Supplemental Linux® From Scratch (System V Edition) - Version #9c8c

Chapter 5. Programming

strace-6.18

Introduction to strace

The strace package provides a diagnostic, debugging, and instructional userspace utility that traces all of the system calls a program makes during it's execution.

strace Dependencies

Optional

libunwind (to unwind stack traces) and valgrind (if you are running the test suite)

Installation of strace

Install strace by running the following commands: 

./configure --prefix=/usr \
    --enable-mpers=no &&
make

To test the results, issue: make check

Now, as the root user: 

make install

Command Explanations

--enable-mpers=no: By default, strace is built to support both the m32 and mx32 personalities. This parameter disables that behavior. Remove this parameter if you are debugging programs that use m32 or mx32 personalities.

--with-libunwind: This option builds strace with libunwind support. This is useful for unwinding stack traces.

[Note]

Note

Invoke ./configure --help for a full list of options.

Contents

Installed Programs: strace and strace-log-merge
Installed Libraries: None
Installed Directories: None

Short Descriptions

strace

traces system calls and signals, most often used for debugging

strace-log-merge

merges the output of strace -ff -tt, prepends PID to each lines, then sorts the result using time stamps