[v17,5/6] Documentation: tracing: Add ring-buffer mapping

Commit Message

Vincent Donnefort Feb. 13, 2024, 11:49 a.m. UTC

It is now possible to mmap() a ring-buffer to stream its content. Add
some documentation and a code example.

Signed-off-by: Vincent Donnefort <[e-mail]>

Patch

diff --git a/Documentation/trace/index.rst b/Documentation/trace/index.rst
index 5092d6c13af5..0b300901fd75 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/trace/index.rst
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@  Linux Tracing Technologies
    timerlat-tracer
    intel_th
    ring-buffer-design
+   ring-buffer-map
    stm
    sys-t
    coresight/index
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/ring-buffer-map.rst b/Documentation/trace/ring-buffer-map.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..0426ab4bcf3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/trace/ring-buffer-map.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@ 
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+==================================
+Tracefs ring-buffer memory mapping
+==================================
+
+:Author: Vincent Donnefort <[e-mail]>
+
+Overview
+========
+Tracefs ring-buffer memory map provides an efficient method to stream data
+as no memory copy is necessary. The application mapping the ring-buffer becomes
+then a consumer for that ring-buffer, in a similar fashion to trace_pipe.
+
+Memory mapping setup
+====================
+The mapping works with a mmap() of the trace_pipe_raw interface.
+
+The first system page of the mapping contains ring-buffer statistics and
+description. It is referred as the meta-page. One of the most important field of
+the meta-page is the reader. It contains the sub-buffer ID which can be safely
+read by the mapper (see ring-buffer-design.rst).
+
+The meta-page is followed by all the sub-buffers, ordered by ascendant ID. It is
+therefore effortless to know where the reader starts in the mapping:
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+        reader_id = meta->reader->id;
+        reader_offset = meta->meta_page_size + reader_id * meta->subbuf_size;
+
+When the application is done with the current reader, it can get a new one using
+the trace_pipe_raw ioctl() TRACE_MMAP_IOCTL_GET_READER. This ioctl also updates
+the meta-page fields.
+
+Limitations
+===========
+When a mapping is in place on a Tracefs ring-buffer, it is not possible to
+either resize it (either by increasing the entire size of the ring-buffer or
+each subbuf). It is also not possible to use snapshot and causes splice to copy
+the ring buffer data instead of using the copyless swap from the ring buffer.
+
+Concurrent readers (either another application mapping that ring-buffer or the
+kernel with trace_pipe) are allowed but not recommended. They will compete for
+the ring-buffer and the output is unpredictable, just like concurrent readers on
+trace_pipe would be.
+
+Example
+=======
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+        #include <fcntl.h>
+        #include <stdio.h>
+        #include <stdlib.h>
+        #include <unistd.h>
+
+        #include <linux/trace_mmap.h>
+
+        #include <sys/mman.h>
+        #include <sys/ioctl.h>
+
+        #define TRACE_PIPE_RAW "/sys/kernel/tracing/per_cpu/cpu0/trace_pipe_raw"
+
+        int main(void)
+        {
+                int page_size = getpagesize(), fd, reader_id;
+                unsigned long meta_len, data_len;
+                struct trace_buffer_meta *meta;
+                void *map, *reader, *data;
+
+                fd = open(TRACE_PIPE_RAW, O_RDONLY | O_NONBLOCK);
+                if (fd < 0)
+                        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+
+                map = mmap(NULL, page_size, PROT_READ, MAP_SHARED, fd, 0);
+                if (map == MAP_FAILED)
+                        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+
+                meta = (struct trace_buffer_meta *)map;
+                meta_len = meta->meta_page_size;
+
+                printf("entries:        %llu\n", meta->entries);
+                printf("overrun:        %llu\n", meta->overrun);
+                printf("read:           %llu\n", meta->read);
+                printf("nr_subbufs:     %u\n", meta->nr_subbufs);
+
+                data_len = meta->subbuf_size * meta->nr_subbufs;
+                data = mmap(NULL, data_len, PROT_READ, MAP_SHARED, fd, meta_len);
+                if (data == MAP_FAILED)
+                        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+
+                if (ioctl(fd, TRACE_MMAP_IOCTL_GET_READER) < 0)
+                        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+
+                reader_id = meta->reader.id;
+                reader = data + meta->subbuf_size * reader_id;
+
+                printf("Current reader address: %p\n", reader);
+
+                munmap(data, data_len);
+                munmap(meta, meta_len);
+                close (fd);
+
+                return 0;
+        }