summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/trace
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorMiroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz>2019-10-16 14:33:13 +0300
committerSteven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>2019-11-04 17:33:15 +0300
commit7162431dcf72032835d369c8d7b51311df407938 (patch)
tree194454e629a477bba5410fc5eab3303c5c089de4 /Documentation/trace
parenta99d8080aaf358d5d23581244e5da23b35e340b9 (diff)
downloadlinux-7162431dcf72032835d369c8d7b51311df407938.tar.xz
ftrace: Introduce PERMANENT ftrace_ops flag
Livepatch uses ftrace for redirection to new patched functions. It means that if ftrace is disabled, all live patched functions are disabled as well. Toggling global 'ftrace_enabled' sysctl thus affect it directly. It is not a problem per se, because only administrator can set sysctl values, but it still may be surprising. Introduce PERMANENT ftrace_ops flag to amend this. If the FTRACE_OPS_FL_PERMANENT is set on any ftrace ops, the tracing cannot be disabled by disabling ftrace_enabled. Equally, a callback with the flag set cannot be registered if ftrace_enabled is disabled. Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20191016113316.13415-2-mbenes@suse.cz Reviewed-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> Reviewed-by: Kamalesh Babulal <kamalesh@linux.vnet.ibm.com> Signed-off-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware) <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/trace')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/trace/ftrace-uses.rst8
-rw-r--r--Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst4
2 files changed, 11 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/ftrace-uses.rst b/Documentation/trace/ftrace-uses.rst
index 1fbc69894eed..740bd0224d35 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/ftrace-uses.rst
+++ b/Documentation/trace/ftrace-uses.rst
@@ -170,6 +170,14 @@ FTRACE_OPS_FL_RCU
a callback may be executed and RCU synchronization will not protect
it.
+FTRACE_OPS_FL_PERMANENT
+ If this is set on any ftrace ops, then the tracing cannot disabled by
+ writing 0 to the proc sysctl ftrace_enabled. Equally, a callback with
+ the flag set cannot be registered if ftrace_enabled is 0.
+
+ Livepatch uses it not to lose the function redirection, so the system
+ stays protected.
+
Filtering which functions to trace
==================================
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst
index e3060eedb22d..d2b5657ed33e 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst
+++ b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst
@@ -2976,7 +2976,9 @@ Note, the proc sysctl ftrace_enable is a big on/off switch for the
function tracer. By default it is enabled (when function tracing is
enabled in the kernel). If it is disabled, all function tracing is
disabled. This includes not only the function tracers for ftrace, but
-also for any other uses (perf, kprobes, stack tracing, profiling, etc).
+also for any other uses (perf, kprobes, stack tracing, profiling, etc). It
+cannot be disabled if there is a callback with FTRACE_OPS_FL_PERMANENT set
+registered.
Please disable this with care.