| UFTRACE-LIVE(1) | UFTRACE-LIVE(1) |
uftrace-live - Trace functions in a command during live execution
uftrace [live] [options] COMMAND [command-options]
This command runs COMMAND and prints its functions with time and thread info. This is basically the same as running the uftrace record and uftrace replay commands in turn, but it does not save a data file. This command accepts most options that are accepted by the record or replay commands.
The uftrace tool supports filtering out uninteresting functions. When uftrace is called it receives two types of function filter; an opt-in filter with -F/--filter and an opt-out filter with -N/--notrace. These filters can be applied either at record time or replay time.
The first one is an opt-in filter. By default, it doesn't trace anything. But when one of the specified functions is executed, tracing is started. When the function returns, tracing is stopped again.
For example, consider a simple program which calls a(), b() and c() in turn.
$ cat abc.c
void c(void) {
/* do nothing */
}
void b(void) {
c();
}
void a(void) {
b();
}
int main(void) {
a();
return 0;
}
$ gcc -pg -o abc abc.c
Normally uftrace will trace all the functions from main() to c().
$ uftrace ./abc
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
138.494 us [ 1234] | __cxa_atexit();
[ 1234] | main() {
[ 1234] | a() {
[ 1234] | b() {
3.880 us [ 1234] | c();
5.475 us [ 1234] | } /* b */
6.448 us [ 1234] | } /* a */
8.631 us [ 1234] | } /* main */
But when the -F b filter option is used, it will not trace main() or a() but only b() and c().
$ uftrace -F b ./abc
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
[ 1234] | b() {
3.880 us [ 1234] | c();
5.475 us [ 1234] | } /* b */
The second type of filter is opt-out. By default, everything is traced, but when one of the specified functions is executed, tracing stops. When the excluded function returns, tracing is started again.
In the above example, you can omit the function b() and all calls it makes with the -N option.
$ uftrace live -N b ./abc
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
138.494 us [ 1234] | __cxa_atexit();
[ 1234] | main() {
6.448 us [ 1234] | a();
8.631 us [ 1234] | } /* main */
In addition, you can limit the print nesting level with the -D option.
$ uftrace -D 3 ./abc
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
138.494 us [ 1234] | __cxa_atexit();
[ 1234] | main() {
[ 1234] | a() {
5.475 us [ 1234] | b();
6.448 us [ 1234] | } /* a */
8.631 us [ 1234] | } /* main */
In the above example, uftrace only prints functions up to a depth of 3, so leaf function c() was omitted. Note that the -D option works with -F.
Sometimes it's useful to see long-running functions only. This is good because there are usually many tiny functions that are not interesting. The -t/--time-filter option implements the time-based filter that only records functions which run longer than the given threshold. In the above example, the user might want to see functions running more than 5 microseconds like below:
$ uftrace live -t 5us ./abc
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
138.494 us [ 1234] | __cxa_atexit();
[ 1234] | main() {
[ 1234] | a() {
5.475 us [ 1234] | b();
6.448 us [ 1234] | } /* a */
8.631 us [ 1234] | } /* main */
You can also set triggers on filtered functions. See TRIGGERS section below for details.
The uftrace tool supports triggering actions on selected function calls with or without filters. Currently supported triggers are depth (for record and replay) and backtrace (for replay only). The BNF for trigger specifications is like below:
<trigger> := <symbol> "@" <actions> <actions> := <action> | <action> "," <actions> <action> := "depth="<num> | "backtrace" | "trace" | "trace_on" | "trace_off" | "recover" | "color="<color> | "time="<time_spec> | "read="<read_spec> | "finish" | "filter" | "notrace" <time_spec> := <num> [ <time_unit> ] <time_unit> := "ns" | "nsec" | "us" | "usec" | "ms" | "msec" | "s" | "sec" | "m" | "min" <read_spec> := "proc/statm" | "page-fault" | "pmu-cycle" | "pmu-cache" | "pmu-branch"
The depth trigger is to change filter depth during execution of the function. It can be used to apply different filter depths for different functions. And the backtrace trigger is used to print a stack backtrace at replay time.
The color trigger is to change the color of the function in replay output. The supported colors are red, green, blue, yellow, magenta, cyan, bold, and gray.
The following example shows how triggers work. The global filter maximum depth is 5, but when function b() is called, it is changed to 1, so functions below b() will not shown.
$ uftrace live -D 5 -T 'b@depth=1' ./abc
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
138.494 us [ 1234] | __cxa_atexit();
[ 1234] | main() {
[ 1234] | a() {
5.475 us [ 1234] | b();
6.448 us [ 1234] | } /* a */
8.631 us [ 1234] | } /* main */
The backtrace trigger is only meaningful in the replay command.
The traceon and traceoff actions (the _ can be omitted from trace_on and trace_off) control whether uftrace records the specified functions or not.
The `recover' trigger is for some corner cases in which the process accesses the callstack directly. During tracing of the v8 javascript engine, for example, it kept getting segfaults in the garbage collection stage. It was because v8 incorporates the return address into compiled code objects(?). The recover trigger restores the original return address at the function entry point and resets to the uftrace return hook address again at function exit. I was managed to work around the segfault by setting the recover trigger on the related function (specifically ExitFrame::Iterate).
The `time' trigger is to change time filter setting during execution of the function. It can be used to apply different time filter for different functions.
The read trigger is to read some information at runtime. The result will be recorded as (builtin) events at the beginning and the end of a given function. As of now, following events are supported:
The results are printed in comments like below.
$ uftrace -T a@read=proc/statm ./abc
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
[ 1234] | main() {
[ 1234] | a() {
[ 1234] | /* read:proc/statm (size=6808KB, rss=776KB, shared=712KB) */
[ 1234] | b() {
[ 1234] | c() {
1.448 us [ 1234] | getpid();
10.270 us [ 1234] | } /* c */
11.250 us [ 1234] | } /* b */
[ 1234] | /* diff:proc/statm (size=+4KB, rss=+0KB, shared=+0KB) */
18.380 us [ 1234] | } /* a */
19.537 us [ 1234] | } /* main */
The `finish' trigger is to end recording. The process still can run and this can be useful to trace unterminated processes like daemon.
The `filter' and `notrace' triggers have same effect as -F/–filter and -N/–notrace options respectively.
Triggers only work for user-level functions for now.
The uftrace tool supports recording function arguments and/or return values using the -A/--argument and -R/--retval options respectively. The syntax is very similar to that of triggers:
<argument> := <symbol> "@" <specs> <specs> := <spec> | <spec> "," <spec> <spec> := ( <int_spec> | <float_spec> | <ret_spec> ) <int_spec> := "arg" N [ "/" <format> [ <size> ] ] [ "%" ( <reg> | <stack> ) ] <float_spec> := "fparg" N [ "/" ( <size> | "80" ) ] [ "%" ( <reg> | <stack> ) ] <ret_spec> := "retval" [ "/" <format> [ <size> ] ] <format> := "d" | "i" | "u" | "x" | "s" | "c" | "f" | "S" | "p" <size> := "8" | "16" | "32" | "64" <reg> := <arch-specific register name> # "rdi", "xmm0", "r0", ... <stack> := "stack" [ "+" ] <offset>
The -A/--argument option takes argN where N is an index of the arguments. The index starts from 1 and corresponds to the argument passing order of the calling convention on the system. Note that the indexes of arguments are separately counted for integer (or pointer) and floating-point type, and they can interfere depending on the calling convention. The argN is for integer arguments and fpargN is for floating-point arguments.
Users can optionally specify a format and size for the arguments and/or return values. The “d” format or without format field, uftrace treats them as `long int' type for integers and `double' for floating-point numbers. The “i” format makes it signed integer type and “u” format is for unsigned type. Both are printed as decimal while “x” format makes it printed as hexadecimal. The “s” format is for null-terminated string type and “c” format is for character type. The “f” format is for floating-point type and is meaningful only for return value (generally). Note that fpargN doesn't take the format field since it's always floating-point. The “S” format is for std::string, but it only supports libstdc++ library as of yet. Finally, the “p” format is for function pointer. Once the target address is recorded, it will be displayed as function name.
Please beware when using string type arguments since it can crash the program if the (pointer) value is invalid.
It is also possible to specify a certain register name or stack offset for arguments (but not for return value). The following register names can be used for argument:
Examples are below:
$ uftrace -A main@arg1/x -R main@retval/i32 ./abc # DURATION TID FUNCTION 138.494 us [ 1234] | __cxa_atexit(); [ 1234] | main(0x1) { [ 1234] | a() { [ 1234] | b() { 3.880 us [ 1234] | c(); 5.475 us [ 1234] | } /* b */ 6.448 us [ 1234] | } /* a */ 8.631 us [ 1234] | } = 0; /* main */ $ uftrace -A puts@arg1/s -R puts@retval ./hello Hello world # DURATION TID FUNCTION 1.457 us [21534] | __monstartup(); 0.997 us [21534] | __cxa_atexit(); [21534] | main() { 7.226 us [21534] | puts("Hello world") = 12; 8.708 us [21534] | } /* main */
Note that these arguments and return value are recorded only if the executable was built with the -pg option. Executables built with -finstrument-functions will ignore it except for library calls. Recording of arguments and return values only works with user-level functions for now.
If the target program is built with debug info like DWARF, uftrace can identify number of arguments and their types automatically (when built with libdw). Also arguments and return value of some well-known library functions are provided even if the debug info is not available. In these cases user don't need to specify format of the arguments and return value manually - just function name (or pattern) is enough. In fact, manual argspec will suppress the automatic argspec.
For example, the above example can be written like below:
$ uftrace -A . -R main -F main ./hello
Hello world
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
[ 18948] | main(1, 0x7ffeeb7590b8) {
7.183 us [ 18948] | puts("Hello world");
9.832 us [ 18948] | } = 0; /* main */
Note that argument pattern (“.”) matches to any character so it recorded all (supported) functions. It shows two arguments for “main” and a single string argument for “puts”. If you simply want to see all arguments and return values of every functions (if supported), use -a/--auto-args option.
The uftrace allows for user to customize the replay output with a couple of fields. Here the field means info on the left side of the pipe (|) character. By default it uses duration and tid fields, but you can use other fields in any order like:
$ uftrace -f time,delta,duration,tid,addr ./abc
# TIMESTAMP TIMEDELTA DURATION TID ADDRESS FUNCTION
75059.205379813 1.374 us [27804] 4004d0 | __monstartup();
75059.205384184 4.371 us 0.737 us [27804] 4004f0 | __cxa_atexit();
75059.205386655 2.471 us [27804] 4006b1 | main() {
75059.205386838 0.183 us [27804] 400656 | a() {
75059.205386961 0.123 us [27804] 400669 | b() {
75059.205387078 0.117 us [27804] 40067c | c() {
75059.205387264 0.186 us 0.643 us [27804] 4004b0 | getpid();
75059.205388501 1.237 us 1.423 us [27804] 40067c | } /* c */
75059.205388724 0.223 us 1.763 us [27804] 400669 | } /* b */
75059.205388878 0.154 us 2.040 us [27804] 400656 | } /* a */
75059.205389030 0.152 us 2.375 us [27804] 4006b1 | } /* main */
Each field has following meaning:
The default value is `duration,tid'. If given field name starts with “+”, then it'll be appended to the default fields. So “-f +time” is as same as “-f duration,tid,time”. And it also accepts a special field name of `none' which disables the field display and shows function output only.
The uftrace tool supports dynamic function tracing which can be enabled at runtime (load-time, to be precise) on x86_64. Before recording functions, normally you need to build the target program with -pg (or -finstrument-functions), then it has some performance impact because all functions call mcount().
With dynamic tracing, you can trace specific functions only given by the -P/--patch option. However you need to add some more compiler (gcc) options when building the target program. The gcc 5.1 or more recent versions provide -mfentry and -mnop-mcount options which add instrumentation code (i.e. calling mcount() function) at the very beginning of a function and convert the instruction to a NOP. Then it has almost zero performance overhead when running in a normal condition. The uftrace can convert it back to call mcount() if users want to (using -P option).
The following example shows a error message when normally running uftrace with the executable built with -pg -mfentry -mnop-mcount. Because the binary doesn't call any instrumentation code (i.e. `mcount').
$ gcc -o abc -pg -mfentry -mnop-mcount tests/s-abc.c $ uftrace abc uftrace: /home/namhyung/project/uftrace/cmd-record.c:1305:check_binary ERROR: Can't find 'mcount' symbol in the 'abc'. It seems not to be compiled with -pg or -finstrument-functions flag which generates traceable code. Please check your binary file.
But when the -P a patch option is used, and then only it can dynamically trace a().
$ uftrace --no-libcall -P a abc # DURATION TID FUNCTION 0.923 us [19379] | a();
In addition, you can enable all functions at load time using `.' that matches to any character in a regex pattern with P option.
$ uftrace --no-libcall -P . abc
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
[19387] | main() {
[19387] | a() {
[19387] | b() {
0.940 us [19387] | c();
2.030 us [19387] | } /* b */
2.451 us [19387] | } /* a */
3.289 us [19387] | } /* main */
Clang/LLVM 4.0 provides a dynamic instrumentation technique called X-ray (http://llvm.org/docs/XRay.html). It's similar to a combination of gcc -mfentry -mnop-mcount and -finstrument-functions. The uftrace also supports dynamic tracing on the executables built with the X-ray.
For example, you can build the target program by clang with the below option and equally use -P option for dynamic tracing like below:
$ clang -fxray-instrument -fxray-instruction-threshold=1 -o abc-xray tests/s-abc.c
$ uftrace -P main abc-xray
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
[11093] | main() {
1.659 us [11093] | getpid();
5.963 us [11093] | } /* main */
$ uftrace -P . abc-xray
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
[11098] | main() {
[11098] | a() {
[11098] | b() {
[11098] | c() {
0.753 us [11098] | getpid();
1.430 us [11098] | } /* c */
1.915 us [11098] | } /* b */
2.405 us [11098] | } /* a */
3.005 us [11098] | } /* main */
The uftrace tool supports script execution for each function entry and exit. The supported script is only Python 2.7 as of now.
The user can write four functions. `uftrace_entry' and `uftrace_exit' are executed whenever each function is executed at the entry and exit. However `uftrace_begin' and `uftrace_end' are only executed once when the target program begins and ends.
$ cat scripts/simple.py
def uftrace_begin(ctx):
print("program begins...")
def uftrace_entry(ctx):
func = ctx["name"]
print("entry : " + func + "()")
def uftrace_exit(ctx):
func = ctx["name"]
print("exit : " + func + "()")
def uftrace_end():
print("program is finished")
The above script can be executed in record time as follows:
$ uftrace -S scripts/simple.py -F main tests/t-abc
program begins...
entry : main()
entry : a()
entry : b()
entry : c()
entry : getpid()
exit : getpid()
exit : c()
exit : b()
exit : a()
exit : main()
program is finished
# DURATION TID FUNCTION
[10929] | main() {
[10929] | a() {
[10929] | b() {
[10929] | c() {
4.293 us [10929] | getpid();
19.017 us [10929] | } /* c */
27.710 us [10929] | } /* b */
37.007 us [10929] | } /* a */
55.260 us [10929] | } /* main */
The `ctx' variable is a dictionary type that contains the below information.
/* context information passed to script */
script_context = {
int tid;
int depth;
long timestamp;
long duration; # exit only
long address;
string name;
list args; # entry only (if available)
value retval; # exit only (if available)
};
Each field in `script_context' can be read inside the script. Please see uftrace-script(1) for details about scripting.
uftrace-record(1), uftrace-replay(1), uftrace-report(1), uftrace-script(1)
Namhyung Kim <namhyung@gmail.com>.
| May, 2016 | Uftrace User Manuals |