tracing: Print nasty banner when trace_printk() is in use
trace_printk() is used to debug fast paths within the kernel. Places
that gets called in any context (interrupt or NMI) or thousands of
times a second. Something you do not want to do with a printk().
In order to make it completely lockless as it needs a temporary buffer
to handle some of the string formatting, a page is created per cpu for
every context (four per cpu; normal, softirq, irq, NMI).
Since trace_printk() should only be used for debugging purposes,
there's no reason to waste memory on these buffers on a production
system. That means, trace_printk() should never be used unless a
developer is debugging their kernel. There's macro magic to allocate
the buffers if trace_printk() is used anywhere in the kernel.
To help enforce that trace_printk() isn't used outside of development,
when it is used, a nasty banner is displayed on bootup (or when a module
is loaded that uses trace_printk() and the kernel core does not).
Here's the banner:
**********************************************************
** NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE **
** **
** trace_printk() being used. Allocating extra memory. **
** **
** This means that this is a DEBUG kernel and it is **
** unsafe for produciton use. **
** **
** If you see this message and you are not debugging **
** the kernel, report this immediately to your vendor! **
** **
** NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE **
**********************************************************
That should hopefully keep developers from trying to sneak in a
trace_printk() or two.
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/p/20140528131440.2283213c@gandalf.local.home
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace.c b/kernel/trace/trace.c
index 0543169..eb228b9 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace.c
@@ -1975,7 +1975,21 @@
if (alloc_percpu_trace_buffer())
return;
- pr_info("ftrace: Allocated trace_printk buffers\n");
+ /* trace_printk() is for debug use only. Don't use it in production. */
+
+ pr_warning("\n**********************************************************\n");
+ pr_warning("** NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE **\n");
+ pr_warning("** **\n");
+ pr_warning("** trace_printk() being used. Allocating extra memory. **\n");
+ pr_warning("** **\n");
+ pr_warning("** This means that this is a DEBUG kernel and it is **\n");
+ pr_warning("** unsafe for produciton use. **\n");
+ pr_warning("** **\n");
+ pr_warning("** If you see this message and you are not debugging **\n");
+ pr_warning("** the kernel, report this immediately to your vendor! **\n");
+ pr_warning("** **\n");
+ pr_warning("** NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE **\n");
+ pr_warning("**********************************************************\n");
/* Expand the buffers to set size */
tracing_update_buffers();
