Files
linux/tools/testing/selftests/ftrace
Linus Torvalds e4bf304f00 Merge tag 'trace-ringbuffer-v7.1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace
Pull ring-buffer updates from Steven Rostedt:

 - Add remote buffers for pKVM

   pKVM has a hypervisor component that is used to protect the guest
   from the host kernel. This hypervisor is a black box to the kernel as
   the kernel is to user space. The remote buffers are used to have a
   memory mapping between the hypervisor and the kernel where kernel may
   send commands to enable tracing within the hypervisor. Then the
   kernel will read this memory mapping just like user space can read
   the memory mapped ring buffer of the kernel tracing system.

   Since the hypervisor only has a single context, it doesn't need to
   worry about races between normal context, interrupt context and NMIs
   like the kernel does. The ring buffer it uses doesn't need to be as
   complex. The remote buffers are a simple version of the ring buffer
   that works in a single context. They are still per-CPU and use sub
   buffers. The data layout is the same as the kernel's ring buffer to
   share the same parsing.

   Currently, only ARM64 implements pKVM, but there's work to implement
   it also in x86. The remote buffer code is separated out from the ARM
   implementation so that it can be used in the future by x86.

   The ARM64 updates for pKVM is in the ARM/KVM tree and it merged in
   the remote buffers of this tree.

 - Make the backup instance non reusable

   The backup instance is a copy of the persistent ring buffer so that
   the persistent ring buffer could start recording again without using
   the data from the previous boot. The backup isn't for normal tracing.
   It is made read-only, and after it is consumed, it is automatically
   removed.

 - Have backup copy persistent instance before it starts recording

   To allow the persistent ring buffer to start recording from the
   kernel command line commands, move the copy of the backup instance to
   before the the command line options start recording.

 - Report header_page overwrite field as "char" and not "int'

   The rust parser of the header_page file was triggering a warning when
   it defined the overwrite variable as "int" but it was only a single
   byte in size.

 - Fix memory barriers for the trace_buffer CPU mask

   When a CPU comes online, the bit is set to allow readers to know that
   the CPU buffer is allocated. The bit is set after the allocation is
   done, and a smp_wmb() is performed after the allocation and before
   the setting of the bit. But instead of adding a smp_rmb() to all
   readers, since once a buffer is created for a CPU it is not deleted
   if that CPU goes offline, so this allocation is almost always done at
   boot up before any readers exist.

   If for the unlikely case where a CPU comes online for the first time
   after the system boot has finished, send an IPI to all CPUs to force
   the smp_rmb() for each CPU.

 - Show clock function being used in debugging ring buffer data

   When the ring buffer checks are enabled and the ring buffer detects
   an inconsistency in the times of the invents, print out the clock
   being used when the error occurred. There was a very hard to hit bug
   that would happen every so often and it ended up being only triggered
   when the jiffies clock was being used. If the bug showed the clock
   being used, it would have been much easier to find the problem (which
   was an internal function was being traced which caused the clock
   accounting to go off).

* tag 'trace-ringbuffer-v7.1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace: (26 commits)
  ring-buffer: Prevent off-by-one array access in ring_buffer_desc_page()
  ring-buffer: Report header_page overwrite as char
  tracing: Allow backup to save persistent ring buffer before it starts
  tracing/Documentation: Add a section about backup instance
  tracing: Remove the backup instance automatically after read
  tracing: Make the backup instance non-reusable
  ring-buffer: Enforce read ordering of trace_buffer cpumask and buffers
  ring-buffer: Show what clock function is used on timestamp errors
  tracing: Check for undefined symbols in simple_ring_buffer
  tracing: load/unload page callbacks for simple_ring_buffer
  Documentation: tracing: Add tracing remotes
  tracing: selftests: Add trace remote tests
  tracing: Add a trace remote module for testing
  tracing: Introduce simple_ring_buffer
  ring-buffer: Export buffer_data_page and macros
  tracing: Add helpers to create trace remote events
  tracing: Add events/ root files to trace remotes
  tracing: Add events to trace remotes
  tracing: Add init callback to trace remotes
  tracing: Add non-consuming read to trace remotes
  ...
2026-04-15 15:59:46 -07:00
..

Linux Ftrace Testcases

This is a collection of testcases for ftrace tracing feature in the Linux
kernel. Since ftrace exports interfaces via the debugfs, we just need
shell scripts for testing. Feel free to add new test cases.

Running the ftrace testcases
============================

At first, you need to be the root user to run this script.
To run all testcases:

  $ sudo ./ftracetest

To run specific testcases:

  # ./ftracetest test.d/basic3.tc

Or you can also run testcases under given directory:

  # ./ftracetest test.d/kprobe/

Contributing new testcases
==========================

Copy test.d/template to your testcase (whose filename must have *.tc
extension) and rewrite the test description line.

 * The working directory of the script is <debugfs>/tracing/.

 * Take care with side effects as the tests are run with root privilege.

 * The tests should not run for a long period of time (more than 1 min.)
   These are to be unit tests.

 * You can add a directory for your testcases under test.d/ if needed.

 * The test cases should run on dash (busybox shell) for testing on
   minimal cross-build environments.

 * Note that the tests are run with "set -e" (errexit) option. If any
   command fails, the test will be terminated immediately.

 * The tests can return some result codes instead of pass or fail by
   using exit_unresolved, exit_untested, exit_unsupported and exit_xfail.

Result code
===========

Ftracetest supports following result codes.

 * PASS: The test succeeded as expected. The test which exits with 0 is
         counted as passed test.

 * FAIL: The test failed, but was expected to succeed. The test which exits
         with !0 is counted as failed test.

 * UNRESOLVED: The test produced unclear or intermidiate results.
             for example, the test was interrupted
                       or the test depends on a previous test, which failed.
                       or the test was set up incorrectly
             The test which is in above situation, must call exit_unresolved.

 * UNTESTED: The test was not run, currently just a placeholder.
             In this case, the test must call exit_untested.

 * UNSUPPORTED: The test failed because of lack of feature.
               In this case, the test must call exit_unsupported.

 * XFAIL: The test failed, and was expected to fail.
          To return XFAIL, call exit_xfail from the test.

There are some sample test scripts for result code under samples/.
You can also run samples as below:

  # ./ftracetest samples/

TODO
====

 * Fancy colored output :)