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3<head>
4 <title>Linux Trace Toolkit Next Generation User Documentation</title>
5</head>
6 <body>
7
8<h1>Linux Trace Toolkit Next Generation User Documentation</h1>
9
10Author : Mathieu Desnoyers, September 2005<br>
11Last update : January 21st, 2009<br>
12(originally known as the LTTng QUICKSTART guide)
13
14<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
15<ul>
16
17<li><a href="#intro" name="TOCintro">Introduction</a></li>
18<li><a href="#section1" name="TOCsection1">Installing LTTng and LTTV from
19sources</a></li>
20<li><a href="#section2" name="TOCsection2">Using LTTng and LTTV</a></li>
21<li><a href="#section3" name="TOCsection3">Adding kernel and user-space
22tracepoints</a></li>
23<li><a href="#section4" name="TOCsection4">Creating Debian and RPM packages
24from LTTV</a>
25
26</ul>
27
28<hr />
29
30<h2><a href="#TOCintro" name="intro">Introduction</a></h2>
31<p>
32This document is made of four parts : the first one explains how
33to install LTTng and LTTV from sources, the second one describes the steps
34to follow to trace a system and view it. The third part explains
35briefly how to add a new trace point to the kernel and to user space
36applications. The fourth and last part explains how to create Debian or RPM
37packages from the LTTng and LTTV sources.
38<p>
39These operations are made for installing the LTTng 0.86 tracer on a linux 2.6.X
40kernel. You will also find instructions for installation of LTTV 0.12.x : the
41Linux Trace Toolkit Viewer.
42To see the list of compatibilities between LTTng, ltt-control, LTTV, please
43refer to :
44<a
45href="http://ltt.polymtl.ca/svn/trunk/lttv/doc/developer/lttng-lttv-compatibility.html">LTTng+LTTV versions compatibility</a>
46The lttng patch is necessary to have the tracing hooks in the kernel.
47
48<br>
49<br>
50Supported architectures :
51<br>
52LTTng :<br>
53<li> x86 32/64 bits
54<li> PowerPC 32 and 64 bits
55<li> ARM (with limited timestamping precision, e.g. 1HZ. Need
56architecture-specific support for better precision)
57<li> MIPS
58<br>
59<br>
60LTTV :<br>
61<li> Intel 32/64 bits
62<li> PowerPC 32 and 64 bits
63<li> Possibly others. Takes care of endianness and type size difference between
64the LTTng traces and the LTTV analysis tool.
65
66<hr />
67
68
69<h2><a href="#TOCsection1" name="section1">Installation from sources</a></h2>
70<p>
71
72<li>Prerequisites</li>
73<ul>
74<p>
75Tools needed to follow the package download steps :
76
77<li>wget
78<li>bzip2
79<li>gzip
80<li>tar
81
82<p>
83You have to install the standard development libraries and programs necessary
84to compile a kernel :
85
86<PRE>
87(from Documentation/Changes in the Linux kernel tree)
88Gnu C 2.95.3 # gcc --version
89Gnu make 3.79.1 # make --version
90binutils 2.12 # ld -v
91util-linux 2.10o # fdformat --version
92module-init-tools 0.9.10 # depmod -V
93</PRE>
94
95<p>
96You might also want to have libncurses5 to have the text mode kernel
97configuration menu, but there are alternatives.
98
99<p>
100Prerequisites for LTTV 0.x.x installation are :
101
102<PRE>
103gcc 3.2 or better
104gtk 2.4 or better development libraries
105 (Debian : libgtk2.0, libgtk2.0-dev)
106 (Fedora : gtk2, gtk2-devel)
107 note : For Fedora users : this might require at least core 3 from Fedora,
108 or you might have to compile your own GTK2 library.
109glib 2.4 or better development libraries
110 (Debian : libglib2.0-0, libglib2.0-dev)
111 (Fedora : glib2, glib2-devel)
112libpopt development libraries
113 (Debian : libpopt0, libpopt-dev)
114 (Fedora : popt)
115libpango development libraries
116 (Debian : libpango1.0, libpango1.0-dev)
117 (Fedora : pango, pango-devel)
118libc6 development librairies
119 (Debian : libc6, libc6-dev)
120 (Fedora : glibc, glibc)
121</PRE>
122</ul>
123
124<li>Reminder</li>
125
126<p>
127See the list of compatibilities between LTTng, ltt-control and LTTV at :
128<a
129href="http://ltt.polymtl.ca/svn/trunk/lttv/doc/developer/lttng-lttv-compatibility.html">LTTng+LTTV
130versions compatibility</a>.
131
132
133<li>Getting the LTTng packages</li>
134
135<PRE>
136su -
137mkdir /usr/src/lttng
138cd /usr/src/lttng
139(see http://ltt.polymtl.ca/lttng for package listing)
140wget http://ltt.polymtl.ca/lttng/patch-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx.tar.bz2
141bzip2 -cd patch-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx.tar.bz2 | tar xvof -
142</PRE>
143
144
145<li>Getting LTTng kernel sources</li>
146
147<PRE>
148su -
149cd /usr/src
150wget http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.X.tar.bz2
151bzip2 -cd linux-2.6.X.tar.bz2 | tar xvof -
152cd linux-2.6.X
153- For LTTng 0.9.4- cat /usr/src/lttng/patch*-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx* | patch -p1
154- For LTTng 0.9.5+ apply the patches in the order specified in the series file,
155 or use quilt
156cd ..
157mv linux-2.6.X linux-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx
158</PRE>
159
160
161<li>Installing a LTTng kernel</li>
162
163<PRE>
164su -
165cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx
166make menuconfig (or make xconfig or make config)
167 Select the < Help > button if you are not familiar with kernel
168 configuration.
169 Items preceded by [*] means they has to be built into the kernel.
170 Items preceded by [M] means they has to be built as modules.
171 Items preceded by [ ] means they should be removed.
172 go to the "General setup" section
173 Select the following options :
174 [*] Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers
175 [*] Activate markers
176 [*] Activate userspace markers ABI (experimental, optional)
177 [*] Immediate value optimization (optional)
178 [*] Linux Trace Toolkit Next Generation (LTTng) --->
179 <M> or <*> Compile lttng tracing probes
180 <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit High-speed Lockless Data Relay
181 <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit Lock-Protected Data Relay
182 <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit Serializer
183 <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit Marker Control
184 <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit Tracer
185 [*] Align Linux Trace Toolkit Traces
186 <M> or <*> Support logging events from userspace
187 [*] Support trace extraction from crash dump
188 <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit Trace Controller
189 <M> or <*> Linux Trace Toolkit State Dump
190 Select <Exit>
191 Select <Exit>
192 Select <Yes>
193make
194make modules_install
195(if necessary, create a initrd with mkinitrd or your preferate alternative)
196(mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx 2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx)
197
198-- on X86, X86_64
199make install
200reboot
201Select the Linux 2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx kernel in your boot loader.
202
203-- on PowerPC
204cp vmlinux.strip /boot/vmlinux-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx
205cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx
206cp .config /boot/config-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx
207depmod -ae -F /boot/System.map-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx 2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx
208mkinitrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx 2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx
209(edit /etc/yaboot.conf to add a new entry pointing to your kernel : the entry
210that comes first is the default kernel)
211ybin
212select the right entry at the yaboot prompt (see choices : tab, select : type
213the kernel name followed by enter)
214Select the Linux 2.6.X-lttng-0.x.xx kernel in your boot loader.
215--
216</PRE>
217
218<li>Editing the system wide configuration</li>
219
220<p>
221You must activate debugfs and specify a mount point. This is typically done in
222fstab such that it happens at boot time. If you have never used DebugFS before,
223these operation would do this for you :
224
225<PRE>
226mkdir /mnt/debugfs
227cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.lttng.bkp
228echo "debugfs /mnt/debugfs debugfs rw 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
229</PRE>
230
231<p>
232then, rebooting or issuing the following command will activate debugfs :
233<PRE>
234mount /mnt/debugfs
235</PRE>
236
237<p>
238You need to load the LTT modules to be able to control tracing from user
239space. This is done by issuing the following commands. Note however
240these commands load all LTT modules. Depending on what options you chose to
241compile statically, you may not need to issue all these commands.
242
243<PRE>
244modprobe ltt-trace-control
245modprobe ltt-marker-control
246modprobe ltt-tracer
247modprobe ltt-serialize
248modprobe ltt-relay
249modprobe ipc-trace
250modprobe kernel-trace
251modprobe mm-trace
252modprobe net-trace
253modprobe fs-trace
254modprobe jbd2-trace
255modprobe ext4-trace
256modprobe syscall-trace
257modprobe trap-trace
258#if locking tracing is wanted, uncomment the following
259#modprobe lockdep-trace
260</PRE>
261
262<p>
263If you want to have complete information about the kernel state (including all
264the process names), you need to load the ltt-statedump module. This is done by
265issuing the command :
266
267<PRE>
268modprobe ltt-statedump
269</PRE>
270<p>
271You can automate at boot time loading the ltt-control module by :
272
273<PRE>
274cp /etc/modules /etc/modules.bkp
275echo ltt-trace-control >> /etc/modules
276echo ltt-marker-control >> /etc/modules
277echo ltt-tracer >> /etc/modules
278echo ltt-serialize >> /etc/modules
279echo ltt-relay >> /etc/modules
280echo ipc-trace >> /etc/modules
281echo kernel-trace >> /etc/modules
282echo mm-trace >> /etc/modules
283echo net-trace >> /etc/modules
284echo fs-trace >> /etc/modules
285echo jbd2-trace >> /etc/modules
286echo ext4-trace >> /etc/modules
287echo syscall-trace >> /etc/modules
288echo trap-trace >> /etc/modules
289#if locking tracing is wanted, uncomment the following
290#echo lockdep-trace >> /etc/modules
291</PRE>
292
293<li>Getting and installing the ltt-control package (on the traced machine)</li>
294<p>
295(note : the ltt-control package contains lttd and lttctl. Although it has the
296same name as the ltt-control kernel module, they are *not* the same thing.)
297
298<PRE>
299su -
300cd /usr/src
301wget http://ltt.polymtl.ca/lttng/ltt-control-0.x-xxxx2006.tar.gz
302gzip -cd ltt-control-0.x-xxxx2008.tar.gz | tar xvof -
303cd ltt-control-0.x-xxxx2006
304(refer to README to see the development libraries that must be installed on you
305system)
306./configure
307make
308make install
309</PRE>
310
311<li>Userspace tracing</li>
312
313<PRE>
314Make sure you selected the kernel menuconfig option :
315 <M> or <*> Support logging events from userspace
316And that the ltt-userspace-event kernel module is loaded if selected as a
317module.
318
319Simple userspace tracing is available through
320echo "some text to record" > /mnt/debugfs/ltt/write_event
321
322It will appear in the trace under event :
323channel : userspace
324event name : event
325</PRE>
326
327<li>Getting and installing the LTTV package (on the visualisation machine, same
328or different from the visualisation machine)</li>
329
330<PRE>
331su -
332cd /usr/src
333wget http://ltt.polymtl.ca/packages/lttv-0.x.xx-xxxx2008.tar.gz
334gzip -cd lttv-0.x.xx-xxxx2008.tar.gz | tar xvof -
335cd lttv-0.x.xx-xxxx2008
336(refer to README to see the development libraries that must be installed on your
337system)
338./configure
339make
340make install
341</PRE>
342
343<hr />
344
345
346<h2><a href="#TOCsection2" name="section2">Using LTTng and LTTV</a></h2>
347
348<li>IMPORTANT : Arm Linux Kernel Markers after each boot</li>
349<PRE>
350ltt-armall
351</PRE>
352
353<li>Use graphical LTTV to control tracing and analyse traces</li>
354<PRE>
355lttv-gui (or /usr/local/bin/lttv-gui)
356 - Spot the "Tracing Control" icon : click on it
357 (it's a traffic light icon)
358 - enter the root password
359 - click "start"
360 - click "stop"
361 - Yes
362 * You should now see a trace
363</PRE>
364
365<li>Use text mode LTTng to control tracing</li>
366<PRE>
367The tracing can be controlled from a terminal by using the lttctl command (as
368root).
369
370Start tracing :
371
372lttctl -C -w /tmp/trace1 trace1
373
374Stop tracing and destroy trace channels :
375
376lttctl -D trace1
377
378see lttctl --help for details.
379</PRE>
380<p>
381(note : to see if the buffers has been filled, look at the dmesg output after
382lttctl -R or after stopping tracing from the GUI, it will show an event lost
383count. If it is the case, try using larger buffers. See lttctl --help to learn
384how. lttv now also shows event lost messages in the console when loading a trace
385with missing events or lost subbuffers.)
386
387<li>Use text mode LTTV</li>
388<p>
389Feel free to look in /usr/local/lib/lttv/plugins to see all the text and
390graphical plugins available.
391<p>
392For example, a simple trace dump in text format is available with :
393<PRE>
394lttv -m textDump -t /tmp/trace
395</PRE>
396<p>
397See lttv -m textDump --help for detailed command line options of textDump.
398<p>
399It is, in the current state of the project, very useful to use "grep" on the
400text output to filter by specific event fields. You can later copy the timestamp
401of the events to the clipboard and paste them in the GUI by clicking on the
402bottom right label "Current time". Support for this type of filtering should
403be added to the filter module soon.
404
405<li>Hybrid mode</li>
406<p>
407Starting from LTTng 0.5.105 and ltt-control 0.20, a new mode can be used :
408hybrid. It can be especially useful when studying big workloads on a long period
409of time.
410<p>
411When using this mode, the most important, low rate control information will be
412recorded during all the trace by lttd (i.e. process creation/exit). The high
413rate information (i.e. interrupt/traps/syscall entry/exit) will be kept in a
414flight recorder buffer (now named flight-channelname_X).
415<p>
416The following lttctl commands take an hybrid trace :
417<p>
418Create trace channel, start lttd on normal channels, start tracing:
419<PRE>
420lttctl -C -w /tmp/trace2 -o channel.kernel.overwrite=1 trace2
421</PRE>
422<p>
423Stop tracing, start lttd on flight recorder channels, destroy trace channels :
424<PRE>
425lttctl -D -w /tmp/trace2 trace2
426</PRE>
427<p>
428Each "overwrite" channel is flight recorder channel.
429
430<li>Flight recorder mode</li>
431<p>
432The flight recorder mode writes data into overwritten buffers for all channels,
433including control channels, except for the facilities tracefiles. It consists of
434setting all channels to "overwrite".
435<p>
436The following lttctl commands take a flight recorder trace :
437<PRE>
438lttctl -C -w /tmp/trace3 -o channel.all.overwrite=1 trace3
439...
440lttctl -D -w /tmp/trace3 trace3
441</PRE>
442
443<hr />
444
445
446<h2><a href="#TOCsection3" name="section3">Adding new instrumentations with the
447markers</a></h2>
448<p>
449
450<p>
451See Documentation/markers.txt and Documentation/tracepoints.txt in your kernel
452tree.
453
454<li>Add new events to userspace programs with
455<a href="http://ltt.polymtl.ca/packages/">userspace markers packages</a></li>
456
457<p>
458Get the latest markers-userspace-*.tar.bz2 and see the Makefile and examples. It
459allows inserting markers in executables and libraries, currently only on x86_32
460and x86_64.
461
462See <a
463href="http://ltt.polymtl.ca/packages/markers-userspace-0.5.tar.bz2">markers-userspace-0.5.tar.bz2</a> or more recent.
464
465Note that a new design document for a 3rd generation of tracepoint/marker-based
466userspace tracing is available at <a
467href="http://ltt.polymtl.ca/svn/trunk/lttv/doc/developer/ust.html">LTTng User-space Tracing
468Design"</a>.
469
470<hr />
471
472<h2><a href="#TOCsection4" name="section4">Creating Debian or RPM packages</a></h2>
473<p>
474
475<li>Create custom LTTV Debian packages</li>
476
477<PRE>
478Use : dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
479</PRE>
480<p>
481You should then have your LTTV .deb files created for your architecture.
482
483<li>Create custom LTTng packages</li>
484<p>
485For building LTTng Debian packages :
486get the build tree with patches applies as explained in section 2.
487
488<PRE>
489make menuconfig (or xconfig or config) (customize your configuration)
490make-kpkg kernel_image
491</PRE>
492<p>
493You will then see your freshly created .deb in /usr/src. Install it with
494<PRE>
495dpkg -i /usr/src/(image-name).deb
496</PRE>
497<p>
498Then, follow the section "Editing the system wide configuration" in section 2.
499
500
501
502 </body>
503</html>
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