systemtap 2.3 release
From: David Smith
Date: Thu Jul 25 2013 - 21:52:27 EST
The systemtap team announces release 2.3, "jbnq fdhvjjry"!
improved pass-2 error messages, runtime preprocessor conditionals,
global module variable visibility, internal improvements,
colorized error messages, uprobe pre-filtering, re-written
regular expression support
= Where to get it
http://sourceware.org/systemtap/ - our project page
http://sourceware.org/systemtap/ftp/releases/systemtap-2.3.tar.gz
http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/packageinfo?packageID=615
git tag release-2.3 (commit e5813857)
There have been over 200 commits since the last release.
There have been over 50 bugs fixed / features added since the last
release.
= How to build it
See the README and NEWS files at
http://sourceware.org/git/?p=systemtap.git;a=tree
Further information at http://sourceware.org/systemtap/wiki/
= Systemtap frontend (stap) changes
- java("org.my.MyApp") probes are now restricted to pre-existing jvm
pid's with a listing in jps -l output to avoid recursive calls
- Alternative functions are now suggested when function probes could
not be resolved. For example, kernel.function("vfs_reads") will
suggest vfs_read. Other probes for which suggestions are made are
module.function, process.function, and process.library.function.
- Has life been a bit bland lately? Want to spice things up? Why not
write a few faulty probes and feast your eyes upon the myriad of
colours adorning your terminal as SystemTap softly whispers in your
ear... 'parse error'. Search for '--color' in 'man stap' for more
info.
- systemtap's dyninst runtime now allows use of the -c command
parameter to target runtime over the course of a process
- global module variables are now available to probe with the @var
syntax
= Systemtap script language changes
- A "runtime" preprocessor conditional has been added as follows:
%( runtime == "kernel" %?
# do something we can only do in kernel mode
%)
%( runtime == "dyninst" %?
# ...
%)
- The notation @var("varname@cuname", "module") is used for accessing
global variables. If the cuname is not specified, then all cu's are
searched
- Support for the Posix ERE named character classes has been added to
the regexp engine, e.g. [:digit:], [:alpha:]
= Systemtap runtime changes
- The java backend now requires the targeted process to be pre-existing.
- Systemtap now makes use of the kernel uprobes pre-filtering to call
UPROBE_HANDLER_REMOVE for any process that happens to share the same
inode. This removes unwanted overhead on unrelated processes.
- A substantial internal overhaul of the regexp engine has resulted in
correct behaviour on further obscure edge cases. The regexp engine
now implements the ERE standard and correctly passes the testsuite
for the glibc regexp engine (minus portions corresponding to
unimplemented features -- i.e. subexpression capture and reuse).
= Systemtap tapset changes
- New tapsets:
rcu.stp Read-copy-update lock tapset
- Changed tapsets:
context.stp added various process context functions
target_set.stp created(func equiv of linux/target_set.stp)
aux_syscalls.stp updated for latest kernel changes
guru-signal.stp created(ability to raise a signal in the
current thread)
nd_syscalls.stp use sigaltstack probe alias when
CONFIG_GENERIC_SIGALTSTACK is set or
when on kernel v3.9+
syscalls.stp ditto
ipmib.stp updated probe aliases
nd_syscalls.stp 'syscall.{execve,compat_execve}' on newer
kernels, use of CONFIG_GENERIC_SIGNALSTACK
nd_syscalls2.stp ditto
nfs_proc.stp Abstract use of nfs_{read,write,commit}_data
structs in macro file
nfs_proc.stpm said macro file
rpc.stp updated aliases
socket.stp function deprecations (see NEWS) and use of
macros
syscalls.stp Fix 'syscall.{execve,compat_execve}'
syscalls2.stp Break {nd_}syscall.rt_sigprocmask into
'rt_sigprocmask' and 'compat_rt_sigprocmask'
target_set.stp use process.{begin,end} probes to better
track the process
tcp.stp make use of ntohs() function for return values
tcpmib.stp ditto
ucontext.stp properly error/warn if _stp_umod_lookup fails
udp.stp add source/dest ip/port variables
string.stp adds error checking
tzinfo.stp split into dyninst and linux implementation
tapsets
uconversions.stp error checking improvements and added
user_string2_warn and user_string2_n_warn
- The function user_string() has been superseded by the function
user_string_quoted()
- The tapset [nd_]syscall.semop parameter tsops_uaddr is renamed
sops_uaddr for consistency with [nd_]syscall.semtimedop.
- The following tapset functions are deprecated in release 2.3:
'stap_NFS_CLIENT', '__getfh_inode', '_success_check',
'_sock_prot_num', '_sock_fam_num', '_sock_state_num',
'_sock_type_num', and '_sock_flags_num'.
= Systemtap sample scripts
- New samples:
semop-watch.stp demonstrates pulling apart userspace
struct/array parameters from syscall.*
probe context
thread-business.stp monitor syscall history
pf4.stp time based sampling of the top 20 stack
backtraces (kernel or user) on a per-cpu
basis
- Changed samples:
ioblktime.stp increase global array size to allow capture of
more statistics
traceio.stp check for and throw any negative return values
tcpdumplike.stp extend to show new demo new variable captures
errsnoop.stp reduced the memory consumption
mutex-contention.stp fixed readability
pfiles.stp must be run with guru mode enabled
plimit.stp enabled invocation with -x PID as well as $1
pf3.stp fix umodname() eliding issues
- Removed samples:
tcp.stp
= Examples of tested kernel versions
2.6.9 (i686)
2.6.18 (x86_64)
2.6.32 (x86_64, ppc64)
3.8.12 (x86_64)
3.9.8 (x86_64)
3.9.9 (armv7l)
3.10.0 (x86_64)
3.11-rc0 (x86_64)
= Known issues with this release
- Some kernel crashes continue to be reported when a script probes
broad kernel function wildcards. (PR2725)
- The java byteman backend is a work in progress. Some installation
steps are manual, and not enough context variables are available.
- 32-on-64 bit userspace unwinding is truncated on older kernels, such
as 2.6.32 (PR15757)
- The dyninst backend is still very much a prototype, with a number
of issues, limitations, and general teething woes. For instance:
+ lack of support for multiarch/cross-instrumentation
+ tapset functions are still incomplete relative to what is supported
when the kernel backend is active
+ exception handling becomes completely broken in programs
instrumented by the current version of dyninst (PR14702)
+ command line interrupts are slightly mishandled (PR15049)
+ not all registers are made available on 32-bit x86 (PR15136)
See dyninst/README and the systemtap/dyninst Bugzilla component
(http://tinyurl.com/stapdyn-PR-list) if you want all the gory
details about the state of the feature.
= Contributors for this release
Alexander Y. Fomichev*, Casey Dahlin*, Dave Brolley, David Smith,
Frank Ch. Eigler, Jonathan Lebon*, Josh Stone, Lukas Berk, Mark
Wielaard, Martin Lazar*, Peter Feiner*, Raphaël Beamonte*, Serguei
Makarov, Timo Juhani Lindfors, Torsten Polle, William Cohen, Yang
Wen*, Yichun Zhang (agentzh)*, Zifei Tong
Special thanks to new contributors, marked with '*' above.
Special thanks to Lukas Berk for compiling these notes.
= Bugs fixed for this release <http://sourceware.org/PR#####>
9771 Detecting probes classes system wide
10272 backtraces fail with 32-on-64 executables
10395 testsuite/systemtap.base/kmodule.exp fails when ext3 isn't a
module
11096 Getting global module vars in functions
11414 nd_syscall.exp failures
13977 rlimit tests fail as-root portions
14440 improve plimit.stp example to take -x PID
14454 respect /etc/modules /etc/depmod.d/* module overriding directives
14665 stapdyn should handle signals and clean up nicely
14791 stapdyn needs output file ('-o') option
14927 color error/warning messages
15029 stapdyn needs better exit values
15044 eradicate cutesy errorish return texts
15063 regular expressions: correct subtleties with ^ and $ anchoring
15064 regular expressions: named character class support
15066 regular expressions: clean up and integrate re2c code
15083 stapdyn needs system() support
15110 dyninst needs duplicate warning elimination
15193 assigned_user_credentials = pr_stapdev
15198 syscall.sigaltstack / nd_syscall.sigaltstack broken on rawhide
15278 Use uprobes pre-filtering in kernel 3.9
15375 improve pass-2 error messages
15481 stapdyn end probes fail with a -c command
15484 child of PR13193, optimized-kprobes kernel crashes
15486 stapdyn get hung when printing debug messages
15513 add a "runtime" preprocessor conditional
15523 socket tapset broken
15525 The syscall.open probe alias has an odd flag string
15543 the sunrpc.clnt.clone_client probe alias is broken
15549 the 'sunrpc.clnt.create_client' probe alias doesn't work on
rawhide
15554 nfs.proc.commit_done probe returning invalid data
15556 stapbm causes recursive calls with multiple java probes
15572 on rawhide, the ipmib.InNoRoutes and ipmib.InAddrErrors probes
don't work
15575 __tcp_sock_dport and __tcp_sock_sport should return host order
15587 ine numbers are missing/incorrect for inline statements
15617 user_string_n_quoted() does not truncate properly
15619 on rawhide ia32, simple scripts sometimes hang
15624 stapdyn deref failure with high pointers on i686
15656 SELinux blocks Dyninst attach if allow_execmod is off
15659 On rawhide, the "mount" subtests of the syscall.exp and
nd_syscall.exp test fail
15669 syscall probe handlers are called exactly twice for every
syscall on Amazon Linux
15673 stapdyn fails to write memory
15675 'kprobe.module("foo").function("bar")' probes do not work
15688 Accessing globals in DSO or PIE results in read faults
15690 syscall.rt_sigprocmask probe alias broken on s390x/ppc64 for
32-bit apps
15727 perf probes fail on rawhide
15731 syscall.execve probe alias broken on rawhide
15740 stapdyn linking failed
15743 dyninst "utrace" probes (with a path) seem to be broken
15751 on rawhide, sigaction32/old_sigaction32 have been replaced
15782 nss usage bugs - PR_Read returning short results
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