Strace
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= Already running programs - using htop = This is an easy way to run strace on a running program. You will, however, not be able to store the output of the strace in a logfile. 1. Make sure strace and htop is installed. {{{ apt-get install strace htop }}} 1. Start htop. {{{ htop }}} 1. Use arrow keys to choose desired process, then press "s" to display a strace of the process on-screen. |
Sometimes, a program starts behaving errantly. It gives incorrect output on its input, it doesn't print anything at all, or even hangs. Under a Linux-based system, every userspace process has to interact with its environment through the kernel. And it does this by invoking system calls.
Strace is a utility that intercepts and logs these system calls. In this way, you can watch how a program interacts with the system, which is useful for tracking down behavioural issues.
Generation
Make sure strace is installed.
apt-get install strace
Start the program under control of strace:
strace -Ff -tt <program> <arguments> 2>&1 | tee strace-<program>.log
- The program will start. Perform any actions necessary to reproduce the crash
Attach the complete output from strace, contained in strace-<program>.log, in your bug report.
Already running programs
You may want to run strace on an already running program. This could be because strace logs too many things before you can reproduce a crash. Or, it could be because you are trying to find out what a program is doing in an infinite loop.
Make sure strace is installed.
apt-get install strace
Find the process ID of <program>:
pidof <program>
Start strace with the process ID:
strace -Ff -tt -p <PID> 2>&1 | tee strace-<program>.log
- Perform any actions necessary to reproduce the bug.
- You may have to hit Control-C to get strace to detach from a running program.
Attach the complete output from strace, contained in strace-<program>.log, in your bug report.
Strace (last edited 2008-08-06 17:00:03 by localhost)