On Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 1:31 PM Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 23 Oct 2020 13:03:22 -0700
> Andrii Nakryiko <andrii.nakryiko@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Basically, maybe ftrace subsystem could provide a set of APIs to
> > prepare a set of functions to attach to. Then BPF subsystem would just
> > do what it does today, except instead of attaching to a specific
> > kernel function, it would attach to ftrace's placeholder. I don't know
> > anything about ftrace implementation, so this might be far off. But I
> > thought that looking at this problem from a bit of a different angle
> > would benefit the discussion. Thoughts?
>
> I probably understand bpf internals as much as you understand ftrace
> internals ;-)
>
Heh :) But while we are here, what do you think about this idea of
preparing a no-op trampoline, that a bunch (thousands, potentially) of
function entries will jump to. And once all that is ready and patched
through kernel functions entry points, then allow to attach BPF
program or ftrace callback (if I get the terminology right) in a one
fast and simple operation? For users that would mean that they will
either get calls for all or none of attached kfuncs, with a simple and
reliable semantics.
Something like this, where bpf_prog attachment (which replaces nop)
happens as step 2:
+------------+ +----------+ +----------+
| kfunc1 | | kfunc2 | | kfunc3 |
+------+-----+ +----+-----+ +----+-----+
| | |
| | |
+---------------------------+
|
v
+---+---+ +-----------+
| nop +-----------> bpf_prog |
+-------+ +-----------+
> Anyway, what I'm currently working on, is a fast way to get to the
> arguments of a function. For now, I'm just focused on x86_64, and only add
> 6 argments.
>
> The main issue that Alexei had with using the ftrace trampoline, was that
> the only way to get to the arguments was to set the "REGS" flag, which
> would give a regs parameter that contained a full pt_regs. The problem with
> this approach is that it required saving *all* regs for every function
> traced. Alexei felt that this was too much overehead.
>
> Looking at Jiri's patch, I took a look at the creation of the bpf
> trampoline, and noticed that it's copying the regs on a stack (at least
> what is used, which I think could be an issue).
Right. And BPF doesn't get access to the entire pt_regs struct, so it
doesn't have to pay the prices of saving it.
But just FYI. Alexei is out till next week, so don't expect him to
reply in the next few days. But he's probably best to discuss these
nitty-gritty details with :)
>
> For tracing a function, one must store all argument registers used, and
> restore them, as that's how they are passed from caller to callee. And
> since they are stored anyway, I figure, that should also be sent to the
> function callbacks, so that they have access to them too.
>
> I'm working on a set of patches to make this a reality.
>
> -- Steve
