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71 changes: 71 additions & 0 deletions Documentation/ABI/testing/debugfs-kmemtrace
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What: /sys/kernel/debug/kmemtrace/
Date: July 2008
Contact: Eduard - Gabriel Munteanu <eduard.munteanu@linux360.ro>
Description:

In kmemtrace-enabled kernels, the following files are created:

/sys/kernel/debug/kmemtrace/
cpu<n> (0400) Per-CPU tracing data, see below. (binary)
total_overruns (0400) Total number of bytes which were dropped from
cpu<n> files because of full buffer condition,
non-binary. (text)
abi_version (0400) Kernel's kmemtrace ABI version. (text)

Each per-CPU file should be read according to the relay interface. That is,
the reader should set affinity to that specific CPU and, as currently done by
the userspace application (though there are other methods), use poll() with
an infinite timeout before every read(). Otherwise, erroneous data may be
read. The binary data has the following _core_ format:

Event ID (1 byte) Unsigned integer, one of:
0 - represents an allocation (KMEMTRACE_EVENT_ALLOC)
1 - represents a freeing of previously allocated memory
(KMEMTRACE_EVENT_FREE)
Type ID (1 byte) Unsigned integer, one of:
0 - this is a kmalloc() / kfree()
1 - this is a kmem_cache_alloc() / kmem_cache_free()
2 - this is a __get_free_pages() et al.
Event size (2 bytes) Unsigned integer representing the
size of this event. Used to extend
kmemtrace. Discard the bytes you
don't know about.
Sequence number (4 bytes) Signed integer used to reorder data
logged on SMP machines. Wraparound
must be taken into account, although
it is unlikely.
Caller address (8 bytes) Return address to the caller.
Pointer to mem (8 bytes) Pointer to target memory area. Can be
NULL, but not all such calls might be
recorded.

In case of KMEMTRACE_EVENT_ALLOC events, the next fields follow:

Requested bytes (8 bytes) Total number of requested bytes,
unsigned, must not be zero.
Allocated bytes (8 bytes) Total number of actually allocated
bytes, unsigned, must not be lower
than requested bytes.
Requested flags (4 bytes) GFP flags supplied by the caller.
Target CPU (4 bytes) Signed integer, valid for event id 1.
If equal to -1, target CPU is the same
as origin CPU, but the reverse might
not be true.

The data is made available in the same endianness the machine has.

Other event ids and type ids may be defined and added. Other fields may be
added by increasing event size, but see below for details.
Every modification to the ABI, including new id definitions, are followed
by bumping the ABI version by one.

Adding new data to the packet (features) is done at the end of the mandatory
data:
Feature size (2 byte)
Feature ID (1 byte)
Feature data (Feature size - 3 bytes)


Users:
kmemtrace-user - git://repo.or.cz/kmemtrace-user.git

10 changes: 10 additions & 0 deletions Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
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Expand Up @@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ parameter is applicable:
ISAPNP ISA PnP code is enabled.
ISDN Appropriate ISDN support is enabled.
JOY Appropriate joystick support is enabled.
KMEMTRACE kmemtrace is enabled.
LIBATA Libata driver is enabled
LP Printer support is enabled.
LOOP Loopback device support is enabled.
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1033,6 +1034,15 @@ and is between 256 and 4096 characters. It is defined in the file
use the HighMem zone if it exists, and the Normal
zone if it does not.

kmemtrace.enable= [KNL,KMEMTRACE] Format: { yes | no }
Controls whether kmemtrace is enabled
at boot-time.

kmemtrace.subbufs=n [KNL,KMEMTRACE] Overrides the number of
subbufs kmemtrace's relay channel has. Set this
higher than default (KMEMTRACE_N_SUBBUFS in code) if
you experience buffer overruns.

movablecore=nn[KMG] [KNL,X86-32,IA-64,PPC,X86-64] This parameter
is similar to kernelcore except it specifies the
amount of memory used for migratable allocations.
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126 changes: 126 additions & 0 deletions Documentation/vm/kmemtrace.txt
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kmemtrace - Kernel Memory Tracer

by Eduard - Gabriel Munteanu
<eduard.munteanu@linux360.ro>

I. Introduction
===============

kmemtrace helps kernel developers figure out two things:
1) how different allocators (SLAB, SLUB etc.) perform
2) how kernel code allocates memory and how much

To do this, we trace every allocation and export information to the userspace
through the relay interface. We export things such as the number of requested
bytes, the number of bytes actually allocated (i.e. including internal
fragmentation), whether this is a slab allocation or a plain kmalloc() and so
on.

The actual analysis is performed by a userspace tool (see section III for
details on where to get it from). It logs the data exported by the kernel,
processes it and (as of writing this) can provide the following information:
- the total amount of memory allocated and fragmentation per call-site
- the amount of memory allocated and fragmentation per allocation
- total memory allocated and fragmentation in the collected dataset
- number of cross-CPU allocation and frees (makes sense in NUMA environments)

Moreover, it can potentially find inconsistent and erroneous behavior in
kernel code, such as using slab free functions on kmalloc'ed memory or
allocating less memory than requested (but not truly failed allocations).

kmemtrace also makes provisions for tracing on some arch and analysing the
data on another.

II. Design and goals
====================

kmemtrace was designed to handle rather large amounts of data. Thus, it uses
the relay interface to export whatever is logged to userspace, which then
stores it. Analysis and reporting is done asynchronously, that is, after the
data is collected and stored. By design, it allows one to log and analyse
on different machines and different arches.

As of writing this, the ABI is not considered stable, though it might not
change much. However, no guarantees are made about compatibility yet. When
deemed stable, the ABI should still allow easy extension while maintaining
backward compatibility. This is described further in Documentation/ABI.

Summary of design goals:
- allow logging and analysis to be done across different machines
- be fast and anticipate usage in high-load environments (*)
- be reasonably extensible
- make it possible for GNU/Linux distributions to have kmemtrace
included in their repositories

(*) - one of the reasons Pekka Enberg's original userspace data analysis
tool's code was rewritten from Perl to C (although this is more than a
simple conversion)


III. Quick usage guide
======================

1) Get a kernel that supports kmemtrace and build it accordingly (i.e. enable
CONFIG_KMEMTRACE).

2) Get the userspace tool and build it:
$ git-clone git://repo.or.cz/kmemtrace-user.git # current repository
$ cd kmemtrace-user/
$ ./autogen.sh
$ ./configure
$ make

3) Boot the kmemtrace-enabled kernel if you haven't, preferably in the
'single' runlevel (so that relay buffers don't fill up easily), and run
kmemtrace:
# '$' does not mean user, but root here.
$ mount -t debugfs none /sys/kernel/debug
$ mount -t proc none /proc
$ cd path/to/kmemtrace-user/
$ ./kmemtraced
Wait a bit, then stop it with CTRL+C.
$ cat /sys/kernel/debug/kmemtrace/total_overruns # Check if we didn't
# overrun, should
# be zero.
$ (Optionally) [Run kmemtrace_check separately on each cpu[0-9]*.out file to
check its correctness]
$ ./kmemtrace-report

Now you should have a nice and short summary of how the allocator performs.

IV. FAQ and known issues
========================

Q: 'cat /sys/kernel/debug/kmemtrace/total_overruns' is non-zero, how do I fix
this? Should I worry?
A: If it's non-zero, this affects kmemtrace's accuracy, depending on how
large the number is. You can fix it by supplying a higher
'kmemtrace.subbufs=N' kernel parameter.
---

Q: kmemtrace_check reports errors, how do I fix this? Should I worry?
A: This is a bug and should be reported. It can occur for a variety of
reasons:
- possible bugs in relay code
- possible misuse of relay by kmemtrace
- timestamps being collected unorderly
Or you may fix it yourself and send us a patch.
---

Q: kmemtrace_report shows many errors, how do I fix this? Should I worry?
A: This is a known issue and I'm working on it. These might be true errors
in kernel code, which may have inconsistent behavior (e.g. allocating memory
with kmem_cache_alloc() and freeing it with kfree()). Pekka Enberg pointed
out this behavior may work with SLAB, but may fail with other allocators.

It may also be due to lack of tracing in some unusual allocator functions.

We don't want bug reports regarding this issue yet.
---

V. See also
===========

Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
Documentation/ABI/testing/debugfs-kmemtrace

6 changes: 6 additions & 0 deletions MAINTAINERS
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Expand Up @@ -2566,6 +2566,12 @@ M: jason.wessel@windriver.com
L: kgdb-bugreport@lists.sourceforge.net
S: Maintained

KMEMTRACE
P: Eduard - Gabriel Munteanu
M: eduard.munteanu@linux360.ro
L: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
S: Maintained

KPROBES
P: Ananth N Mavinakayanahalli
M: ananth@in.ibm.com
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86 changes: 86 additions & 0 deletions include/linux/kmemtrace.h
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/*
* Copyright (C) 2008 Eduard - Gabriel Munteanu
*
* This file is released under GPL version 2.
*/

#ifndef _LINUX_KMEMTRACE_H
#define _LINUX_KMEMTRACE_H

#ifdef __KERNEL__

#include <linux/types.h>
#include <linux/marker.h>

enum kmemtrace_type_id {
KMEMTRACE_TYPE_KMALLOC = 0, /* kmalloc() or kfree(). */
KMEMTRACE_TYPE_CACHE, /* kmem_cache_*(). */
KMEMTRACE_TYPE_PAGES, /* __get_free_pages() and friends. */
};

#ifdef CONFIG_KMEMTRACE

extern void kmemtrace_init(void);

static inline void kmemtrace_mark_alloc_node(enum kmemtrace_type_id type_id,
unsigned long call_site,
const void *ptr,
size_t bytes_req,
size_t bytes_alloc,
gfp_t gfp_flags,
int node)
{
trace_mark(kmemtrace_alloc, "type_id %d call_site %lu ptr %lu "
"bytes_req %lu bytes_alloc %lu gfp_flags %lu node %d",
type_id, call_site, (unsigned long) ptr,
(unsigned long) bytes_req, (unsigned long) bytes_alloc,
(unsigned long) gfp_flags, node);
}

static inline void kmemtrace_mark_free(enum kmemtrace_type_id type_id,
unsigned long call_site,
const void *ptr)
{
trace_mark(kmemtrace_free, "type_id %d call_site %lu ptr %lu",
type_id, call_site, (unsigned long) ptr);
}

#else /* CONFIG_KMEMTRACE */

static inline void kmemtrace_init(void)
{
}

static inline void kmemtrace_mark_alloc_node(enum kmemtrace_type_id type_id,
unsigned long call_site,
const void *ptr,
size_t bytes_req,
size_t bytes_alloc,
gfp_t gfp_flags,
int node)
{
}

static inline void kmemtrace_mark_free(enum kmemtrace_type_id type_id,
unsigned long call_site,
const void *ptr)
{
}

#endif /* CONFIG_KMEMTRACE */

static inline void kmemtrace_mark_alloc(enum kmemtrace_type_id type_id,
unsigned long call_site,
const void *ptr,
size_t bytes_req,
size_t bytes_alloc,
gfp_t gfp_flags)
{
kmemtrace_mark_alloc_node(type_id, call_site, ptr,
bytes_req, bytes_alloc, gfp_flags, -1);
}

#endif /* __KERNEL__ */

#endif /* _LINUX_KMEMTRACE_H */

8 changes: 4 additions & 4 deletions include/linux/slab.h
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -253,9 +253,9 @@ static inline void *kmem_cache_alloc_node(struct kmem_cache *cachep,
* request comes from.
*/
#if defined(CONFIG_DEBUG_SLAB) || defined(CONFIG_SLUB)
extern void *__kmalloc_track_caller(size_t, gfp_t, void*);
extern void *__kmalloc_track_caller(size_t, gfp_t, unsigned long);
#define kmalloc_track_caller(size, flags) \
__kmalloc_track_caller(size, flags, __builtin_return_address(0))
__kmalloc_track_caller(size, flags, _RET_IP_)
#else
#define kmalloc_track_caller(size, flags) \
__kmalloc(size, flags)
Expand All @@ -271,10 +271,10 @@ extern void *__kmalloc_track_caller(size_t, gfp_t, void*);
* allocation request comes from.
*/
#if defined(CONFIG_DEBUG_SLAB) || defined(CONFIG_SLUB)
extern void *__kmalloc_node_track_caller(size_t, gfp_t, int, void *);
extern void *__kmalloc_node_track_caller(size_t, gfp_t, int, unsigned long);
#define kmalloc_node_track_caller(size, flags, node) \
__kmalloc_node_track_caller(size, flags, node, \
__builtin_return_address(0))
_RET_IP_)
#else
#define kmalloc_node_track_caller(size, flags, node) \
__kmalloc_node(size, flags, node)
Expand Down
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