FreeBSD/Linux Kernel Cross Reference
sys/Documentation/dynamic-debug-howto.txt

     
     Introduction
     ============
     
     This document describes how to use the dynamic debug (dyndbg) feature.
     
     Dynamic debug is designed to allow you to dynamically enable/disable
     kernel code to obtain additional kernel information.  Currently, if
     CONFIG_DYNAMIC_DEBUG is set, then all pr_debug()/dev_dbg() calls can
    be dynamically enabled per-callsite.
    
    Dynamic debug has even more useful features:
    
     * Simple query language allows turning on and off debugging
       statements by matching any combination of 0 or 1 of:
    
       - source filename
       - function name
       - line number (including ranges of line numbers)
       - module name
       - format string
    
     * Provides a debugfs control file: <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
       which can be read to display the complete list of known debug
       statements, to help guide you
    
    Controlling dynamic debug Behaviour
    ===================================
    
    The behaviour of pr_debug()/dev_dbg()s are controlled via writing to a
    control file in the 'debugfs' filesystem. Thus, you must first mount
    the debugfs filesystem, in order to make use of this feature.
    Subsequently, we refer to the control file as:
    <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control. For example, if you want to enable
    printing from source file 'svcsock.c', line 1603 you simply do:
    
    nullarbor:~ # echo 'file svcsock.c line 1603 +p' >
                                    <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
    
    If you make a mistake with the syntax, the write will fail thus:
    
    nullarbor:~ # echo 'file svcsock.c wtf 1 +p' >
                                    <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
    -bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument
    
    Viewing Dynamic Debug Behaviour
    ===========================
    
    You can view the currently configured behaviour of all the debug
    statements via:
    
    nullarbor:~ # cat <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
    # filename:lineno [module]function flags format
    /usr/src/packages/BUILD/sgi-enhancednfs-1.4/default/net/sunrpc/svc_rdma.c:323 [svcxprt_rdma]svc_rdma_cleanup =_ "SVCRDMA Module Removed, deregister RPC RDMA transport\012"
    /usr/src/packages/BUILD/sgi-enhancednfs-1.4/default/net/sunrpc/svc_rdma.c:341 [svcxprt_rdma]svc_rdma_init =_ "\011max_inline       : %d\012"
    /usr/src/packages/BUILD/sgi-enhancednfs-1.4/default/net/sunrpc/svc_rdma.c:340 [svcxprt_rdma]svc_rdma_init =_ "\011sq_depth         : %d\012"
    /usr/src/packages/BUILD/sgi-enhancednfs-1.4/default/net/sunrpc/svc_rdma.c:338 [svcxprt_rdma]svc_rdma_init =_ "\011max_requests     : %d\012"
    ...
    
    
    You can also apply standard Unix text manipulation filters to this
    data, e.g.
    
    nullarbor:~ # grep -i rdma <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control  | wc -l
    62
    
    nullarbor:~ # grep -i tcp <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control | wc -l
    42
    
    The third column shows the currently enabled flags for each debug
    statement callsite (see below for definitions of the flags).  The
    default value, with no flags enabled, is "=_".  So you can view all
    the debug statement callsites with any non-default flags:
    
    nullarbor:~ # awk '$3 != "=_"' <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
    # filename:lineno [module]function flags format
    /usr/src/packages/BUILD/sgi-enhancednfs-1.4/default/net/sunrpc/svcsock.c:1603 [sunrpc]svc_send p "svc_process: st_sendto returned %d\012"
    
    
    Command Language Reference
    ==========================
    
    At the lexical level, a command comprises a sequence of words separated
    by spaces or tabs.  So these are all equivalent:
    
    nullarbor:~ # echo -c 'file svcsock.c line 1603 +p' >
                                    <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
    nullarbor:~ # echo -c '  file   svcsock.c     line  1603 +p  ' >
                                    <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
    nullarbor:~ # echo -n 'file svcsock.c line 1603 +p' >
                                    <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
    
    Command submissions are bounded by a write() system call.
    Multiple commands can be written together, separated by ';' or '\n'.
    
      ~# echo "func pnpacpi_get_resources +p; func pnp_assign_mem +p" \
         > <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
    
    If your query set is big, you can batch them too:
   
     ~# cat query-batch-file > <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
   
   At the syntactical level, a command comprises a sequence of match
   specifications, followed by a flags change specification.
   
   command ::= match-spec* flags-spec
   
   The match-spec's are used to choose a subset of the known pr_debug()
   callsites to which to apply the flags-spec.  Think of them as a query
   with implicit ANDs between each pair.  Note that an empty list of
   match-specs will select all debug statement callsites.
   
   A match specification comprises a keyword, which controls the
   attribute of the callsite to be compared, and a value to compare
   against.  Possible keywords are:
   
   match-spec ::= 'func' string |
                  'file' string |
                  'module' string |
                  'format' string |
                  'line' line-range
   
   line-range ::= lineno |
                  '-'lineno |
                  lineno'-' |
                  lineno'-'lineno
   // Note: line-range cannot contain space, e.g.
   // "1-30" is valid range but "1 - 30" is not.
   
   lineno ::= unsigned-int
   
   The meanings of each keyword are:
   
   func
       The given string is compared against the function name
       of each callsite.  Example:
   
       func svc_tcp_accept
   
   file
       The given string is compared against either the full pathname, the
       src-root relative pathname, or the basename of the source file of
       each callsite.  Examples:
   
       file svcsock.c
       file kernel/freezer.c
       file /usr/src/packages/BUILD/sgi-enhancednfs-1.4/default/net/sunrpc/svcsock.c
   
   module
       The given string is compared against the module name
       of each callsite.  The module name is the string as
       seen in "lsmod", i.e. without the directory or the .ko
       suffix and with '-' changed to '_'.  Examples:
   
       module sunrpc
       module nfsd
   
   format
       The given string is searched for in the dynamic debug format
       string.  Note that the string does not need to match the
       entire format, only some part.  Whitespace and other
       special characters can be escaped using C octal character
       escape \ooo notation, e.g. the space character is \040.
       Alternatively, the string can be enclosed in double quote
       characters (") or single quote characters (').
       Examples:
   
       format svcrdma:         // many of the NFS/RDMA server pr_debugs
       format readahead        // some pr_debugs in the readahead cache
       format nfsd:\040SETATTR // one way to match a format with whitespace
       format "nfsd: SETATTR"  // a neater way to match a format with whitespace
       format 'nfsd: SETATTR'  // yet another way to match a format with whitespace
   
   line
       The given line number or range of line numbers is compared
       against the line number of each pr_debug() callsite.  A single
       line number matches the callsite line number exactly.  A
       range of line numbers matches any callsite between the first
       and last line number inclusive.  An empty first number means
       the first line in the file, an empty line number means the
       last number in the file.  Examples:
   
       line 1603       // exactly line 1603
       line 1600-1605  // the six lines from line 1600 to line 1605
       line -1605      // the 1605 lines from line 1 to line 1605
       line 1600-      // all lines from line 1600 to the end of the file
   
   The flags specification comprises a change operation followed
   by one or more flag characters.  The change operation is one
   of the characters:
   
     -    remove the given flags
     +    add the given flags
     =    set the flags to the given flags
   
   The flags are:
   
     p    enables the pr_debug() callsite.
     f    Include the function name in the printed message
     l    Include line number in the printed message
     m    Include module name in the printed message
     t    Include thread ID in messages not generated from interrupt context
     _    No flags are set. (Or'd with others on input)
   
   For display, the flags are preceded by '='
   (mnemonic: what the flags are currently equal to).
   
   Note the regexp ^[-+=][flmpt_]+$ matches a flags specification.
   To clear all flags at once, use "=_" or "-flmpt".
   
   
   Debug messages during Boot Process
   ==================================
   
   To activate debug messages for core code and built-in modules during
   the boot process, even before userspace and debugfs exists, use
   dyndbg="QUERY", module.dyndbg="QUERY", or ddebug_query="QUERY"
   (ddebug_query is obsoleted by dyndbg, and deprecated).  QUERY follows
   the syntax described above, but must not exceed 1023 characters.  Your
   bootloader may impose lower limits.
   
   These dyndbg params are processed just after the ddebug tables are
   processed, as part of the arch_initcall.  Thus you can enable debug
   messages in all code run after this arch_initcall via this boot
   parameter.
   
   On an x86 system for example ACPI enablement is a subsys_initcall and
      dyndbg="file ec.c +p"
   will show early Embedded Controller transactions during ACPI setup if
   your machine (typically a laptop) has an Embedded Controller.
   PCI (or other devices) initialization also is a hot candidate for using
   this boot parameter for debugging purposes.
   
   If foo module is not built-in, foo.dyndbg will still be processed at
   boot time, without effect, but will be reprocessed when module is
   loaded later.  dyndbg_query= and bare dyndbg= are only processed at
   boot.
   
   
   Debug Messages at Module Initialization Time
   ============================================
   
   When "modprobe foo" is called, modprobe scans /proc/cmdline for
   foo.params, strips "foo.", and passes them to the kernel along with
   params given in modprobe args or /etc/modprob.d/*.conf files,
   in the following order:
   
   1. # parameters given via /etc/modprobe.d/*.conf
      options foo dyndbg=+pt
      options foo dyndbg # defaults to +p
   
   2. # foo.dyndbg as given in boot args, "foo." is stripped and passed
      foo.dyndbg=" func bar +p; func buz +mp"
   
   3. # args to modprobe
      modprobe foo dyndbg==pmf # override previous settings
   
   These dyndbg queries are applied in order, with last having final say.
   This allows boot args to override or modify those from /etc/modprobe.d
   (sensible, since 1 is system wide, 2 is kernel or boot specific), and
   modprobe args to override both.
   
   In the foo.dyndbg="QUERY" form, the query must exclude "module foo".
   "foo" is extracted from the param-name, and applied to each query in
   "QUERY", and only 1 match-spec of each type is allowed.
   
   The dyndbg option is a "fake" module parameter, which means:
   
   - modules do not need to define it explicitly
   - every module gets it tacitly, whether they use pr_debug or not
   - it doesnt appear in /sys/module/$module/parameters/
     To see it, grep the control file, or inspect /proc/cmdline.
   
   For CONFIG_DYNAMIC_DEBUG kernels, any settings given at boot-time (or
   enabled by -DDEBUG flag during compilation) can be disabled later via
   the sysfs interface if the debug messages are no longer needed:
   
      echo "module module_name -p" > <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
   
   Examples
   ========
   
   // enable the message at line 1603 of file svcsock.c
   nullarbor:~ # echo -n 'file svcsock.c line 1603 +p' >
                                   <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
   
   // enable all the messages in file svcsock.c
   nullarbor:~ # echo -n 'file svcsock.c +p' >
                                   <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
   
   // enable all the messages in the NFS server module
   nullarbor:~ # echo -n 'module nfsd +p' >
                                   <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
   
   // enable all 12 messages in the function svc_process()
   nullarbor:~ # echo -n 'func svc_process +p' >
                                   <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
   
   // disable all 12 messages in the function svc_process()
   nullarbor:~ # echo -n 'func svc_process -p' >
                                   <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
   
   // enable messages for NFS calls READ, READLINK, READDIR and READDIR+.
   nullarbor:~ # echo -n 'format "nfsd: READ" +p' >
                                   <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
   
   // enable all messages
   nullarbor:~ # echo -n '+p' > <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
   
   // add module, function to all enabled messages
   nullarbor:~ # echo -n '+mf' > <debugfs>/dynamic_debug/control
   
   // boot-args example, with newlines and comments for readability
   Kernel command line: ...
     // see whats going on in dyndbg=value processing
     dynamic_debug.verbose=1
     // enable pr_debugs in 2 builtins, #cmt is stripped
     dyndbg="module params +p #cmt ; module sys +p"
     // enable pr_debugs in 2 functions in a module loaded later
     pc87360.dyndbg="func pc87360_init_device +p; func pc87360_find +p"

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