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DRAFT 2.1 release notes
- From: Serguei Makarov <smakarov at redhat dot com>
- To: systemtap at sourceware dot org
- Cc: "Frank Ch. Eigler" <fche at redhat dot com>
- Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:38:21 -0500 (EST)
- Subject: DRAFT 2.1 release notes
These are the current in-progress draft SystemTap 2.1 release notes.
Feedback would be appreciated.
Looking these over, it seems that more NEWS items are needed for
various work, in particular for progress on the dyninst backend.
====
The systemtap team announces release 2.1!
perf event probe improvements, dyninst backend improvements,
error:: and warning:: man pages, experimental regex support,
... TODO ...
= Where to get it
http://sourceware.org/systemtap/ - our project page
http://sourceware.org/systemtap/ftp/releases/systemtap-2.1.tar.gz
http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/packageinfo?packageID=615
git tag release-2.1 (commit ...)
There have been over ... commits since the last release.
There have been over ... bugs/features fixed 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
- EMACS and VIM editor modes for systemtap source files are included / updated.
- The translator now eliminates duplicate tapset files between its
preferred directory (as configured during the build with --prefix=/
or specified with the -I /path option), and files it may find under
$XDG_DATA_DIRS. This should eliminate a class of conflicts between
parallel system- and hand-built systemtap installations.
- The translator accepts a --suppress-time-limits option, which defeats
time-related constraints, to allows probe handlers to run for indefinite
periods. It requires the guru mode (-g) flag to work. Add the earlier
--suppress-handler-errors flag for a gung-ho "just-keep-going" attitude.
- Some error messages and warnings now refer to additional information
that is found in man pages. These are generally named
error::FOO or warning::BAR (in the 7stap man page section)
and may be read via
% man error::FOO
% man warning::BAR
= Systemtap script language changes
- Perf event probes may now be read on demand. The counter probe is
defined using the counter-name part:
probe perf.type(0).config(0).counter("NAME"). The counter is
read in a user space probe using @perf("NAME"), e.g.
process("PROCESS").statement("func@file") {stat <<< @perf("NAME")}
- Perf event probes may now be bound to a specific task using the
process-name part: probe perf.type(0).config(0).process("NAME") { }
If the probed process name is not specified, then it is inferred
from the -c CMD argument.
- The foreach looping construct can now sort aggregate arrays by the user's
choice of aggregating function. Previously, @count was implied. e.g.:
foreach ([x,y] in array @sum +) { println(@sum(array[x,y])) }
- Proof of concept support for regular expression matching has been added:
if ("aqqqqqb" =~ "q*b") { ... }
if ("abc" !~ "q*b") { ... }
The eventual aim is to support roughly the same functionality as
the POSIX Extended Regular Expressions implemented by glibc.
Currently missing features include extraction of the matched string
and subexpressions, and named character classes ([:alpha:], [:digit:], &c).
= Systemtap runtime changes
- The dyninst backend's runtime has been improved to allow much more
concurrency when probing multithreaded processes.
= Systemtap tapset changes
- New tapsets:
choose_defined.stpm add @choose_defined() macro
- Added/changed tapsets for dyninst:
ctime.stp ctime() returns "<invalid time>" when an error occurs
context.stp add support for print_regs()
- Changed tapsets:
nfs_proc.stp account for separate nfsv2/3/4 kernel modules
context.stp add ppfunc() to parse the function name from pp()
...
= Systemtap sample scripts
- Tracing examples were updated to use ppfunc() instead of probefunc().
- New samples:
perf.stp use perf.counter to access performance counters
threadstacks.stp override default new-pthread stack sizes
ltrace.stp uprobes-based ltrace demo
block.stp stapgames Breakout demo using input/output devices
eater.stp stapgames Snake demo using input/output devices
lifegame.stp stapgames Game of Life demo using input/output devices
pingpong.stp stapgames Pong demo using input/output devices
- Changed samples:
deviceseeks.stp switch to using ioblock_trace.request probe point
... TODO regex example script ...
= Examples of tested kernel versions
... TODO ...
= Known issues with this release
... TODO ...
... TODO particularly the regex PRs ...
= Contributors for this release
Alexander Lochmann, Daniel Tschan*, David Smith, Frank Ch. Eigler,
Josh Stone, JÃhann B. GuÃmundsson*, Lukas Berk, Mark Wielaard,
Masami Hiramatsu, Nathan Scott, RÃdiger Sonderfeld*, Serguei Makarov,
Stan Cox, Tom Tromey, Tomoki Sekiyama*, William Cohen
Special thanks to new contributors, marked with '*' above.
= Bugs fixed for this release <http://sourceware.org/PR#####>
1887 write emacs/vim editor mode for script language
6697 need more access_ok() checks in runtime/tapsets
11576 per-process perf events
12022 Allow foreach to order iterations for aggregates on @min @max and @avg operators
12231 reading perfctr events
12443 XDG_DATA_DIRS conflict between preinstalled and hand-built stap
12642 utrace: taskfinder misses events when main thread does not go through at least one quiesce
13022 probe module("*").function("*") does not work on arm
14178 Add a pure-userspace runtime mode
14245 Support debugfs mounted 0700
14390 separate process.**.return tests and mark UNSUPPORTED
14555 tolerate /proc/sys/kernel/kptr_restrict=2
14571 Make stapdyn multithreaded
14659 task_finder2 breaks ptrace apps
14701 stapdyn needs timer probe support
14707 Support stapdyn -x PID
14709 Support process.function.return in stapdyn
14712 VM_EXECUTABLE went to heaven
14714 stap flag for bigger --suppress-handler-errors hammer
14731 regression in buildok/thirty.stp
14735 stapdyn needs timing ('-t') support
14742 more complete dwz / DW_TAG_partial_unit support
14774 process.statement("*@file:*") probes don't match all functions
14781 kmem_cache conflict leads to panic & badness
14794 autoconf auto-enable dyninst if possible
14795 add stapgames
14804 Kernel panic when running hello world stap script
14820 hang when running semok/nodwf01.stp
14842 Old "-kelf" and "--ignore-dwarf" command line options should be removed
14883 let probefunc() not fail - or fail more informatively, on non-uprobes kernels
14900 collision between tapset locals and user globals: contexts
14929 staperrors man page
14949 cannot use systemtap on linux 3.7 intel x86_64
14957 foreach_aggrsort.exp test hangs on i686 rhel5 system
14997 DW_OP_rot mistranslation
15031 stapdyn needs a _stp_print_binary() runtime function
15059 session.print_error called frequently from listing_mode
15074 pthread_stacks.exp problems
... TODO additional closed PRs ...