summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/trace
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorSteven Rostedt (Red Hat) <rostedt@goodmis.org>2014-05-06 09:26:30 -0400
committerSteven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>2014-05-07 12:10:51 -0400
commit7c65bbc7dcface00b295bbd18bce82fe1db3d633 (patch)
tree4e5cd0710e3c533831eb673f8feeb46a911a9f09 /Documentation/trace
parentbdffd893a0e9c431304142d12d9a0a21d365c502 (diff)
tracing: Add trace_<tracepoint>_enabled() function
There are some code paths in the kernel that need to do some preparations before it calls a tracepoint. As that code is worthless overhead when the tracepoint is not enabled, it would be prudent to have that code only run when the tracepoint is active. To accomplish this, all tracepoints now get a static inline function called "trace_<tracepoint-name>_enabled()" which returns true when the tracepoint is enabled and false otherwise. As an added bonus, that function uses the static_key of the tracepoint such that no branch is needed. if (trace_mytracepoint_enabled()) { arg = process_tp_arg(); trace_mytracepoint(arg); } Will keep the "process_tp_arg()" (which may be expensive to run) from being executed when the tracepoint isn't enabled. It's best to encapsulate the tracepoint itself in the if statement just to keep races. For example, if you had: if (trace_mytracepoint_enabled()) arg = process_tp_arg(); trace_mytracepoint(arg); There's a chance that the tracepoint could be enabled just after the if statement, and arg will be undefined when calling the tracepoint. Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20140506094407.507b6435@gandalf.local.home Acked-by: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com> Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/trace')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/trace/tracepoints.txt24
1 files changed, 24 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/tracepoints.txt b/Documentation/trace/tracepoints.txt
index 6b018b53177a..a3efac621c5a 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/tracepoints.txt
+++ b/Documentation/trace/tracepoints.txt
@@ -115,6 +115,30 @@ 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(tot);
+ }
+
+All trace_<tracepoint>() calls have a matching trace_<tracepoint>_enabled()
+function defined that returns true if the tracepoint is enabled and
+false otherwise. The trace_<tracepoint>() 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. Check http://lwn.net/Articles/379903,
http://lwn.net/Articles/381064 and http://lwn.net/Articles/383362