X-Git-Url: https://err.no/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Documentation%2Fkprobes.txt;h=cb12ae175aa2de80b3114434c20e64cac4857593;hb=ea3c4b126ad63bd782c7bb5266bb4fd88e203169;hp=0541fe1de70482e74fa2f10c409130b1ac21ef4b;hpb=2f058256cb64e346f4fb4499ff4e0f1c2791a4b4;p=linux-2.6 diff --git a/Documentation/kprobes.txt b/Documentation/kprobes.txt index 0541fe1de7..cb12ae175a 100644 --- a/Documentation/kprobes.txt +++ b/Documentation/kprobes.txt @@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ CONTENTS 8. Kprobes Example 9. Jprobes Example 10. Kretprobes Example +Appendix A: The kprobes debugfs interface 1. Concepts: Kprobes, Jprobes, Return Probes @@ -136,21 +137,24 @@ Kprobes, jprobes, and return probes are implemented on the following architectures: - i386 -- x86_64 (AMD-64, E64MT) +- x86_64 (AMD-64, EM64T) - ppc64 -- ia64 (Support for probes on certain instruction types is still in progress.) +- ia64 (Does not support probes on instruction slot1.) - sparc64 (Return probes not yet implemented.) 3. Configuring Kprobes When configuring the kernel using make menuconfig/xconfig/oldconfig, -ensure that CONFIG_KPROBES is set to "y". Under "Kernel hacking", -look for "Kprobes". You may have to enable "Kernel debugging" -(CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL) before you can enable Kprobes. +ensure that CONFIG_KPROBES is set to "y". Under "Instrumentation +Support", look for "Kprobes". -You may also want to ensure that CONFIG_KALLSYMS and perhaps even -CONFIG_KALLSYMS_ALL are set to "y", since kallsyms_lookup_name() -is a handy, version-independent way to find a function's address. +So that you can load and unload Kprobes-based instrumentation modules, +make sure "Loadable module support" (CONFIG_MODULES) and "Module +unloading" (CONFIG_MODULE_UNLOAD) are set to "y". + +Also make sure that CONFIG_KALLSYMS and perhaps even CONFIG_KALLSYMS_ALL +are set to "y", since kallsyms_lookup_name() is used by the in-kernel +kprobe address resolution code. If you need to insert a probe in the middle of a function, you may find it useful to "Compile the kernel with debug info" (CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO), @@ -176,6 +180,27 @@ occurs during execution of kp->pre_handler or kp->post_handler, or during single-stepping of the probed instruction, Kprobes calls kp->fault_handler. Any or all handlers can be NULL. +NOTE: +1. With the introduction of the "symbol_name" field to struct kprobe, +the probepoint address resolution will now be taken care of by the kernel. +The following will now work: + + kp.symbol_name = "symbol_name"; + +(64-bit powerpc intricacies such as function descriptors are handled +transparently) + +2. Use the "offset" field of struct kprobe if the offset into the symbol +to install a probepoint is known. This field is used to calculate the +probepoint. + +3. Specify either the kprobe "symbol_name" OR the "addr". If both are +specified, kprobe registration will fail with -EINVAL. + +4. With CISC architectures (such as i386 and x86_64), the kprobes code +does not validate if the kprobe.addr is at an instruction boundary. +Use "offset" with caution. + register_kprobe() returns 0 on success, or a negative errno otherwise. User's pre-handler (kp->pre_handler): @@ -248,6 +273,11 @@ of interest: - ret_addr: the return address - rp: points to the corresponding kretprobe object - task: points to the corresponding task struct + +The regs_return_value(regs) macro provides a simple abstraction to +extract the return value from the appropriate register as defined by +the architecture's ABI. + The handler's return value is currently ignored. 4.4 unregister_*probe @@ -262,18 +292,18 @@ at any time after the probe has been registered. 5. Kprobes Features and Limitations -As of Linux v2.6.12, Kprobes allows multiple probes at the same -address. Currently, however, there cannot be multiple jprobes on -the same function at the same time. +Kprobes allows multiple probes at the same address. Currently, +however, there cannot be multiple jprobes on the same function at +the same time. In general, you can install a probe anywhere in the kernel. In particular, you can probe interrupt handlers. Known exceptions are discussed in this section. -For obvious reasons, it's a bad idea to install a probe in -the code that implements Kprobes (mostly kernel/kprobes.c and -arch/*/kernel/kprobes.c). A patch in the v2.6.13 timeframe instructs -Kprobes to reject such requests. +The register_*probe functions will return -EINVAL if you attempt +to install a probe in the code that implements Kprobes (mostly +kernel/kprobes.c and arch/*/kernel/kprobes.c, but also functions such +as do_page_fault and notifier_call_chain). If you install a probe in an inline-able function, Kprobes makes no attempt to chase down all inline instances of the function and @@ -290,18 +320,14 @@ from the accidental ones. Don't drink and probe. Kprobes makes no attempt to prevent probe handlers from stepping on each other -- e.g., probing printk() and then calling printk() from a -probe handler. As of Linux v2.6.12, if a probe handler hits a probe, -that second probe's handlers won't be run in that instance. - -In Linux v2.6.12 and previous versions, Kprobes' data structures are -protected by a single lock that is held during probe registration and -unregistration and while handlers are run. Thus, no two handlers -can run simultaneously. To improve scalability on SMP systems, -this restriction will probably be removed soon, in which case -multiple handlers (or multiple instances of the same handler) may -run concurrently on different CPUs. Code your handlers accordingly. - -Kprobes does not use semaphores or allocate memory except during +probe handler. If a probe handler hits a probe, that second probe's +handlers won't be run in that instance, and the kprobe.nmissed member +of the second probe will be incremented. + +As of Linux v2.6.15-rc1, multiple handlers (or multiple instances of +the same handler) may run concurrently on different CPUs. + +Kprobes does not use mutexes or allocate memory except during registration and unregistration. Probe handlers are run with preemption disabled. Depending on the @@ -316,11 +342,21 @@ address instead of the real return address for kretprobed functions. (As far as we can tell, __builtin_return_address() is used only for instrumentation and error reporting.) -If the number of times a function is called does not match the -number of times it returns, registering a return probe on that -function may produce undesirable results. We have the do_exit() -and do_execve() cases covered. do_fork() is not an issue. We're -unaware of other specific cases where this could be a problem. +If the number of times a function is called does not match the number +of times it returns, registering a return probe on that function may +produce undesirable results. In such a case, a line: +kretprobe BUG!: Processing kretprobe d000000000041aa8 @ c00000000004f48c +gets printed. With this information, one will be able to correlate the +exact instance of the kretprobe that caused the problem. We have the +do_exit() case covered. do_execve() and do_fork() are not an issue. +We're unaware of other specific cases where this could be a problem. + +If, upon entry to or exit from a function, the CPU is running on +a stack other than that of the current task, registering a return +probe on that function may produce undesirable results. For this +reason, Kprobes doesn't support return probes (or kprobes or jprobes) +on the x86_64 version of __switch_to(); the registration functions +return -EINVAL. 6. Probe Overhead @@ -347,14 +383,12 @@ k = 0.77 usec; j = 1.31; r = 1.26; kr = 1.45; jr = 1.99 7. TODO -a. SystemTap (http://sourceware.org/systemtap): Work in progress -to provide a simplified programming interface for probe-based -instrumentation. -b. Improved SMP scalability: Currently, work is in progress to handle -multiple kprobes in parallel. -c. Kernel return probes for sparc64. -d. Support for other architectures. -e. User-space probes. +a. SystemTap (http://sourceware.org/systemtap): Provides a simplified +programming interface for probe-based instrumentation. Try it out. +b. Kernel return probes for sparc64. +c. Support for other architectures. +d. User-space probes. +e. Watchpoint probes (which fire on data references). 8. Kprobes Example @@ -365,7 +399,6 @@ stack trace and selected i386 registers when do_fork() is called. #include #include #include -#include #include /*For each probe you need to allocate a kprobe structure*/ @@ -399,32 +432,31 @@ int handler_fault(struct kprobe *p, struct pt_regs *regs, int trapnr) return 0; } -int init_module(void) +static int __init kprobe_init(void) { int ret; kp.pre_handler = handler_pre; kp.post_handler = handler_post; kp.fault_handler = handler_fault; - kp.addr = (kprobe_opcode_t*) kallsyms_lookup_name("do_fork"); - /* register the kprobe now */ - if (!kp.addr) { - printk("Couldn't find %s to plant kprobe\n", "do_fork"); - return -1; - } - if ((ret = register_kprobe(&kp) < 0)) { + kp.symbol_name = "do_fork"; + + ret = register_kprobe(&kp); + if (ret < 0) { printk("register_kprobe failed, returned %d\n", ret); - return -1; + return ret; } printk("kprobe registered\n"); return 0; } -void cleanup_module(void) +static void __exit kprobe_exit(void) { unregister_kprobe(&kp); printk("kprobe unregistered\n"); } +module_init(kprobe_init) +module_exit(kprobe_exit) MODULE_LICENSE("GPL"); ----- cut here ----- @@ -459,7 +491,6 @@ the arguments of do_fork(). #include #include #include -#include /* * Jumper probe for do_fork. @@ -481,17 +512,13 @@ long jdo_fork(unsigned long clone_flags, unsigned long stack_start, } static struct jprobe my_jprobe = { - .entry = (kprobe_opcode_t *) jdo_fork + .entry = jdo_fork }; -int init_module(void) +static int __init jprobe_init(void) { int ret; - my_jprobe.kp.addr = (kprobe_opcode_t *) kallsyms_lookup_name("do_fork"); - if (!my_jprobe.kp.addr) { - printk("Couldn't find %s to plant jprobe\n", "do_fork"); - return -1; - } + my_jprobe.kp.symbol_name = "do_fork"; if ((ret = register_jprobe(&my_jprobe)) <0) { printk("register_jprobe failed, returned %d\n", ret); @@ -502,12 +529,14 @@ int init_module(void) return 0; } -void cleanup_module(void) +static void __exit jprobe_exit(void) { unregister_jprobe(&my_jprobe); printk("jprobe unregistered\n"); } +module_init(jprobe_init) +module_exit(jprobe_exit) MODULE_LICENSE("GPL"); ----- cut here ----- @@ -526,16 +555,13 @@ report failed calls to sys_open(). #include #include #include -#include static const char *probed_func = "sys_open"; /* Return-probe handler: If the probed function fails, log the return value. */ static int ret_handler(struct kretprobe_instance *ri, struct pt_regs *regs) { - // Substitute the appropriate register name for your architecture -- - // e.g., regs->rax for x86_64, regs->gpr[3] for ppc64. - int retval = (int) regs->eax; + int retval = regs_return_value(regs); if (retval < 0) { printk("%s returns %d\n", probed_func, retval); } @@ -548,15 +574,11 @@ static struct kretprobe my_kretprobe = { .maxactive = 20 }; -int init_module(void) +static int __init kretprobe_init(void) { int ret; - my_kretprobe.kp.addr = - (kprobe_opcode_t *) kallsyms_lookup_name(probed_func); - if (!my_kretprobe.kp.addr) { - printk("Couldn't find %s to plant return probe\n", probed_func); - return -1; - } + my_kretprobe.kp.symbol_name = (char *)probed_func; + if ((ret = register_kretprobe(&my_kretprobe)) < 0) { printk("register_kretprobe failed, returned %d\n", ret); return -1; @@ -565,7 +587,7 @@ int init_module(void) return 0; } -void cleanup_module(void) +static void __exit kretprobe_exit(void) { unregister_kretprobe(&my_kretprobe); printk("kretprobe unregistered\n"); @@ -574,6 +596,8 @@ void cleanup_module(void) my_kretprobe.nmissed, probed_func); } +module_init(kretprobe_init) +module_exit(kretprobe_exit) MODULE_LICENSE("GPL"); ----- cut here ----- @@ -586,3 +610,29 @@ messages.) For additional information on Kprobes, refer to the following URLs: http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-kprobes.html?ca=dgr-lnxw42Kprobe http://www.redhat.com/magazine/005mar05/features/kprobes/ +http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~boutcher/kprobes/ +http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2006/linuxsymposium_procv2.pdf (pages 101-115) + + +Appendix A: The kprobes debugfs interface + +With recent kernels (> 2.6.20) the list of registered kprobes is visible +under the /debug/kprobes/ directory (assuming debugfs is mounted at /debug). + +/debug/kprobes/list: Lists all registered probes on the system + +c015d71a k vfs_read+0x0 +c011a316 j do_fork+0x0 +c03dedc5 r tcp_v4_rcv+0x0 + +The first column provides the kernel address where the probe is inserted. +The second column identifies the type of probe (k - kprobe, r - kretprobe +and j - jprobe), while the third column specifies the symbol+offset of +the probe. If the probed function belongs to a module, the module name +is also specified. + +/debug/kprobes/enabled: Turn kprobes ON/OFF + +Provides a knob to globally turn registered kprobes ON or OFF. By default, +all kprobes are enabled. By echoing "0" to this file, all registered probes +will be disarmed, till such time a "1" is echoed to this file.