trace(1) [ultrix man page]
trace(1) General Commands Manual trace(1) Name trace - trace system calls of programs Syntax trace [options] cmd args... Description The command with no flag arguments traces for the given cmd and args all system calls made and prints a time stamp, the PID, call and/or return values and arguments and puts its output in the file trace.dump. Options -f filename Puts dump in file filename. -z Echos arguments only. Only one of the following option arguments can be specified at one time. -c# Traces given PIDs and their children. Up to sixteen PIDs can be specified. -g# Traces given groups only. Up to sixteen Group IDs can be specified. -p# Traces given PIDs only. Up to sixteen PIDs can be specified. -s# Traces given system calls only. Up to sixteen PIDs can be specified. -u# Traces given UIDs only. Up to sixteen PIDs can be specified. Examples trace -f ls.dump ls -l /dev >ls.out runs the cmd ls -l /dev and puts the trace in ls.dump and output in ls.out. trace -f csh.trace -p $$ & will trace your login shell in the background. To stop the trace just send it a termination signal (that is, kill -TERM trace_pid). Restrictions Due to security, no one, not even the super-user can trace anyone else's programs. This sort of negates some of the usefulness of the -g and -u flags. The program cannot be traced. Only 16 numbers can be given to the -c, -p, -g, -u, and -s flags. The kernel configuration file must contain the following: options SYS_TRACE pseudo-device sys_trace In addition, the superuser must use the following command sequence to create the device: cd /dev MAKEDEV trace If both lines are not in the configuration file or if the device is not made, the message "Cannot open /dev/trace" appears. Files /dev/trace read only character special device for reading syscall data. trace.dump default file for the system call trace data. See Also open(2), close(2), ioctl(2), select(2), read(2), trace(5) trace(1)
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KTRACE(1) BSD General Commands Manual KTRACE(1) NAME
ktrace -- enable kernel process tracing SYNOPSIS
ktrace [-aCcdi] [-f trfile] [-g pgrp | -p pid] [-t trstr] ktrace [-adi] [-f trfile] [-t trstr] command DESCRIPTION
The ktrace utility enables kernel trace logging for the specified processes. Kernel trace data is logged to the file ktrace.out. The kernel operations that are traced include system calls, namei translations, signal processing, and I/O. Once tracing is enabled on a process, trace data will be logged until either the process exits or the trace point is cleared. A traced process can generate enormous amounts of log data quickly; It is strongly suggested that users memorize how to disable tracing before attempting to trace a process. The following command is sufficient to disable tracing on all user-owned processes, and, if executed by root, all processes: $ ktrace -C The trace file is not human readable; use kdump(1) to decode it. The utility may be used only with a kernel that has been built with the ``KTRACE'' option in the kernel configuration file. The options are: -a Append to the trace file instead of recreating it. -C Disable tracing on all user-owned processes, and, if executed by root, all processes in the system. -c Clear the specified trace points associated with the given file or processes. -d Descendants; perform the operation for all current children of the designated processes. -f trfile Log trace records to trfile instead of ktrace.out. -g pgid Enable (disable) tracing on all processes in the process group (only one -g flag is permitted). -i Inherit; pass the trace flags to all future children of the designated processes. -p pid Enable (disable) tracing on the indicated process id (only one -p flag is permitted). -t trstr Specify the list of trace points to enable or disable, one per letter. If an explicit list is not specified, the default set of trace points is used. The following trace points are supported: c trace system calls f trace page faults i trace I/O n trace namei translations p trace capability check failures s trace signal processing t trace various structures u userland traces w context switches y trace sysctl(3) requests + trace the default set of trace points - c, i, n, p, s, t, u, y command Execute command with the specified trace flags. The -p, -g, and command options are mutually exclusive. EXAMPLES
# trace all kernel operations of process id 34 $ ktrace -p 34 # trace all kernel operations of processes in process group 15 and # pass the trace flags to all current and future children $ ktrace -idg 15 # disable all tracing of process 65 $ ktrace -cp 65 # disable tracing signals on process 70 and all current children $ ktrace -t s -cdp 70 # enable tracing of I/O on process 67 $ ktrace -ti -p 67 # run the command "w", tracing only system calls $ ktrace -tc w # disable all tracing to the file "tracedata" $ ktrace -c -f tracedata # disable tracing of all user-owned processes $ ktrace -C SEE ALSO
kdump(1) HISTORY
The ktrace command appeared in 4.4BSD. BUGS
Only works if trfile is a regular file. BSD
August 26, 2014 BSD