NAME

     ksyms — kernel symbol table interface

SYNOPSIS

     device ksyms

DESCRIPTION

     The /dev/ksyms character device provides a read-only interface to a snapshot of the kernel
     symbol table.  The in-kernel symbol manager is designed to be able to handle many types of
     symbols tables, however, only elf(5) symbol tables are supported by this device.  The ELF
     format image contains two sections: a symbol table and a corresponding string table.

           Symbol Table
                   The SYMTAB section contains the symbol table entries present in the current
                   running kernel, including the symbol table entries of any loaded modules.  The
                   symbols are ordered by the kernel module load time starting with kernel file
                   symbols first, followed by the first loaded module's symbols and so on.

           String Table
                   The STRTAB section contains the symbol name strings from the kernel and any
                   loaded modules that the symbol table entries reference.

     Elf formatted symbol table data read from the /dev/ksyms file represents the state of the
     kernel at the time when the device is opened.  Since /dev/ksyms has no text or data, most of
     the fields are initialized to NULL.  The ksyms driver does not block the loading or
     unloading of modules into the kernel while the /dev/ksyms file is open but may contain stale
     data.

FILES

     /dev/ksyms

ERRORS

     An open(2) of /dev/ksyms will fail if:

     [EBUSY]            The device is already open.  A process must close /dev/ksyms before it
                        can be opened again.

     [ENOMEM]           There is a resource shortage in the kernel.

     [ENXIO]            The driver was unsuccessful in creating a snapshot of the kernel symbol
                        table.  This may occur if the kernel was in the process of loading or
                        unloading a module.

SEE ALSO

     nlist(3), elf(5), kldload(8)

HISTORY

     A ksyms device exists in many different operating systems.  This implementation is similar
     in function to the Solaris and NetBSD ksyms driver.

     The ksyms driver first appeared in FreeBSD 8.0 to support lockstat(1).

AUTHORS

     The ksyms driver was written by Stacey Son <sson@FreeBSD.org>.

BUGS

     Because files can be dynamically linked into the kernel at any time the symbol information
     can vary.  When you open the /dev/ksyms file, you have access to an ELF image which
     represents a snapshot of the state of the kernel symbol information at that instant in time.
     Keeping the device open does not block the loading or unloading of kernel modules.  To get a
     new snapshot you must close and re-open the device.

     A process is only allowed to open the /dev/ksyms file once at a time.  The process must
     close the /dev/ksyms before it is allowed to open it again.