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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2014-06-13 06:18:49 +0400
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2014-06-13 06:18:49 +0400
commit3737a12761636ebde0f09ef49daebb8eed18cc8a (patch)
tree965057f4bccd97049f8c0140f8670c5d4278ca3e /Documentation
parentc29deef32e3699e40da3e9e82267610de04e6b54 (diff)
parent82b897782d10fcc4930c9d4a15b175348fdd2871 (diff)
downloadlinux-3737a12761636ebde0f09ef49daebb8eed18cc8a.tar.xz
Merge branch 'perf-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip
Pull more perf updates from Ingo Molnar: "A second round of perf updates: - wide reaching kprobes sanitization and robustization, with the hope of fixing all 'probe this function crashes the kernel' bugs, by Masami Hiramatsu. - uprobes updates from Oleg Nesterov: tmpfs support, corner case fixes and robustization work. - perf tooling updates and fixes from Jiri Olsa, Namhyung Ki, Arnaldo et al: * Add support to accumulate hist periods (Namhyung Kim) * various fixes, refactorings and enhancements" * 'perf-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip: (101 commits) perf: Differentiate exec() and non-exec() comm events perf: Fix perf_event_comm() vs. exec() assumption uprobes/x86: Rename arch_uprobe->def to ->defparam, minor comment updates perf/documentation: Add description for conditional branch filter perf/x86: Add conditional branch filtering support perf/tool: Add conditional branch filter 'cond' to perf record perf: Add new conditional branch filter 'PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_COND' uprobes: Teach copy_insn() to support tmpfs uprobes: Shift ->readpage check from __copy_insn() to uprobe_register() perf/x86: Use common PMU interrupt disabled code perf/ARM: Use common PMU interrupt disabled code perf: Disable sampled events if no PMU interrupt perf: Fix use after free in perf_remove_from_context() perf tools: Fix 'make help' message error perf record: Fix poll return value propagation perf tools: Move elide bool into perf_hpp_fmt struct perf tools: Remove elide setup for SORT_MODE__MEMORY mode perf tools: Fix "==" into "=" in ui_browser__warning assignment perf tools: Allow overriding sysfs and proc finding with env var perf tools: Consider header files outside perf directory in tags target ...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/kprobes.txt16
1 files changed, 15 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/kprobes.txt b/Documentation/kprobes.txt
index 0cfb00fd86ff..4bbeca8483ed 100644
--- a/Documentation/kprobes.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kprobes.txt
@@ -22,8 +22,9 @@ Appendix B: The kprobes sysctl interface
Kprobes enables you to dynamically break into any kernel routine and
collect debugging and performance information non-disruptively. You
-can trap at almost any kernel code address, specifying a handler
+can trap at almost any kernel code address(*), specifying a handler
routine to be invoked when the breakpoint is hit.
+(*: some parts of the kernel code can not be trapped, see 1.5 Blacklist)
There are currently three types of probes: kprobes, jprobes, and
kretprobes (also called return probes). A kprobe can be inserted
@@ -273,6 +274,19 @@ using one of the following techniques:
or
- Execute 'sysctl -w debug.kprobes_optimization=n'
+1.5 Blacklist
+
+Kprobes can probe most of the kernel except itself. This means
+that there are some functions where kprobes cannot probe. Probing
+(trapping) such functions can cause a recursive trap (e.g. double
+fault) or the nested probe handler may never be called.
+Kprobes manages such functions as a blacklist.
+If you want to add a function into the blacklist, you just need
+to (1) include linux/kprobes.h and (2) use NOKPROBE_SYMBOL() macro
+to specify a blacklisted function.
+Kprobes checks the given probe address against the blacklist and
+rejects registering it, if the given address is in the blacklist.
+
2. Architectures Supported
Kprobes, jprobes, and return probes are implemented on the following