NAME

       tracecmd_open, tracecmd_open_fd, tracecmd_open_head, tracecmd_init_data, tracecmd_close -
       Open and close a trace file.

SYNOPSIS

       #include <trace-cmd.h>

       struct tracecmd_input *tracecmd_open(const char *file, int flags);
       struct tracecmd_input *tracecmd_open_fd(int fd, int flags);
       struct tracecmd_input *tracecmd_open_head(const char *file, int flags);
       int tracecmd_init_data(struct tracecmd_input *handle);
       void tracecmd_close(struct tracecmd_input *handle);

DESCRIPTION

       This set of APIs can be used to open and close a trace file recorded by trace-cmd(1) and
       containing tracing information from ftrace, the official Linux kernel tracer. The opened
       file is represented by a tracecmd_input structure, all other library APIs that work with
       the file require a pointer to the structure. The APIs for opening a trace file have a flag
       input parameter, which controls how the file will be opened and parsed. The flag is a
       combination of these options:

           TRACECMD_FL_LOAD_NO_PLUGINS - Do not load any plugins
           TRACECMD_FL_LOAD_NO_SYSTEM_PLUGINS - Do not load system wide plugins, load only "local only"
                                                  plugins from user's home directory.

       The tracecmd_open() function opens a given trace file, parses the metadata headers from
       the file, allocates and initializes а tracecmd_input handler structure representing the
       file. It also initializes the handler for reading trace data from the file. The returned
       handler is ready to be used with tracecmd_read_ APIs.

       The tracecmd_open_fd() function does the same as tracecmd_open(), but works with a file
       descriptor to a trace file, opened for reading.

       The tracecmd_open_head() function is the same as tracecmd_open(), but does not initialize
       the handler for reading trace data. It reads and parses the metadata headers only. The
       tracecmd_init_data() should be used before using the tracecmd_read_ APIs.

       The tracecmd_init_data() function initializes a handle, allocated with
       tracecmd_open_head(), for reading trace data from the file associated with it. This API
       must be called before any of the tracecmd_read_ APIs.

       The tracecmd_close() function frees a handle, pointer to tracecmd_input structure,
       previously allocated with tracecmd_open(), tracecmd_open_fd() or tracecmd_open_head()
       APIs.

RETURN VALUE

       The tracecmd_open(), tracecmd_open_fd() and tracecmd_open_head() functions return a
       pointer to tracecmd_input structure or NULL in case of an error. The returned structure
       must be free with tracecmd_close(). Note that if tracecmd_open_fd() is used to allocate a
       tracecmd_input handler, when tracecmd_close() is called to close it, that fd will be
       closed also.

       The tracecmd_init_data() function returns -1 in case of an error or 0 otherwise.

EXAMPLE

           The are two different use patterns for opening and reading trace data from
           a trace file, which can be used depending on the use case.

           1. Open and initialise the trace file in а single step:

           #include <trace-cmd.h>
           ...
           struct tracecmd_input *handle = tracecmd_open("trace.dat");
                   if (!handle) {
                           /* Failed to open trace.dat file */
                   }
           ...
                   /* Read tracing data from the file, using the handle */
           ...
                   tracecmd_close(handle);
           ...
           int fd;
                   fd = = open("trace.dat", O_RDONLY);
                   if (fd < 0) {
                           /* Failed to open trace file for reading */
                   }
                   handle = tracecmd_open_fd(fd);
                   if (!handle) {
                           close(fd);
                           /* Failed to initialise handler for reading the trace file */
                   }
           ...
                   /* Read tracing data from the file, using the handle */
           ...
                   tracecmd_close(handle);
           ...

           2. Open and initialise the trace file in two steps. This allows to perform
           some processing based on metadata, read from the file, before initialising
           the trace data for reading. Example for such use case is when opening multiple
           trace files recorded in a same trace session. In that case timestamps of all
           trace events must be adjusted based on the information from  the file's metadata
           and before reading the trace data.

           #include <trace-cmd.h>
           ...
           struct tracecmd_input *handle = tracecmd_open_head("trace.dat");
                   if (!handle) {
                           /* Failed to open trace.dat file */
                   }
           ...
                   /* do some processing, before initialising the trace data for reading */
           ...
                   if (tracecmd_init_data(handle) < 0) {
                           /* Failed to initialize hadle for reading the trace data */
                   }
           ...
                   /* Read tracing data from the file, using the handle */
           ...
                   tracecmd_close(handle);
           ...

FILES

           trace-cmd.h
                   Header file to include in order to have access to the library APIs.
           -ltracecmd
                   Linker switch to add when building a program that uses the library.

SEE ALSO

       libtracefs(3), libtraceevent(3), trace-cmd(1) trace-cmd.dat(5)

AUTHOR

           Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org[1]>
           Tzvetomir Stoyanov <tz.stoyanov@gmail.com[2]>

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <linux-trace-devel@vger.kernel.org[3]>

LICENSE

       libtracecmd is Free Software licensed under the GNU LGPL 2.1

RESOURCES

       https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/trace-cmd/trace-cmd.git/

COPYING

       Copyright (C) 2020 VMware, Inc. Free use of this software is granted under the terms of
       the GNU Public License (GPL).

NOTES

        1. rostedt@goodmis.org
           mailto:rostedt@goodmis.org

        2. tz.stoyanov@gmail.com
           mailto:tz.stoyanov@gmail.com

        3. linux-trace-devel@vger.kernel.org
           mailto:linux-trace-devel@vger.kernel.org