tracing: Add support for dynamic strings to synthetic events

Currently, sythetic events only support static string fields such as:

  # echo 'test_latency u64 lat; char somename[32]' > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/synthetic_events

Which is fine, but wastes a lot of space in the event.

It also prevents the most commonly-defined strings in the existing
trace events e.g. those defined using __string(), from being passed to
synthetic events via the trace() action.

With this change, synthetic events with dynamic fields can be defined:

  # echo 'test_latency u64 lat; char somename[]' > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/synthetic_events

And the trace() action can be used to generate events using either
dynamic or static strings:

  # echo 'hist:keys=name:lat=common_timestamp.usecs-$ts0:onmatch(sys.event).test_latency($lat,name)' > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events

The synthetic event dynamic strings are implemented in the same way as
the existing __data_loc strings and appear as such in the format file.

[ <rostedt@goodmis.org>: added __set_synth_event_print_fmt() changes:

  I added the following to make it work with trace-cmd. Dynamic strings
  must have __get_str() for events in the print_fmt otherwise it can't be
  parsed correctly. ]

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/cover.1601588066.git.zanussi@kernel.org
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/3ed35b6d0e390f5b94cb4a9ba1cc18f5982ab277.1601848695.git.zanussi@kernel.orgTested-by: Axel Rasmussen <axelrasmussen@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Tom Zanussi <zanussi@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware) <rostedt@goodmis.org>

Documentation/trace/events.rst

@@ -589,8 +589,19 @@ name::
         { .type = "int",                .name = "my_int_field" },
   };
 
-See synth_field_size() for available types. If field_name contains [n]
-the field is considered to be an array.
+See synth_field_size() for available types.
+
+If field_name contains [n], the field is considered to be a static array.
+
+If field_names contains[] (no subscript), the field is considered to
+be a dynamic array, which will only take as much space in the event as
+is required to hold the array.
+
+Because space for an event is reserved before assigning field values
+to the event, using dynamic arrays implies that the piecewise
+in-kernel API described below can't be used with dynamic arrays.  The
+other non-piecewise in-kernel APIs can, however, be used with dynamic
+arrays.
 
 If the event is created from within a module, a pointer to the module
 must be passed to synth_event_create().  This will ensure that the

Documentation/trace/histogram.rst

@@ -1776,6 +1776,24 @@ consisting of the name of the new event along with one or more
 variables and their types, which can be any valid field type,
 separated by semicolons, to the tracing/synthetic_events file.
 
+See synth_field_size() for available types.
+
+If field_name contains [n], the field is considered to be a static array.
+
+If field_names contains[] (no subscript), the field is considered to
+be a dynamic array, which will only take as much space in the event as
+is required to hold the array.
+
+A string field can be specified using either the static notation:
+
+  char name[32];
+
+Or the dynamic:
+
+  char name[];
+
+The size limit for either is 256.
+
 For instance, the following creates a new event named 'wakeup_latency'
 with 3 fields: lat, pid, and prio.  Each of those fields is simply a
 variable reference to a variable on another event::

kernel/trace/synth_event_gen_test.c

@@ -242,9 +242,11 @@ static struct synth_field_desc create_synth_test_fields[] = {
 	{ .type = "pid_t",		.name = "next_pid_field" },
 	{ .type = "char[16]",		.name = "next_comm_field" },
 	{ .type = "u64",		.name = "ts_ns" },
+	{ .type = "char[]",		.name = "dynstring_field_1" },
 	{ .type = "u64",		.name = "ts_ms" },
 	{ .type = "unsigned int",	.name = "cpu" },
 	{ .type = "char[64]",		.name = "my_string_field" },
+	{ .type = "char[]",		.name = "dynstring_field_2" },
 	{ .type = "int",		.name = "my_int_field" },
 };
 
@@ -254,7 +256,7 @@ static struct synth_field_desc create_synth_test_fields[] = {
  */
 static int __init test_create_synth_event(void)
 {
-	u64 vals[7];
+	u64 vals[9];
 	int ret;
 
 	/* Create the create_synth_test event with the fields above */
@@ -292,10 +294,12 @@ static int __init test_create_synth_event(void)
 	vals[0] = 777;			/* next_pid_field */
 	vals[1] = (u64)(long)"tiddlywinks";	/* next_comm_field */
 	vals[2] = 1000000;		/* ts_ns */
-	vals[3] = 1000;			/* ts_ms */
-	vals[4] = raw_smp_processor_id(); /* cpu */
-	vals[5] = (u64)(long)"thneed";	/* my_string_field */
-	vals[6] = 398;			/* my_int_field */
+	vals[3] = (u64)(long)"xrayspecs";	/* dynstring_field_1 */
+	vals[4] = 1000;			/* ts_ms */
+	vals[5] = raw_smp_processor_id(); /* cpu */
+	vals[6] = (u64)(long)"thneed";	/* my_string_field */
+	vals[7] = (u64)(long)"kerplunk";	/* dynstring_field_2 */
+	vals[8] = 398;			/* my_int_field */
 
 	/* Now generate a create_synth_test event */
 	ret = synth_event_trace_array(create_synth_test, vals, ARRAY_SIZE(vals));
@@ -422,13 +426,15 @@ static int __init test_trace_synth_event(void)
 	int ret;
 
 	/* Trace some bogus values just for testing */
-	ret = synth_event_trace(create_synth_test, 7,	/* number of values */
+	ret = synth_event_trace(create_synth_test, 9,	/* number of values */
 				(u64)444,		/* next_pid_field */
 				(u64)(long)"clackers",	/* next_comm_field */
 				(u64)1000000,		/* ts_ns */
+				(u64)(long)"viewmaster",/* dynstring_field_1 */
 				(u64)1000,		/* ts_ms */
 				(u64)raw_smp_processor_id(), /* cpu */
 				(u64)(long)"Thneed",	/* my_string_field */
+				(u64)(long)"yoyos",	/* dynstring_field_2 */
 				(u64)999);		/* my_int_field */
 	return ret;
 }

kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c

@@ -3289,6 +3289,15 @@ static int check_synth_field(struct synth_event *event,
 
 	field = event->fields[field_pos];
 
+	/*
+	 * A dynamic string synth field can accept static or
+	 * dynamic. A static string synth field can only accept a
+	 * same-sized static string, which is checked for later.
+	 */
+	if (strstr(hist_field->type, "char[") && field->is_string
+	    && field->is_dynamic)
+		return 0;
+
 	if (strcmp(field->type, hist_field->type) != 0) {
 		if (field->size != hist_field->size ||
 		    field->is_signed != hist_field->is_signed)

kernel/trace/trace_synth.h

@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ struct synth_field {
 	unsigned int offset;
 	bool is_signed;
 	bool is_string;
+	bool is_dynamic;
+	bool field_pos;
 };
 
 struct synth_event {
@@ -24,6 +26,8 @@ struct synth_event {
 	char					*name;
 	struct synth_field			**fields;
 	unsigned int				n_fields;
+	struct synth_field			**dynamic_fields;
+	unsigned int				n_dynamic_fields;
 	unsigned int				n_u64;
 	struct trace_event_class		class;
 	struct trace_event_call			call;