Linux Trace Toolkit -- GPL real-time trace support for Linux

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(Last updated: Aug. 30, 2000)

The following is an excerpt from the LTT project website . . .

Throughout computer history performance has been an issue. This has brought it's share of contributions. From /proc to hardware counters along with gprof, strace, ps and many others. These tools have been essential to day to day life for many users and system administrators.

This said, these tools often only give a snapshot of the system. You are rarely able to know exactly what happens in a system at every moment in time. You can only try to know by polling faster, with the perverted effects of such a technique (try "top -q" just for the fun of it).

LTT fills this gap by providing it's user with all the information required to reconstruct a system's behavior during a certain period of time. One can know exactly the dynamics of a system. Why do certain synchronization problems occur? What exactly happens to an application when a packet is received for it? Overall, where do all the applications that I use pass their time? Where are the I/O latencies in a given application? etc.

In order to accomplish this task without hindering the system's performance and to be extendable, LTT is designed to be as modular as possible. In fact it's wrong to call it a "tool" since it is composed of many pieces that, grouped together, fullfill the desired functionnality. There are 4 software parts that enable this toolkit to be interesting. First, there is a modified linux kernel that enables events to be logged. Second, there is a linux kernel module that takes care of storing the events into it's buffer and then signals the trace daemon when he's reached a certain limit of data. The latter then reads the data from the module (which is visible from user space as a char device). And last, but certainly not least, there's the data decoder that takes the raw trace data and puts in a human understandable format while performing some basic and not so basic analysis. This decoder, as will be discussed further, serves as the toolkit's graphic and command-line front-end.

The information contained on the LTT Project website will help you get started with LTT and provide you with the resources to use it's full potential. On the left, there should be a frame containing the main items of interest for LTT. The Introduction is the text currently displayed. The Screenshots section contains some grabs of the toolkit's front end. The Documentation section describes how to use the toolkit. There's isn't any technical documentation yet, so you'll have to "use the source Luke". The downloads section contains the necessary things to get if you want to use LTT. It also provides you with some options if you don't intend to rebuild kernels but would still like to see the front-end in the works. The coming soon section contains the ideas currently being thought about or that haven't made it in the current release. Finaly, the who's behind LTT? section contains information about the toolkit's contributors.

Oh yes! Since ideas mature "better" by being discussed and dissected, LTT is distributed under the GNU General Public License. :)

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