the name is
62 * "message"
63 */
64 message,
65
66 /*
67 * TP_ARGS macro contains the arguments passed for the tracepoint
68 * it is in the following format
69 * TP_ARGS(type1, name1, type2, name2, ... type10,
70 name10)
71 * where there can be from zero to ten elements.
72 * typeN is the datatype, such as int, struct or double **.
73 * name is the variable name (in "int myInt" the name would be
74 * myint)
75 * TP_ARGS() is valid to mean no arguments
76 * TP_ARGS(void) is valid too
77 */
78 TP_ARGS(int, anint, int, netint, long *, values,
79 char *, text, size_t, textlen,
80 double, doublearg, float, floatarg),
81
82 /*
83 * TP_FIELDS describes how to write the fields of the trace event.
84 * You can put expressions in the "argument expression" area,
85 * typically using the input arguments from TP_ARGS.
86 */
87 TP_FIELDS(
88 /*
89 * ctf_integer: standard integer field.
90 * args: (type, field name, argument expression)
91 */
92 ctf_integer(int, intfield, anint)
93 ctf_integer(long, longfield, anint)
94
95 /*
96 * ctf_integer_hex: integer field printed as hexadecimal.
97 * args: (type, field name, argument expression)
98 */
99 ctf_integer_hex(int, intfield2, anint)
100
101 /*
102 * ctf_integer_network: integer field in network byte
103 * order. (_hex: printed as hexadecimal too)
104 * args: (type, field name, argument expression)
105 */
106 ctf_integer_network(int, netintfield, netint)
107 ctf_integer_network_hex(int, netintfieldhex, netint)
108
109 /*
110 * ctf_array: a statically-sized array.
111 * args: (type, field name, argument expression, value)
112 */
113 ctf_array(long, arrfield1, values, 3)
114
115 /*
116 * ctf_array_text: a statically-sized array, printed as
117 * a string. No need to be terminated by a null
118 * character.
119 */
120 ctf_array_text(char, arrfield2, text, 10)
121
122 /*
123 * ctf_sequence: a dynamically-sized array.
124 * args: (type, field name, argument expression,
125 * type of length expression, length expression)
126 */
127 ctf_sequence(char, seqfield1, text,
128 size_t, textlen)
129
130 /*
131 * ctf_sequence_text: a dynamically-sized array, printed
132 * as string. No need to be null-terminated.
133 */
134 ctf_sequence_text(char, seqfield2, text,
135 size_t, textlen)
136
137 /*
138 * ctf_string: null-terminated string.
139 * args: (field name, argument expression)
140 */
141 ctf_string(stringfield, text)
142
143 /*
144 * ctf_float: floating-point number.
145 * args: (type, field name, argument expression)
146 */
147 ctf_float(float, floatfield, floatarg)
148 ctf_float(double, doublefield, doublearg)
149 )
150)
151.fi
152
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153.SH "ASSIGNING LOGLEVEL TO EVENTS"
154
155.nf
156
157Optionally, a loglevel can be assigned to a TRACEPOINT_EVENT using the
158following construct:
159
160 TRACEPOINT_LOGLEVEL(< [com_company_]project[_component] >,
161 < event >, < loglevel_name >)
162
163 The first field is the provider name, the second field is the name of
164the tracepoint, and the third field is the loglevel name. A
165TRACEPOINT_EVENT should be declared prior to the the TRACEPOINT_LOGLEVEL
166for a given tracepoint name. The TRACEPOINT_PROVIDER must be already
167declared before declaring a TRACEPOINT_LOGLEVEL.
168
169The loglevels go from 0 to 14. Higher numbers imply the most verbosity
170(higher event throughput expected.
171
172Loglevels 0 through 6, and loglevel 14, match syslog(3) loglevels
173semantic. Loglevels 7 through 13 offer more fine-grained selection of
174debug information.
175
176 TRACE_EMERG 0
177 system is unusable
178
179 TRACE_ALERT 1
180 action must be taken immediately
181
182 TRACE_CRIT 2
183 critical conditions
184
185 TRACE_ERR 3
186 error conditions
187
188 TRACE_WARNING 4
189 warning conditions
190
191 TRACE_NOTICE 5
192 normal, but significant, condition
193
194 TRACE_INFO 6
195 informational message
196
197 TRACE_DEBUG_SYSTEM 7
198 debug information with system-level scope (set of programs)
199
200 TRACE_DEBUG_PROGRAM 8
201 debug information with program-level scope (set of processes)
202
203 TRACE_DEBUG_PROCESS 9
204 debug information with process-level scope (set of modules)
205
206 TRACE_DEBUG_MODULE 10
207 debug information with module (executable/library) scope (set of
208 units)
209
210 TRACE_DEBUG_UNIT 11
211 debug information with compilation unit scope (set of functions)
212
213 TRACE_DEBUG_FUNCTION 12
214 debug information with function-level scope
215
216 TRACE_DEBUG_LINE 13
217 debug information with line-level scope (TRACEPOINT_EVENT default)
218
219 TRACE_DEBUG 14
220 debug-level message (trace_printf default)
221
222See lttng(1) for information on how to use LTTng-UST loglevels.
223
224.fi
225
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226.SH "ADDING TRACEPOINTS TO YOUR CODE"
227
228.nf
229
230Include the provider header in each C files you plan to instrument,
231following the building/linking directives in the next section.
232
233For instance, add within a function:
234
235 tracepoint(ust_tests_hello, tptest, i, netint, values,
236 text, strlen(text), dbl, flt);
237
238As a call to the tracepoint. It will only be activated when requested by
239lttng(1) through lttng-sessiond(8).
240
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241Even though LTTng-UST supports tracepoint() call site duplicates having
242the same provider and event name, it is recommended to use a
243provider event name pair only once within the source code to help
244mapping events back to their call sites when analyzing the trace.
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245.fi
246
247.SH "BUILDING/LINKING THE TRACEPOINT PROVIDER"
248
249.nf
250There are 2 ways to compile the Tracepoint Provider with the
251application: either statically or dynamically. Please follow
252carefully:
253
254 1.1) Compile the Tracepoint provider with the application, either
255 directly or through a static library (.a):
256 - Into exactly one object of your application: define
257 "TRACEPOINT_DEFINE" and include the tracepoint provider.
9b6435af 258 - Use "\-I." for the compilation unit containing the tracepoint
eba411c6 259 provider include (e.g. tp.c).
9b6435af 260 - Link application with "\-ldl".
eba411c6 261 - If building the provider directly into the application,
9b6435af 262 link the application with "\-llttng-ust".
eba411c6 263 - If building a static library for the provider, link the static
38f5f440 264 library with "\-llttng-ust".
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265 - Include the tracepoint provider header into all C files using
266 the provider.
267 - Example:
5ce00218 268 - tests/hello/ hello.c tp.c ust_tests_hello.h Makefile.example
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269
270 2) Compile the Tracepoint Provider separately from the application,
271 using dynamic linking:
272 - Into exactly one object of your application: define
273 "TRACEPOINT_DEFINE" _and_ also define
274 "TRACEPOINT_PROBE_DYNAMIC_LINKAGE", then include the tracepoint
275 provider header.
276 - Include the tracepoint provider header into all instrumented C
277 files that use the provider.
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278 - Compile the tracepoint provider with "\-I.".
279 - Link the tracepoint provider with "\-llttng-ust".
280 - Link application with "\-ldl".
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281 - Set a LD_PRELOAD environment to preload the tracepoint provider
282 shared object before starting the application when tracing is
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283 needed. Another way is to dlopen the tracepoint probe when needed
284 by the application.
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285 - Example:
286 - tests/demo/ demo.c tp*.c ust_tests_demo*.h demo-trace
287
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288 - Note about dlclose() usage: it is not safe to use dlclose on a
289 provider shared object that is being actively used for tracing due
290 to a lack of reference counting from lttng-ust to the used shared
291 object.
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292 - Enable instrumentation and control tracing with the "lttng" command
293 from lttng-tools. See lttng-tools doc/quickstart.txt.
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294 - Note for C++ support: although an application instrumented with
295 tracepoints can be compiled with g++, tracepoint probes should be
296 compiled with gcc (only tested with gcc so far).
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297
298.fi
299
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300.SH "USING LTTNG UST WITH DAEMONS"
301
302.nf
303Some extra care is needed when using liblttng-ust with daemon
304applications that call fork(), clone(), or BSD rfork() without a
305following exec() family system call. The library "liblttng-ust-fork.so"
306needs to be preloaded for the application (launch with e.g.
307LD_PRELOAD=liblttng-ust-fork.so appname).
308
309.fi
310
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311.SH "CONTEXT"
312
313.PP
314Context information can be prepended by the tracer before each, or some,
315events. The following context information is supported by LTTng-UST:
316.PP
317
318.PP
319.IP "vtid"
320Virtual thread ID: thread ID as seen from the point of view of the
321process namespace.
322.PP
323
324.PP
325.IP "vpid"
326Virtual process ID: process ID as seen from the point of view of the
327process namespace.
328.PP
329
330.PP
331.IP "procname"
332Thread name, as set by exec() or prctl(). It is recommended that
333programs set their thread name with prctl() before hitting the first
334tracepoint for that thread.
335.PP
336
337.PP
338.IP "pthread_id"
339Pthread identifier. Can be used on architectures where pthread_t maps
340nicely to an unsigned long type.
341.PP
342
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343.SH "ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES"
344
345.PP
346.IP "LTTNG_UST_DEBUG"
347Activate liblttng-ust debug output.
348.PP
349.IP "LTTNG_UST_REGISTER_TIMEOUT"
350The environment variable "LTTNG_UST_REGISTER_TIMEOUT" can be used to
351specify how long the applications should wait for sessiond
352"registration done" command before proceeding to execute the main
353program. The default is 3000ms (3 seconds). The timeout value is
354specified in milliseconds. The value 0 means "don't wait". The value
9b6435af 355\-1 means "wait forever". Setting this environment variable to 0 is
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356recommended for applications with time constraints on the process
357startup time.
358.PP
359
360.SH "SEE ALSO"
361
362.PP
363lttng-gen-tp(1), lttng(1), babeltrace(1), lttng-sessiond(8)
364.PP
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365
366.SH "COMPATIBILITY"
367
368.PP
369Older lttng-ust libraries reject more recent, and incompatible, probe
370providers. Newer lttng-ust librairies accept older probe providers, even
371though some newer features might not be available with those providers.
372.PP
373
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374.SH "BUGS"
375
376.PP
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377LTTng-UST 2.0 and 2.1 lttng-ust libraries do not check for probe
378provider version compatibility. This can lead to out-of-bound accesses
379when using a more recent probe provider with an older lttng-ust library.
380These error only trigger when tracing is active. This issue has been
381fixed in LTTng-UST 2.2.
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382
383If you encounter any issues or usability problem, please report it on
384our mailing list <lttng-dev@lists.lttng.org> to help improve this
385project.
386.SH "CREDITS"
387
388liblttng-ust is distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License
389version 2.1. The headers are distributed under the MIT license.
390.PP
391See http://lttng.org for more information on the LTTng project.
392.PP
393Mailing list for support and development: <lttng-dev@lists.lttng.org>.
394.PP
395You can find us on IRC server irc.oftc.net (OFTC) in #lttng.
396.PP
397.SH "THANKS"
398
399Thanks to Ericsson for funding this work, providing real-life use-cases,
400and testing.
401
402Special thanks to Michel Dagenais and the DORSAL laboratory at
403Polytechnique de Montreal for the LTTng journey.
404.PP
405.SH "AUTHORS"
406
407.PP
408liblttng-ust was originally written by Mathieu Desnoyers, with additional
409contributions from various other people. It is currently maintained by
410Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>.
411.PP
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