linux.git/kernel/trace/trace_entries.h, branch v5.10.258

tracing: Fix ftrace event field alignments

2026-02-11T12:34:25+00:00

[ Upstream commit 033c55fe2e326bea022c3cc5178ecf3e0e459b82 ]

The fields of ftrace specific events (events used to save ftrace internal
events like function traces and trace_printk) are generated similarly to
how normal trace event fields are generated. That is, the fields are added
to a trace_events_fields array that saves the name, offset, size,
alignment and signness of the field. It is used to produce the output in
the format file in tracefs so that tooling knows how to parse the binary
data of the trace events.

The issue is that some of the ftrace event structures are packed. The
function graph exit event structures are one of them. The 64 bit calltime
and rettime fields end up 4 byte aligned, but the algorithm to show to
userspace shows them as 8 byte aligned.

The macros that create the ftrace events has one for embedded structure
fields. There's two macros for theses fields:

  __field_desc() and __field_packed()

The difference of the latter macro is that it treats the field as packed.

Rename that field to __field_desc_packed() and create replace the
__field_packed() to be a normal field that is packed and have the calltime
and rettime use those.

This showed up on 32bit architectures for function graph time fields. It
had:

 ~# cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/ftrace/funcgraph_exit/format
[..]
        field:unsigned long func;       offset:8;       size:4; signed:0;
        field:unsigned int depth;       offset:12;      size:4; signed:0;
        field:unsigned int overrun;     offset:16;      size:4; signed:0;
        field:unsigned long long calltime;      offset:24;      size:8; signed:0;
        field:unsigned long long rettime;       offset:32;      size:8; signed:0;

Notice that overrun is at offset 16 with size 4, where in the structure
calltime is at offset 20 (16 + 4), but it shows the offset at 24. That's
because it used the alignment of unsigned long long when used as a
declaration and not as a member of a structure where it would be aligned
by word size (in this case 4).

By using the proper structure alignment, the format has it at the correct
offset:

 ~# cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/ftrace/funcgraph_exit/format
[..]
        field:unsigned long func;       offset:8;       size:4; signed:0;
        field:unsigned int depth;       offset:12;      size:4; signed:0;
        field:unsigned int overrun;     offset:16;      size:4; signed:0;
        field:unsigned long long calltime;      offset:20;      size:8; signed:0;
        field:unsigned long long rettime;       offset:28;      size:8; signed:0;

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers 
Cc: Mark Rutland 
Acked-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) 
Reported-by: "jempty.liang" 
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260204113628.53faec78@gandalf.local.home
Fixes: 04ae87a52074e ("ftrace: Rework event_create_dir()")
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260130015740.212343-1-imntjempty@163.com/
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260202123342.2544795-1-imntjempty@163.com/
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (Google) 
[ Renames + context ]
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin 
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman

tracing: Make ftrace packed events have align of 1

2020-06-17T01:21:02+00:00

When using trace-cmd on 5.6-rt for the function graph tracer, the output was
corrupted. It gave output like this:

 funcgraph_entry:       func=0xffffffff depth=38982
 funcgraph_entry:       func=0x1ffffffff depth=16044
 funcgraph_exit:        func=0xffffffff overrun=0x92539aaf00000000 calltime=0x92539c9900000072 rettime=0x100000072 depth=11084
 funcgraph_exit:        func=0xffffffff overrun=0x9253946e00000000 calltime=0x92539e2100000072 rettime=0x72 depth=26033702
 funcgraph_entry:       func=0xffffffff depth=85798
 funcgraph_entry:       func=0x1ffffffff depth=12044

The reason was because the tracefs/events/ftrace/funcgraph_entry/exit format
file was incorrect. The -rt kernel adds more common fields to the trace
events. Namely, common_migrate_disable and common_preempt_lazy_count. Each
is one byte in size. This changes the alignment of the normal payload. Most
events are aligned normally, but the function and function graph events are
defined with a "PACKED" macro, that packs their payload. As the offsets
displayed in the format files are now calculated by an aligned field, the
aligned field for function and function graph events should be 1, not their
normal alignment.

With aligning of the funcgraph_entry event, the format file has:

        field:unsigned short common_type;       offset:0;       size:2; signed:0;
        field:unsigned char common_flags;       offset:2;       size:1; signed:0;
        field:unsigned char common_preempt_count;       offset:3;       size:1; signed:0;
        field:int common_pid;   offset:4;       size:4; signed:1;
        field:unsigned char common_migrate_disable;     offset:8;       size:1; signed:0;
        field:unsigned char common_preempt_lazy_count;  offset:9;       size:1; signed:0;

        field:unsigned long func;       offset:16;      size:8; signed:0;
        field:int depth;        offset:24;      size:4; signed:1;

But the actual alignment is:

	field:unsigned short common_type;	offset:0;	size:2;	signed:0;
	field:unsigned char common_flags;	offset:2;	size:1;	signed:0;
	field:unsigned char common_preempt_count;	offset:3;	size:1;	signed:0;
	field:int common_pid;	offset:4;	size:4;	signed:1;
	field:unsigned char common_migrate_disable;	offset:8;	size:1;	signed:0;
	field:unsigned char common_preempt_lazy_count;	offset:9;	size:1;	signed:0;

	field:unsigned long func;	offset:12;	size:8;	signed:0;
	field:int depth;	offset:20;	size:4;	signed:1;

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20200609220041.2a3b527f@oasis.local.home

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: 04ae87a52074e ("ftrace: Rework event_create_dir()")
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)

tracing: Have hwlat ts be first instance and record count of instances

2020-03-03T22:33:43+00:00

The hwlat tracer runs a loop of width time during a given window. It then
reports the max latency over a given threshold and records a timestamp. But
this timestamp is the time after the width has finished, and not the time it
actually triggered.

Record the actual time when the latency was greater than the threshold as
well as the number of times it was greater in a given width per window.

Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)

Merge tag 'trace-v5.6-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rostedt/linux-trace

2020-02-06T07:12:11+00:00

Pull tracing updates from Steven Rostedt:

 - Added new "bootconfig".

   This looks for a file appended to initrd to add boot config options,
   and has been discussed thoroughly at Linux Plumbers.

   Very useful for adding kprobes at bootup.

   Only enabled if "bootconfig" is on the real kernel command line.

 - Created dynamic event creation.

   Merges common code between creating synthetic events and kprobe
   events.

 - Rename perf "ring_buffer" structure to "perf_buffer"

 - Rename ftrace "ring_buffer" structure to "trace_buffer"

   Had to rename existing "trace_buffer" to "array_buffer"

 - Allow trace_printk() to work withing (some) tracing code.

 - Sort of tracing configs to be a little better organized

 - Fixed bug where ftrace_graph hash was not being protected properly

 - Various other small fixes and clean ups

* tag 'trace-v5.6-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rostedt/linux-trace: (88 commits)
  bootconfig: Show the number of nodes on boot message
  tools/bootconfig: Show the number of bootconfig nodes
  bootconfig: Add more parse error messages
  bootconfig: Use bootconfig instead of boot config
  ftrace: Protect ftrace_graph_hash with ftrace_sync
  ftrace: Add comment to why rcu_dereference_sched() is open coded
  tracing: Annotate ftrace_graph_notrace_hash pointer with __rcu
  tracing: Annotate ftrace_graph_hash pointer with __rcu
  bootconfig: Only load bootconfig if "bootconfig" is on the kernel cmdline
  tracing: Use seq_buf for building dynevent_cmd string
  tracing: Remove useless code in dynevent_arg_pair_add()
  tracing: Remove check_arg() callbacks from dynevent args
  tracing: Consolidate some synth_event_trace code
  tracing: Fix now invalid var_ref_vals assumption in trace action
  tracing: Change trace_boot to use synth_event interface
  tracing: Move tracing selftests to bottom of menu
  tracing: Move mmio tracer config up with the other tracers
  tracing: Move tracing test module configs together
  tracing: Move all function tracing configs together
  tracing: Documentation for in-kernel synthetic event API
  ...

tracing: Set kernel_stack's caller size properly

2020-01-24T23:09:40+00:00

I noticed when trying to use the trace-cmd python interface that reading the raw
buffer wasn't working for kernel_stack events.  This is because it uses a
stubbed version of __dynamic_array that doesn't do the __data_loc trick and
encode the length of the array into the field.  Instead it just shows up as a
size of 0.  So change this to __array and set the len to FTRACE_STACK_ENTRIES
since this is what we actually do in practice and matches how user_stack_trace
works.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1411589652-1318-1-git-send-email-jbacik@fb.com

Signed-off-by: Josef Bacik 
[ Pulled from the archeological digging of my INBOX ]
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)

ftrace: Rework event_create_dir()

2019-11-27T06:44:25+00:00

Rework event_create_dir() to use an array of static data instead of
function pointers where possible.

The problem is that it would call the function pointer on module load
before parse_args(), possibly even before jump_labels were initialized.
Luckily the generated functions don't use jump_labels but it still seems
fragile. It also gets in the way of changing when we make the module map
executable.

The generated function are basically calling trace_define_field() with a
bunch of static arguments. So instead of a function, capture these
arguments in a static array, avoiding the function call.

Now there are a number of cases where the fields are dynamic (syscall
arguments, kprobes and uprobes), in which case a static array does not
work, for these we preserve the function call. Luckily all these cases
are not related to modules and so we can retain the function call for
them.

Also fix up all broken tracepoint definitions that now generate a
compile error.

Tested-by: Alexei Starovoitov 
Tested-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware) 
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) 
Reviewed-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware) 
Acked-by: Alexei Starovoitov 
Cc: Andy Lutomirski 
Cc: Borislav Petkov 
Cc: Brian Gerst 
Cc: Denys Vlasenko 
Cc: H. Peter Anvin 
Cc: Linus Torvalds 
Cc: Peter Zijlstra 
Cc: Steven Rostedt 
Cc: Thomas Gleixner 
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20191111132458.342979914@infradead.org
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar

tracing: Change the function format to display function names by perf

2019-02-11T19:53:43+00:00

Here is an example for this change.

$ sudo perf record -e 'ftrace:function' --filter='ip==schedule'
$ sudo perf report

The output of perf before this patch:

\# Samples: 100  of event 'ftrace:function'
\# Event count (approx.): 100
\#
\# Overhead  Trace output
\# ........  ......................................
\#
    51.00%   ffffffff81f6aaa0 <-- ffffffff81158e8d
    29.00%   ffffffff81f6aaa0 <-- ffffffff8116ccb2
     8.00%   ffffffff81f6aaa0 <-- ffffffff81f6f2ed
     4.00%   ffffffff81f6aaa0 <-- ffffffff811628db
     4.00%   ffffffff81f6aaa0 <-- ffffffff81f6ec5b
     2.00%   ffffffff81f6aaa0 <-- ffffffff81f6f21a
     1.00%   ffffffff81f6aaa0 <-- ffffffff811b04af
     1.00%   ffffffff81f6aaa0 <-- ffffffff8143ce17

After this patch:

\# Samples: 36  of event 'ftrace:function'
\# Event count (approx.): 36
\#
\# Overhead  Trace output
\# ........  ............................................
\#
    38.89%   schedule <-- schedule_hrtimeout_range_clock
    27.78%   schedule <-- worker_thread
    13.89%   schedule <-- schedule_timeout
    11.11%   schedule <-- smpboot_thread_fn
     5.56%   schedule <-- rcu_gp_kthread
     2.78%   schedule <-- exit_to_usermode_loop

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20190209161919.32350-1-changbin.du@gmail.com

Signed-off-by: Changbin Du 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)

tracing: Fix SPDX format headers to use C++ style comments

2018-08-16T23:08:06+00:00

The Linux kernel adopted the SPDX License format headers to ease license
compliance management, and uses the C++ '//' style comments for the SPDX
header tags. Some files in the tracing directory used the C style /* */
comments for them. To be consistent across all files, replace the /* */
C style SPDX tags with the C++ // SPDX tags.

Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)

tracing: Add trigger file for trace_markers tracefs/ftrace/print

2018-05-29T12:28:53+00:00

Allow writing to the trace_markers file initiate triggers defined in
tracefs/ftrace/print/trigger file. This will allow of user space to trigger
the same type of triggers (including histograms) that the trace events use.

Had to create a ftrace_event_register() function that will become the
trace_marker print event's reg() function. This is required because of how
triggers are enabled:

  event_trigger_write() {
    event_trigger_regex_write() {
      trigger_process_regex() {
        for p in trigger_commands {
          p->func(); /* trigger_snapshot_cmd->func */
            event_trigger_callback() {
              cmd_ops->reg() /* register_trigger() */ {
                trace_event_trigger_enable_disable() {
                  trace_event_enable_disable() {
                    call->class->reg();

Without the reg() function, the trigger code will call a NULL pointer and
crash the system.

Cc: Tom Zanussi 
Cc: Clark Williams 
Cc: Karim Yaghmour 
Cc: Brendan Gregg 
Suggested-by: Joel Fernandes 
Reviewed-by: Namhyung Kim 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)

tracing: Fix missing tab for hwlat_detector print format

2018-04-25T14:28:46+00:00

It's been missing for a while but no one is touching that up.  Fix it.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20180315060639.9578-1-peterx@redhat.com

CC: Ingo Molnar 
Cc:stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: 7b2c86250122d ("tracing: Add NMI tracing in hwlat detector")
Signed-off-by: Peter Xu 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)