tracing/Documentation: Add a section about backup instance

Add a section about backup instance to the debugging.rst.

Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/177502548479.1311542.7062269603547001007.stgit@mhiramat.tok.corp.google.com
Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (Google) <rostedt@goodmis.org>
This commit is contained in:
Masami Hiramatsu (Google)
2026-04-02 13:27:21 -04:00
committed by Steven Rostedt (Google)
parent eca33fdab4
commit e53ba177c2
+19
View File
@@ -159,3 +159,22 @@ If setting it from the kernel command line, it is recommended to also
disable tracing with the "traceoff" flag, and enable tracing after boot up.
Otherwise the trace from the most recent boot will be mixed with the trace
from the previous boot, and may make it confusing to read.
Using a backup instance for keeping previous boot data
------------------------------------------------------
It is also possible to record trace data at system boot time by specifying
events with the persistent ring buffer, but in this case the data before the
reboot will be lost before it can be read. This problem can be solved by a
backup instance. From the kernel command line::
reserve_mem=12M:4096:trace trace_instance=boot_map@trace,sched,irq trace_instance=backup=boot_map
On boot up, the previous data in the "boot_map" is copied to the "backup"
instance, and the "sched:*" and "irq:*" events for the current boot are traced
in the "boot_map". Thus the user can read the previous boot data from the "backup"
instance without stopping the trace.
Note that this "backup" instance is readonly, and will be removed automatically
if you clear the trace data or read out all trace data from the "trace_pipe"
or the "trace_pipe_raw" files.