Provided by: systemtap-runtime_3.1-3ubuntu0.1_amd64 bug

NAME

       staprun - systemtap runtime

SYNOPSIS

       staprun [ OPTIONS ] MODULE [ MODULE-OPTIONS ]

DESCRIPTION

       The  staprun  program  is  the back-end of the Systemtap tool.  It expects a kernel module
       produced by the front-end stap tool.

       Splitting the systemtap tool into a front-end and a back-end allows a user  to  compile  a
       systemtap script on a development machine that has the kernel development tools (needed to
       compile the script) and then transfer the resulting kernel module to a production  machine
       that doesn't have any development tools installed.

       Please  refer to stappaths (7) for the version number, or run rpm -q systemtap (fedora/red
       hat) apt-get -v systemtap (ubuntu)

OPTIONS

       The staprun program supports the following options.  Any other option  prints  a  list  of
       supported options.

       -v     Verbose  mode.  The  level  of  verbosity  is  also  set  in  the SYSTEMTAP_VERBOSE
              environment variable.

       -V     Print version number and exit.

       -w     Suppress warnings from the script.

       -u     Load the uprobes.ko module.

       -c CMD Command CMD will be run and the staprun program  will  exit  when  CMD  does.   The
              '_stp_target' variable will contain the pid for CMD.

       -x PID The '_stp_target' variable will be set to PID.

       -o FILE
              Send  output  to  FILE.  If the module uses bulk mode, the output will be in percpu
              files FILE_x(FILE_cpux in background and bulk mode) where 'x' is  the  cpu  number.
              This supports strftime(3) formats for FILE.

       -b BUFFER_SIZE
              The  systemtap  module  will specify a buffer size.  Setting one here will override
              that value. The value should be an integer between 1 and 4095 which be  assumed  to
              be the buffer size in MB. That value will be per-cpu if bulk mode is used.

       -L     Load  module  and  start  probes,  then  detach  from the module leaving the probes
              running.  The module can be attached to later by using the -A option.

       -A     Attach to loaded systemtap module.

       -C WHEN
              Control coloring of error messages. WHEN  must  be  either  "never",  "always",  or
              "auto"  (i.e.  enable only if at a terminal). If the option is missing, then "auto"
              is assumed. Colors can be modified using the SYSTEMTAP_COLORS environment variable.
              See the stap(1) manual page for more information on syntax and behaviour.

       -d     Delete a module.  Only detached or unused modules the user has permission to access
              will be deleted. Use "*" (quoted) to delete all unused modules.

       -D     Run staprun in background as a daemon and show it's pid.

       -R     Rename the module to a unique name before inserting it.

       -r N:URI
              Pass the given number  and  URI  data  to  the  tapset  functions  remote_id()  and
              remote_uri().

       -S size[,N]
              Sets  the  maximum  size of output file and the maximum number of output files.  If
              the size of output file will exceed size , systemtap switches output  file  to  the
              next  file.  And  if  the  number  of output files exceed N , systemtap removes the
              oldest output file. You can omit the second argument.

       -T timeout
              Sets maximum time reader thread will wait before dumping trace buffer. Value is  in
              ms, default is 200ms. Setting this to a high value decreases number of stapio wake-
              ups, allowing deeper sleep for embedded platforms. But it impacts interactivity  on
              terminal  as  traces  are dumped less often in case of low throughput.  There is no
              interactivity or performance impact for high throughput as  trace  is  dumped  when
              buffer is full, before this timeout expires.

       var1=val
              Sets  the value of global variable var1 to val. Global variables contained within a
              module are treated as module options and can be set from the staprun command line.

ARGUMENTS

       MODULE is either a module path or a module name.  If it is a module name, the module  will
       be looked for in the following directory (where 'VERSION' is the output of "uname -r"):

              /lib/modules/VERSION/systemtap

       Any  additional  arguments on the command line are passed to the module.  One use of these
       additional module arguments is to set the value of global variables  declared  within  the
       module.

        $ stap -p4 -m mod1 -e 'global var1="foo"; probe begin{printf("%s\n", var1); exit()}'

       Running this with an additional module argument:

        $ staprun mod1.ko var1="HelloWorld"
        HelloWorld

       Spaces and exclamation marks currently cannot be passed into global variables this way.

EXAMPLES

       See the stapex(3stap) manual page for a collection of sample scripts.

       Here  is a very basic example of how to use staprun.  First, use stap to compile a script.
       The stap program will report the pathname to the resulting module.

        $ stap -p4 -e 'probe begin { printf("Hello World!\n"); exit() }'
        /home/user/.systemtap/cache/85/stap_8553d83f78c_265.ko

       Run staprun with the pathname to the module as an argument.

        $ staprun /home/user/.systemtap/cache/85/stap_8553d83f78c_265.ko
        Hello World!

MODULE DETACHING AND ATTACHING

       After the staprun program installs a Systemtap kernel module, users can  detach  from  the
       kernel  module and reattach to it later.  The -L option loads the module and automatically
       detaches.  Users can also detach from the  kernel  module  interactively  by  sending  the
       SIGQUIT signal from the keyboard (typically by typing Ctrl-\).

       To reattach to a kernel module, the staprun -A option would be used.

FILE SWITCHING BY SIGNAL

       After  staprun  launched the stapio program, users can command it to switch output file to
       next file when it outputs to file(s) (running staprun with -o option) by sending a SIGUSR2
       signal  to the stapio process. When it receives SIGUSR2, it will switch output file to new
       file with suffix .N where N is the sequential number.  For example,

        $ staprun -o foo ...

       outputs trace logs to foo and if it receives SIGUSR2 signal, it switches output  to  foo.1
       file. And receiving SIGUSR2 again, it switches to foo.2 file.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

       Systemtap,  in  the  default  kernel-module  runtime  mode, is an administrative tool.  It
       exposes kernel internal data structures and potentially private user information.  See the
       stap(1) manual page for additional information on safety and security.

       To  increase  system security, users of systemtap must be root, or in the staprun group in
       order to execute this setuid staprun program.  A user may select  a  particular  privilege
       level with the stap --privilege= option, which staprun will later enforce.

       stapdev
              Members of the stapdev group can write and load script modules with root-equivalent
              privileges, without particular  security  constraints.   (Many  safety  constraints
              remain.)

       stapsys
              Members  of the stapsys group have almost all the privileges of stapdev, except for
              guru mode constructs.

       staprun
              Members only of the stapusr  group  may  any-privileged  modules  placed  into  the
              /lib/modules/VERSION/systemtap by the system administrator.

       staprun
              Members  only  of  the  stapusr  group may also write and load low-privilege script
              modules, which are normally limited to manipulating their own  processes  (and  not
              the kernel nor other users' processes).

       Part  of  the  privilege  enforcement  mechanism  may  require  using  a  stap-server  and
       administrative trust in its cryptographic signer; see the stap-server(8) manual page for a
       for more information.

       On a kernel with FIPS mode enabled, staprun normally refuses to attempt to load systemtap-
       generated kernel modules.  This is because on some kernels, this results in a  panic.   If
       your  kernel  includes  corrections such as linux commit #002c77a48b47, then you can force
       staprun to attempt module loads anyway,  by  setting  the  STAP_FIPS_OVERRIDE  environment
       variable to any value.

FILES

       /lib/modules/VERSION/systemtap
              If MODULE is a module name, the module will be looked for in this directory.  Users
              who are only in the 'stapusr' group can install modules located in this  directory.
              This directory must be owned by the root user and not be world writable.

SEE ALSO

       stap(1), stapprobes(3stap), stap-server(8), stapdyn(8), stapex(3stap)

BUGS

       Use   the   Bugzilla   link   of   the   project   web   page   or   our   mailing   list.
       http://sourceware.org/systemtap/, <systemtap@sourceware.org>.

                                                                                       STAPRUN(8)