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1 | Linux Trace Toolkit Quickstart |
2 | ------------------------------ |
3 | Author : Mathieu Desnoyers, September 2005 |
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4 | Last update : July 31, 2008 |
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5 | |
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6 | |
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7 | This document is made of four parts : the first one explains how to install |
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8 | LTTng and LTTV from Debian and RPM binary packages, the second one explains how |
9 | to install LTTng and LTTV from sources and the third one describes the steps |
10 | to follow to trace a system and view it. The fourth and last part explains |
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11 | briefly how to add a new trace point to the kernel and to user space |
12 | applications. |
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13 | |
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14 | What you will typically want is to read sections 2 and 3 : install LTTng from |
15 | sources and use it. |
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16 | |
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17 | These operations are made for installing the LTTng 0.12 tracer on a linux 2.6.X |
18 | kernel. You will also find instructions for installation of LTTV 0.8.x : the |
19 | Linux Trace Toolkit Viewer. |
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20 | |
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21 | To see the list of compatibilities between LTTng, ltt-control, LTTV and |
22 | markers-userspace, please refer to : |
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23 | http://ltt.polymtl.ca > LTTng+LTTV versions compatibility |
24 | |
25 | |
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26 | |
27 | The following lttng patch is necessary to have the tracing hooks in the kernel. |
28 | The following ltt-control module controls the tracing. |
29 | |
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30 | Required programs and libraries are assumed to be automatically installed in an |
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31 | installation with Debian or RPM packages. In the case of an installation from |
32 | sources, the dependencies are listed. |
33 | |
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34 | |
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35 | ** Current development status ** |
36 | |
37 | LTTng : |
38 | supported architectures : |
39 | Intel Pentium (UP/SMP) with TSC |
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40 | PowerPC 32 and 64 bits |
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41 | ARM |
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42 | x86_64 |
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43 | C2 Microsystems (variant of MIPS) |
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44 | |
45 | LTTV : |
46 | supported architectures : |
47 | Intel i386 and better |
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48 | Intel 64 bits |
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49 | PowerPC 32 and 64 bits |
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50 | |
51 | |
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52 | *********************************************************** |
53 | ** Section 1 * Installation from Debian or RPM packages ** |
54 | *********************************************************** |
55 | |
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56 | * Create custom LTTV Debian packages |
57 | |
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58 | Use : dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot |
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59 | |
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60 | You should then have your LTTV .deb files created for your architecture. |
61 | |
62 | * Create custom LTTng packages |
63 | |
64 | For building LTTng Debian packages : |
65 | |
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66 | Get the build tree with patches applies as explained in section 2. |
67 | |
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68 | make menuconfig (or xconfig or config) (customize your configuration) |
69 | make-kpkg kernel_image |
70 | |
71 | You will then see your freshly created .deb in /usr/src. Install it with |
72 | dpkg -i /usr/src/(image-name).deb |
73 | |
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74 | Then, follow the section "Editing the system wide configuration" in section 2. |
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75 | |
76 | |
77 | *********************************************************** |
78 | ** Section 2 * Installation from sources ** |
79 | *********************************************************** |
80 | |
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81 | * Prerequisites |
82 | |
83 | Tools needed to follow the package download steps : |
84 | |
85 | o wget |
86 | o bzip2 |
87 | o gzip |
88 | o tar |
89 | |
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90 | You have to install the standard development libraries and programs necessary |
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91 | to compile a kernel : |
92 | |
93 | (from Documentation/Changes in the Linux kernel tree) |
94 | o Gnu C 2.95.3 # gcc --version |
95 | o Gnu make 3.79.1 # make --version |
96 | o binutils 2.12 # ld -v |
97 | o util-linux 2.10o # fdformat --version |
98 | o module-init-tools 0.9.10 # depmod -V |
99 | |
100 | You might also want to have libncurses5 to have the text mode kernel |
101 | configuration menu, but there are alternatives. |
102 | |
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103 | Prerequisites for LTTV 0.x.x installation are : |
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104 | |
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105 | gcc 3.2 or better |
106 | gtk 2.4 or better development libraries |
107 | (Debian : libgtk2.0, libgtk2.0-dev) |
108 | (Fedora : gtk2, gtk2-devel) |
109 | note : For Fedora users : this might require at least core 3 from Fedora, |
110 | or you might have to compile your own GTK2 library. |
111 | glib 2.4 or better development libraries |
112 | (Debian : libglib2.0-0, libglib2.0-dev) |
113 | (Fedora : glib2, glib2-devel) |
114 | libpopt development libraries |
115 | (Debian : libpopt0, libpopt-dev) |
116 | (Fedora : popt) |
117 | libpango development libraries |
118 | (Debian : libpango1.0, libpango1.0-dev) |
119 | (Fedora : pango, pango-devel) |
120 | libc6 development librairies |
121 | (Debian : libc6, libc6-dev) |
122 | (Fedora : glibc, glibc) |
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123 | |
124 | |
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125 | * Getting the LTTng packages |
126 | |
127 | su - |
128 | mkdir /usr/src/lttng |
129 | cd /usr/src/lttng |
130 | (see http://ltt.polymtl.ca/lttng for package listing) |
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131 | wget http://ltt.polymtl.ca/lttng/patch-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx.tar.bz2 |
132 | bzip2 -cd patch-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx.tar.bz2 | tar xvof - |
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133 | |
134 | |
135 | * Getting LTTng kernel sources |
136 | |
137 | su - |
138 | cd /usr/src |
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139 | wget http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.X.tar.bz2 |
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140 | bzip2 -cd linux-2.6.X.tar.bz2 | tar xvof - |
141 | cd linux-2.6.X |
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142 | - For LTTng 0.9.4- cat /usr/src/lttng/patch*-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx* | patch -p1 |
143 | - For LTTng 0.9.5+ apply the patches in the order specified in the series file, |
144 | or use quilt |
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145 | cd .. |
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146 | mv linux-2.6.X linux-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx |
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147 | |
148 | |
149 | * Installing a LTTng kernel |
150 | |
151 | su - |
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152 | cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx |
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153 | make menuconfig (or make xconfig or make config) |
154 | Select the < Help > button if you are not familiar with kernel |
155 | configuration. |
156 | Items preceded by [*] means they has to be built into the kernel. |
157 | Items preceded by [M] means they has to be built as modules. |
158 | Items preceded by [ ] means they should be removed. |
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159 | go to the "General setup" section |
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160 | Select the following options : |
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161 | [*] Activate tracepoints |
162 | [*] Activate markers |
163 | [*] Activate userspace markers ABI |
164 | <*> Compile generic tracing probes |
165 | Linux Trace Toolkit ---> |
166 | [LTTng fine-grained-timestamping] |
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167 | [*] Linux Trace Toolkit Instrumentation Support |
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168 | <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit Relay+DebugFS Support |
169 | <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit Serializer |
170 | <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit Marker Control |
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171 | <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit Tracer |
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172 | It makes no difference for the rest of the procedure whether the Tracer |
173 | is compiled built-in or as a module. |
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174 | activate : |
175 | [*] Align Linux Trace Toolkit Traces |
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176 | <M> Linux Trace Toolkit Netlink Controller |
177 | <M> Linux Trace Toolkit State Dump |
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178 | your choice (see < Help >) : |
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179 | [ ] Write heartbeat event to shrink traces |
180 | [ ] Support trace extraction from crash dump |
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181 | Select <Exit> |
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182 | Select <Exit> |
183 | Select <Yes> |
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184 | make |
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185 | make modules_install |
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186 | (if necessary, create a initrd with mkinitrd or your preferate alternative) |
187 | (mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx 2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx) |
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188 | |
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189 | -- on X86, X86_64 |
190 | make install |
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191 | reboot |
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192 | Select the Linux 2.6.17-lttng-0.x.xx kernel in your boot loader. |
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193 | |
194 | -- on PowerPC |
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195 | cp vmlinux.strip /boot/vmlinux-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx |
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196 | cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx |
197 | cp .config /boot/config-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx |
198 | depmod -ae -F /boot/System.map-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx 2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx |
199 | mkinitrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx 2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx |
200 | (edit /etc/yaboot.conf to add a new entry pointing to your kernel : the entry |
201 | that comes first is the default kernel) |
202 | ybin |
203 | select the right entry at the yaboot prompt (see choices : tab, select : type |
204 | the kernel name followed by enter) |
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205 | Select the Linux 2.6.17-lttng-0.x.xx kernel in your boot loader. |
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206 | -- |
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207 | |
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208 | |
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209 | |
210 | * Editing the system wide configuration |
211 | |
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212 | You must activate debugfs and specify a mount point. This is typically done in |
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213 | fstab such that it happens at boot time. |
214 | |
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215 | If you have never used DebugFS before, these operation would do this for you : |
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216 | |
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217 | mkdir /mnt/debugfs |
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218 | cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.lttng.bkp |
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219 | echo "debugfs /mnt/debugfs debugfs rw 0 0" >> /etc/fstab |
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220 | |
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221 | then, rebooting or issuing the following command will activate debugfs : |
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222 | |
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223 | mount /mnt/debugfs |
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224 | |
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225 | You need to load the LTT modules to be able to control tracing from user |
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226 | space. This is done by issuing the following commands. Note however |
227 | these commands load all LTT modules. Depending on what options you chose to |
228 | compile statically, you may not need to issue all these commands. |
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229 | |
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230 | modprobe ltt-control |
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231 | modprobe ltt-marker-control |
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232 | modprobe ltt-tracer |
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233 | modprobe ltt-serialize |
234 | modprobe ltt-relay |
235 | modprobe ipc-trace |
236 | modprobe kernel-trace |
237 | modprobe mm-trace |
238 | modprobe net-trace |
239 | modprobe fs-trace |
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240 | modprobe syscall-trace |
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241 | #if locking tracing is wanted, uncomment the following |
242 | #modprobe lockdep-trace |
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243 | |
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244 | If you want to have complete information about the kernel state (including all |
245 | the process names), you need to load the ltt-statedump module. This is done by |
246 | issuing the command : |
247 | |
248 | modprobe ltt-statedump |
249 | |
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250 | You can automate at boot time loading the ltt-control module by : |
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251 | |
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252 | cp /etc/modules /etc/modules.bkp |
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253 | echo ltt-control >> /etc/modules |
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254 | echo ltt-marker-control >> /etc/modules |
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255 | echo ltt-tracer >> /etc/modules |
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256 | echo ltt-serialize >> /etc/modules |
257 | echo ltt-relay >> /etc/modules |
258 | echo ipc-trace >> /etc/modules |
259 | echo kernel-trace >> /etc/modules |
260 | echo mm-trace >> /etc/modules |
261 | echo net-trace >> /etc/modules |
262 | echo fs-trace >> /etc/modules |
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263 | #if locking tracing is wanted, uncomment the following |
264 | #echo lockdep-trace >> /etc/modules |
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265 | |
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266 | |
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267 | * Getting and installing the ltt-control package (on the traced machine) |
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268 | (note : the ltt-control package contains lttd and lttctl. Although it has the |
269 | same name as the ltt-control kernel module, they are *not* the same thing.) |
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270 | su - |
271 | cd /usr/src |
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272 | wget http://ltt.polymtl.ca/lttng/ltt-control-0.x-xxxx2006.tar.gz |
273 | gzip -cd ltt-control-0.x-xxxx2006.tar.gz | tar xvof - |
274 | cd ltt-control-0.x-xxxx2006 |
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275 | (refer to README to see the development libraries that must be installed on you |
276 | system) |
277 | ./configure |
278 | make |
279 | make install |
280 | |
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281 | * Getting and installing the markers-userspace package for user space tracing |
282 | See http://ltt.polymtl.ca/packages/markers-userspace-0.5.tar.bz2 or more recent. |
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283 | |
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284 | |
285 | * Getting and installing the LTTV package (on the visualisation machine, same or |
286 | different from the visualisation machine) |
287 | |
288 | su - |
289 | cd /usr/src |
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290 | wget http://ltt.polymtl.ca/packages/lttv-0.x.xx-xxxx2008.tar.gz |
291 | gzip -cd lttv-0.x.xx-xxxx2008.tar.gz | tar xvof - |
292 | cd lttv-0.x.xx-xxxx2008 |
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293 | (refer to README to see the development libraries that must be installed on your |
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294 | system) |
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295 | ./configure |
296 | make |
297 | make install |
298 | |
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299 | |
300 | |
301 | |
302 | *********************************************************** |
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303 | ** Section 3 * Using LTTng and LTTV ** |
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304 | *********************************************************** |
305 | |
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306 | * IMPORTANT : Arm Linux Kernel Markers after each boot |
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307 | |
308 | ltt-armall |
309 | |
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310 | * Use graphical LTTV to control tracing and analyse traces |
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311 | |
312 | lttv-gui (or /usr/local/bin/lttv-gui) |
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313 | - Spot the "Tracing Control" icon : click on it |
314 | (it's a traffic light icon) |
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315 | - enter the root password |
316 | - click "start" |
317 | - click "stop" |
318 | - Yes |
319 | * You should now see a trace |
320 | |
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321 | * Use text mode LTTng to control tracing |
322 | |
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323 | The tracing can be controlled from a terminal by using the lttctl command (as |
324 | root). |
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325 | |
326 | Start tracing : |
327 | |
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328 | lttctl -n trace -d -l /mnt/debugfs/ltt -t /tmp/trace |
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329 | |
330 | Stop tracing and destroy trace channels : |
331 | |
332 | lttctl -n trace -R |
333 | |
334 | see lttctl --help for details. |
335 | |
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336 | (note : to see if the buffers has been filled, look at the dmesg output after |
337 | lttctl -R or after stopping tracing from the GUI, it will show an event lost |
338 | count. If it is the case, try using larger buffers. See lttctl --help to learn |
339 | how.) |
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340 | |
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341 | * Use text mode LTTV |
342 | |
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343 | Feel free to look in /usr/local/lib/lttv/plugins to see all the text and |
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344 | graphical plugins available. |
345 | |
346 | For example, a simple trace dump in text format is available with : |
347 | |
348 | lttv -m textDump -t /tmp/trace |
349 | |
350 | see lttv -m textDump --help for detailed command line options of textDump. |
351 | |
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352 | It is, in the current state of the project, very useful to use "grep" on the |
353 | text output to filter by specific event fields. You can later copy the timestamp |
354 | of the events to the clipboard and paste them in the GUI by clicking on the |
355 | bottom right label "Current time". Support for this type of filtering should |
356 | be added to the filter module soon. |
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357 | |
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358 | * Hybrid mode |
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359 | |
360 | Starting from LTTng 0.5.105 and ltt-control 0.20, a new mode can be used : |
361 | hybrid. It can be especially useful when studying big workloads on a long period |
362 | of time. |
363 | |
364 | When using this mode, the most important, low rate control information will be |
365 | recorded during all the trace by lttd (i.e. process creation/exit). The high |
366 | rate information (i.e. interrupt/traps/syscall entry/exit) will be kept in a |
367 | flight recorder buffer (now named flight-channelname_X). |
368 | |
369 | The following lttctl commands take an hybrid trace : |
370 | |
371 | Create trace channel, start lttd on normal channels, start tracing: |
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372 | lttctl -n tracename -d -l /mnt/debugfs/ltt -t /tmp/trace1 -m hybrid |
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373 | |
374 | Stop tracing, start lttd on flight recorder channels, destroy trace channels : |
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375 | lttctl -n tracename -f -l /mnt/debugfs/ltt -t /tmp/trace1 -m hybrid |
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376 | |
377 | |
378 | We will need to tweak what we consider "important" medium rate events. For |
379 | instance, thread branding events are actually considered a "high rate" event |
380 | when it should be considered "medium rate". The same should apply for the |
381 | state dump process enumeration. |
382 | |
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383 | * Flight recorder mode |
384 | |
385 | The flight recorder mode writes data into overwritten buffers for all channels, |
386 | including control channels, except for the facilities tracefiles. |
387 | |
388 | The following lttctl commands take a flight recorder trace : |
389 | |
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390 | lttctl -n trace -c -m flight |
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391 | lttd -n -d -t /tmp/trace -c /mnt/debugfs/ltt/trace |
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392 | lttctl -n trace -s |
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393 | .. do stuff |
394 | lttctl -n trace -q |
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395 | lttd -f -d -t /tmp/trace -c /mnt/debugfs/ltt/trace |
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396 | lttctl -m trace -r |
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397 | |
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398 | |
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399 | ************************************************************** |
400 | ** Section 4 * Adding new instrumentations with the markers ** |
401 | ************************************************************** |
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402 | |
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403 | See Documentation/markers.txt and Documentation/tracepoints.txt in your kernel |
404 | tree. |
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405 | |
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406 | * Add new events to userspace programs with userspace markers |
407 | http://ltt.polymtl.ca/packages/ |
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408 | |
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409 | Get the latest markers-userspace-*.tar.bz2 and see the Makefile and examples. It |
410 | allows inserting markers in executables and libraries, currently only on x86_32 |
411 | and x86_64. |
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412 | |