linux/include
Tom Zanussi 7ef224d1d0 tracing: Add 'hist' event trigger command
'hist' triggers allow users to continually aggregate trace events,
which can then be viewed afterwards by simply reading a 'hist' file
containing the aggregation in a human-readable format.

The basic idea is very simple and boils down to a mechanism whereby
trace events, rather than being exhaustively dumped in raw form and
viewed directly, are automatically 'compressed' into meaningful tables
completely defined by the user.

This is done strictly via single-line command-line commands and
without the aid of any kind of programming language or interpreter.

A surprising number of typical use cases can be accomplished by users
via this simple mechanism.  In fact, a large number of the tasks that
users typically do using the more complicated script-based tracing
tools, at least during the initial stages of an investigation, can be
accomplished by simply specifying a set of keys and values to be used
in the creation of a hash table.

The Linux kernel trace event subsystem happens to provide an extensive
list of keys and values ready-made for such a purpose in the form of
the event format files associated with each trace event.  By simply
consulting the format file for field names of interest and by plugging
them into the hist trigger command, users can create an endless number
of useful aggregations to help with investigating various properties
of the system.  See Documentation/trace/events.txt for examples.

hist triggers are implemented on top of the existing event trigger
infrastructure, and as such are consistent with the existing triggers
from a user's perspective as well.

The basic syntax follows the existing trigger syntax.  Users start an
aggregation by writing a 'hist' trigger to the event of interest's
trigger file:

  # echo hist:keys=xxx [ if filter] > event/trigger

Once a hist trigger has been set up, by default it continually
aggregates every matching event into a hash table using the event key
and a value field named 'hitcount'.

To view the aggregation at any point in time, simply read the 'hist'
file in the same directory as the 'trigger' file:

  # cat event/hist

The detailed syntax provides additional options for user control, and
is described exhaustively in Documentation/trace/events.txt and in the
virtual tracing/README file in the tracing subsystem.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/72d263b5e1853fe9c314953b65833c3aa75479f2.1457029949.git.tom.zanussi@linux.intel.com

Signed-off-by: Tom Zanussi <tom.zanussi@linux.intel.com>
Tested-by: Masami Hiramatsu <masami.hiramatsu.pt@hitachi.com>
Reviewed-by: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
2016-04-19 12:16:14 -04:00
..
acpi Merge branches 'acpi-processor' and 'acpi-cppc' 2016-03-14 14:20:33 +01:00
asm-generic arch, ftrace: for KASAN put hard/soft IRQ entries into separate sections 2016-03-25 16:37:42 -07:00
clocksource
crypto Merge branch 'next' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jmorris/linux-security 2016-03-17 11:33:45 -07:00
drm drm/ttm: use phys_addr_t for ttm_bus_placement 2016-04-04 17:00:01 -04:00
dt-bindings The clk changes for this release cycle are mostly dominated by 2016-03-23 06:06:45 -07:00
keys
kvm arm64: KVM: vgic-v3: Avoid accessing ICH registers 2016-03-09 04:24:04 +00:00
linux tracing: Add 'hist' event trigger command 2016-04-19 12:16:14 -04:00
math-emu
media Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://ftp.arm.linux.org.uk/~rmk/linux-arm 2016-03-19 16:31:54 -07:00
memory
misc cxl: Remove cxl_get_phys_dev() kernel API 2016-03-09 23:40:02 +11:00
net For the current RC series, we have the following fixes: 2016-04-08 16:41:28 -04:00
pcmcia
ras
rdma Round two of 4.6 merge window patches 2016-03-22 15:48:44 -07:00
rxrpc
scsi Merge branch 'fixes-base' into fixes 2016-04-05 06:56:47 -04:00
soc IOMMU Updates for Linux v4.6 2016-03-22 11:57:43 -07:00
sound ASoC: Updates for v4.6 2016-03-14 14:03:29 +01:00
target target: add a new add_wwn_groups fabrics method 2016-03-30 20:06:44 -07:00
trace Merge branch 'for-linus-4.6' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/mason/linux-btrfs 2016-04-09 10:41:34 -07:00
uapi USB fixes for 4.6-rc3 2016-04-09 12:23:02 -07:00
video gpu: ipu-v3: ipu-dmfc: Rename ipu_dmfc_init_channel to ipu_dmfc_config_wait4eot 2016-03-31 11:24:33 +02:00
xen xen-netback: re-import canonical netif header 2016-03-13 22:08:01 -04:00
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