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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700
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Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-tracegrafted
Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt: - Fix error output of boot instance creation failure Currently if a boot instance creation fails, instead of printing out the name of the instance that failed, it prints "(null)". That is because it prints "cur_str" that had already been processed by strsep(). Print the saved name instead. While at it, print the error code of the failure. - Fix use-after-free for same named historgrams Histograms can be named so that they can be used in multiple events. But if the named histogram has a variable attached, the second event that uses the named histogram which duplicates it and needs to free the original after duplication leaves the old variable in place and still visible. If another histogram uses than variable, it will use the stale one which will try to reference the freed duplicate histogram and crash the kernel. Free the duplicate variables along with the duplicated histogram data. - Check return value of kthread_run() in event self test The events self tests uses a kthread for testing but does not check if it succeeded in creating a kthread. If the kthread creation were to fail, the code will still try to call kthread_stop() on the error returned. - Fix race between reading trace_pipe and updating subbuffer size If a user is reading the trace_pipe file at the same time they update the ring buffer sub-buffer size, can cause the trace_pipe read to read stale data. Add trace_access_lock() around updating the ring buffer sub-buffer size. - Fix eventfs_inode on failure path in creation of the events directory In the creation of the "events" directory, if after allocating the eventfs_inode a failure is detected, it calls cleanup_ei() which calls free_ei(). The free_ei() will test if eventfs_inode being freed has no children. It is a bug if it does. But on the failure case of the creation of the "events" directory, the children lists have not yet been initialized and the free will trigger a warning because list_empty() on an uninitialized list returns false. Move the initialization into init_ei() where it makes more sense and makes sure that a created eventfs_inode has its lists initialized upon creation. - Check return value of kthread_run() in ftrace direct sample code The sample code that shows how to use the ftrace direct calls does not test the return of kthread_run() to see if it succeeds. Return a failure if the kthread_run() doesn't succeed. - Clear user events state on fork in case of alloc failure On fork, the child gets a pointer to the parent's user events state. It makes a copy of it then updates the child's pointer to it. But if the allocation fails, the duplication function leaves the child with a pointer to its parent's descriptor. When the child cleans up its data, it will free the parent's descriptor while the parent is still using it. In the duplication function, set the child's user_event_mm to NULL before testing if the allocation succeeded, and when it exits it will not free the parent's descriptor. - Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap simple_ring_buffer_swap_reader_page() starts with retry set to 8 and post-decrements it only after a failed link replacement. On the final attempt, a successful replacement leaves retry at zero, while a failed replacement leaves it at -1. But the check for success expects the retry value to be non-zero and exits with an error on zero. This is the opposite result. Fix it. - Fail nicely when the remote swap_reader_page() returns an error Currently, if the swap_reader_page() of a remote buffer fails, it triggers a WARN_ON_ONCE() and continues normally. Instead, have it exit with an error and a pr_warn() print instead of a full WARNING. * tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace: ring-buffer: Stop remote reader update when page swap fails tracing: Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap tracing/user_events: Clear copied tracing state before fork duplication samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-multi-modify samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-modify eventfs: Initialize ei->children and ei->list in init_ei() tracing: Fix use-after-free in trace_pipe read on sub-buffer order change tracing: Fix crash passing ERR_PTR to kthread_stop() tracing: Fix use-after-free with same-name named triggers tracing: Fix logged instance name on creation failure
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+==================================
+Using the Linux Kernel Tracepoints
+==================================
+
+:Author: Mathieu Desnoyers
+
+
+This document introduces Linux Kernel Tracepoints and their use. It
+provides examples of how to insert tracepoints in the kernel and
+connect probe functions to them and provides some examples of probe
+functions.
+
+
+Purpose of tracepoints
+----------------------
+A tracepoint placed in code provides a hook to call a function (probe)
+that you can provide at runtime. A tracepoint can be "on" (a probe is
+connected to it) or "off" (no probe is attached). When a tracepoint is
+"off" it has no effect, except for adding a tiny time penalty
+(checking a condition for a branch) and space penalty (adding a few
+bytes for the function call at the end of the instrumented function
+and adds a data structure in a separate section). When a tracepoint
+is "on", the function you provide is called each time the tracepoint
+is executed, in the execution context of the caller. When the function
+provided ends its execution, it returns to the caller (continuing from
+the tracepoint site).
+
+You can put tracepoints at important locations in the code. They are
+lightweight hooks that can pass an arbitrary number of parameters,
+whose prototypes are described in a tracepoint declaration placed in a
+header file.
+
+They can be used for tracing and performance accounting.
+
+
+Usage
+-----
+Two elements are required for tracepoints :
+
+- A tracepoint definition, placed in a header file.
+- The tracepoint statement, in C code.
+
+In order to use tracepoints, you should include linux/tracepoint.h.
+
+In include/trace/events/subsys.h::
+
+ #undef TRACE_SYSTEM
+ #define TRACE_SYSTEM subsys
+
+ #if !defined(_TRACE_SUBSYS_H) || defined(TRACE_HEADER_MULTI_READ)
+ #define _TRACE_SUBSYS_H
+
+ #include <linux/tracepoint.h>
+
+ DECLARE_TRACE(subsys_eventname,
+ TP_PROTO(int firstarg, struct task_struct *p),
+ TP_ARGS(firstarg, p));
+
+ #endif /* _TRACE_SUBSYS_H */
+
+ /* This part must be outside protection */
+ #include <trace/define_trace.h>
+
+In subsys/file.c (where the tracing statement must be added)::
+
+ #include <trace/events/subsys.h>
+
+ #define CREATE_TRACE_POINTS
+ DEFINE_TRACE(subsys_eventname);
+
+ void somefct(void)
+ {
+ ...
+ trace_subsys_eventname_tp(arg, task);
+ ...
+ }
+
+Where :
+ - subsys_eventname is an identifier unique to your event
+
+ - subsys is the name of your subsystem.
+ - eventname is the name of the event to trace.
+
+ - `TP_PROTO(int firstarg, struct task_struct *p)` is the prototype of the
+ function called by this tracepoint.
+
+ - `TP_ARGS(firstarg, p)` are the parameters names, same as found in the
+ prototype.
+
+ - if you use the header in multiple source files, `#define CREATE_TRACE_POINTS`
+ should appear only in one source file.
+
+Connecting a function (probe) to a tracepoint is done by providing a
+probe (function to call) for the specific tracepoint through
+register_trace_subsys_eventname(). Removing a probe is done through
+unregister_trace_subsys_eventname(); it will remove the probe.
+
+tracepoint_synchronize_unregister() must be called before the end of
+the module exit function to make sure there is no caller left using
+the probe. This, and the fact that preemption is disabled around the
+probe call, make sure that probe removal and module unload are safe.
+
+The tracepoint mechanism supports inserting multiple instances of the
+same tracepoint, but a single definition must be made of a given
+tracepoint name over all the kernel to make sure no type conflict will
+occur. Name mangling of the tracepoints is done using the prototypes
+to make sure typing is correct. Verification of probe type correctness
+is done at the registration site by the compiler. Tracepoints can be
+put in inline functions, inlined static functions, and unrolled loops
+as well as regular functions.
+
+The naming scheme "subsys_event" is suggested here as a convention
+intended to limit collisions. Tracepoint names are global to the
+kernel: they are considered as being the same whether they are in the
+core kernel image or in modules.
+
+If the tracepoint has to be used in kernel modules, an
+EXPORT_TRACEPOINT_SYMBOL_GPL() or EXPORT_TRACEPOINT_SYMBOL() can be
+used to export the defined tracepoints.
+
+If you need to do a bit of work for a tracepoint parameter, and
+that work is only used for the tracepoint, that work can be encapsulated
+within an if statement with the following::
+
+ if (trace_foo_bar_enabled()) {
+ int i;
+ int tot = 0;
+
+ for (i = 0; i < count; i++)
+ tot += calculate_nuggets();
+
+ trace_foo_bar_tp(tot);
+ }
+
+All trace_<tracepoint>_tp() calls have a matching trace_<tracepoint>_enabled()
+function defined that returns true if the tracepoint is enabled and
+false otherwise. The trace_<tracepoint>_tp() should always be within the
+block of the if (trace_<tracepoint>_enabled()) to prevent races between
+the tracepoint being enabled and the check being seen.
+
+The advantage of using the trace_<tracepoint>_enabled() is that it uses
+the static_key of the tracepoint to allow the if statement to be implemented
+with jump labels and avoid conditional branches.
+
+.. note:: The convenience macro TRACE_EVENT provides an alternative way to
+ define tracepoints. Note, DECLARE_TRACE(foo) creates a function
+ "trace_foo_tp()" whereas TRACE_EVENT(foo) creates a function
+ "trace_foo()", and also exposes the tracepoint as a trace event in
+ /sys/kernel/tracing/events directory. Check http://lwn.net/Articles/379903,
+ http://lwn.net/Articles/381064 and http://lwn.net/Articles/383362
+ for a series of articles with more details.
+
+If you require calling a tracepoint from a header file, it is not
+recommended to call one directly or to use the trace_<tracepoint>_enabled()
+function call, as tracepoints in header files can have side effects if a
+header is included from a file that has CREATE_TRACE_POINTS set, as
+well as the trace_<tracepoint>() is not that small of an inline
+and can bloat the kernel if used by other inlined functions. Instead,
+include tracepoint-defs.h and use tracepoint_enabled().
+
+In a C file::
+
+ void do_trace_foo_bar_wrapper(args)
+ {
+ trace_foo_bar_tp(args); // for tracepoints created via DECLARE_TRACE
+ // or
+ trace_foo_bar(args); // for tracepoints created via TRACE_EVENT
+ }
+
+In the header file::
+
+ DECLARE_TRACEPOINT(foo_bar);
+
+ static inline void some_inline_function()
+ {
+ [..]
+ if (tracepoint_enabled(foo_bar))
+ do_trace_foo_bar_wrapper(args);
+ [..]
+ }