NAME

       execsnoop.bt - Trace new processes via exec() syscalls. Uses bpftrace/eBPF.

SYNOPSIS

       execsnoop.bt

DESCRIPTION

       This  traces  when  processes  call  exec()  (execve()).  It  is handy for identifying new
       processes created via the usual fork()->exec() sequence. Note that the return value is not
       currently traced, so the exec() may have failed.

       This  tool  is  useful  for debugging shell scripts, including application startup.  It is
       also useful for identifying a type of performance issue: a flood of short-lived processes,
       that end quickly and aren't readily visible in top(1).

       Since this uses BPF, only the root user can use this tool.

REQUIREMENTS

       CONFIG_BPF and bpftrace.

EXAMPLES

       Trace all new processes calling execve():
              # execsnoop.bt

FIELDS

       TIME   Time of the exec() call, in milliseconds since program start.

       PID    Process ID

       ARGS   Process name and arguments (16 word maximum).

OVERHEAD

       This  traces the execve() tracepoint and prints output for each event. As the rate of this
       is generally expected to be low (< 100/s), the overhead is also expected to be negligible.
       If  you  have  an  application  that is spawning a high rate of new processes for a reason
       (large build process), this could cause a small amount of overhead:  test  and  understand
       overhead before use.

SOURCE

       This is from bpftrace.

              https://github.com/iovisor/bpftrace

       Also  look  in  the  bpftrace  distribution  for a companion _examples.txt file containing
       example usage, output, and commentary for this tool.

       This is a bpftrace version of the bcc tool of the same name. The bcc  tool  provides  more
       fields and options to customize the output.

              https://github.com/iovisor/bcc

OS

       Linux

STABILITY

       Unstable - in development.

AUTHOR

       Brendan Gregg

SEE ALSO

       opensnoop(8)