[RFC][Patch 0/2] New Probe family : probe kprobe.function()

[Prerna Saxena]

Hi all,
Here's a prototype of a new language feature in systemtap : probe 
kprobe, which bypasses all dwarf lookup for function names & utilizes 
kernel symbol table at runtime. Such probes are therefore agnostic to 
kernel version with no dependency on debuginfo.

This can be invoked using " probe 
kprobe.function("kernel_function_name"){.......} "

Limitations :
1. Does not support statement probing
2. Does not support wildcards.
3. Does not support probing the local variables of a function.

TODOs:
1. Support function argument probing.
2. Extend this to probe function returns.
3. Allow demoting  kernel.function (...) probes to kprobe.function (..) 
probes if debuginfo is missing.
4. Use /proc/kallsyms to validate function names in pass 2

Not tested too extensively, I'm looking fwd to comments :-)

Regards,

-- 
Prerna Saxena

Linux Technology Centre,
IBM Systems and Technology Lab,
Bangalore, India