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perf trace: update Documentation with new perf trace variants
Add documentation describing new 'perf trace' command changes e.g. <command> handling and live-mode/top variants. Signed-off-by: Tom Zanussi <[email protected]> Acked-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <[email protected]>
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tools/perf/Documentation/perf-trace.txt

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@@ -8,7 +8,11 @@ perf-trace - Read perf.data (created by perf record) and display trace output
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SYNOPSIS
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--------
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[verse]
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'perf trace' {record <script> | report <script> [args] }
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'perf trace' [<options>]
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'perf trace' [<options>] record <script> [<record-options>] <command>
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'perf trace' [<options>] report <script> [script-args]
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'perf trace' [<options>] <script> <required-script-args> [<record-options>] <command>
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'perf trace' [<options>] <top-script> [script-args]
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DESCRIPTION
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-----------
@@ -24,23 +28,53 @@ There are several variants of perf trace:
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available via 'perf trace -l'). The following variants allow you to
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record and run those scripts:
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'perf trace record <script>' to record the events required for 'perf
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trace report'. <script> is the name displayed in the output of
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'perf trace --list' i.e. the actual script name minus any language
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extension.
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'perf trace record <script> <command>' to record the events required
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for 'perf trace report'. <script> is the name displayed in the
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output of 'perf trace --list' i.e. the actual script name minus any
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language extension. If <command> is not specified, the events are
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recorded using the -a (system-wide) 'perf record' option.
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'perf trace report <script>' to run and display the results of
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<script>. <script> is the name displayed in the output of 'perf
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'perf trace report <script> [args]' to run and display the results
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of <script>. <script> is the name displayed in the output of 'perf
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trace --list' i.e. the actual script name minus any language
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extension. The perf.data output from a previous run of 'perf trace
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record <script>' is used and should be present for this command to
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succeed.
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succeed. [args] refers to the (mainly optional) args expected by
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the script.
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'perf trace <script> <required-script-args> <command>' to both
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record the events required for <script> and to run the <script>
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using 'live-mode' i.e. without writing anything to disk. <script>
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is the name displayed in the output of 'perf trace --list' i.e. the
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actual script name minus any language extension. If <command> is
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not specified, the events are recorded using the -a (system-wide)
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'perf record' option. If <script> has any required args, they
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should be specified before <command>. This mode doesn't allow for
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optional script args to be specified; if optional script args are
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desired, they can be specified using separate 'perf trace record'
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and 'perf trace report' commands, with the stdout of the record step
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piped to the stdin of the report script, using the '-o -' and '-i -'
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options of the corresponding commands.
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'perf trace <top-script>' to both record the events required for
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<top-script> and to run the <top-script> using 'live-mode'
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i.e. without writing anything to disk. <top-script> is the name
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displayed in the output of 'perf trace --list' i.e. the actual
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script name minus any language extension; a <top-script> is defined
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as any script name ending with the string 'top'.
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[<record-options>] can be passed to the record steps of 'perf trace
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record' and 'live-mode' variants; this isn't possible however for
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<top-script> 'live-mode' or 'perf trace report' variants.
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See the 'SEE ALSO' section for links to language-specific
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information on how to write and run your own trace scripts.
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OPTIONS
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-------
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<command>...::
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Any command you can specify in a shell.
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-D::
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--dump-raw-trace=::
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Display verbose dump of the trace data.
@@ -64,6 +98,13 @@ OPTIONS
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Generate perf-trace.[ext] starter script for given language,
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using current perf.data.
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-a::
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Force system-wide collection. Scripts run without a <command>
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normally use -a by default, while scripts run with a <command>
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normally don't - this option allows the latter to be run in
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system-wide mode.
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SEE ALSO
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--------
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linkperf:perf-record[1], linkperf:perf-trace-perl[1],

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