truss(1)
NAME
truss - trace system calls and signals
SYNOPSIS
truss [-fcaeildD] [ - [tTvx] [!] syscall ,...] [ - [sS] [!]
signal ,...] [ - [mM] [!] fault ,...] [ - [rw] [!] fd ,...]
[ - [uU] [!] lib ,... : [:] [!] func ,...] [-o outfile] com-
mand | -p pid...
DESCRIPTION
The truss utility executes the specified command and pro-
duces a trace of the system calls it performs, the signals
it receives, and the machine faults it incurs. Each line of
the trace output reports either the fault or signal name or
the system call name with its arguments and return value(s).
System call arguments are displayed symbolically when possi-
ble using defines from relevant system headers; for any path
name pointer argument, the pointed-to string is displayed.
Error returns are reported using the error code names
described in intro(3).
Optionally (see the -u option), truss will also produce an
entry/exit trace of user-level function calls executed by
the traced process, indented to indicate nesting.
OPTIONS
The following options are recognized. For those options that
take a list argument, the name all can be used as a short-
hand to specify all possible members of the list. If the
list begins with a !, the meaning of the option is negated
(for example, exclude rather than trace). Multiple
occurrences of the same option may be specified. For the
same name in a list, subsequent options (those to the right)
override previous ones (those to the left).
-p Interprets the command arguments to truss as a list of
process-ids for existing processes (see ps(1)) rather
than as a command to be executed. truss takes control
of each process and begins tracing it provided that
the userid and groupid of the process match those of
the user or that the user is a privileged user.
Processes may also be specified by their names in the
/proc directory, for example, /proc/12345.
-f Follows all children created by fork() or vfork() and
includes their signals, faults, and system calls in
the trace output. Normally, only the first-level com-
mand or process is traced. When -f is specified, the
process-id is included with each line of trace output
to indicate which process executed the system call or
received the signal.
-c Counts traced system calls, faults, and signals rather
than displaying the trace line-by-line. A summary
report is produced after the traced command terminates
or when truss is interrupted. If -f is also specified,
the counts include all traced system calls, faults,
and signals for child processes.
-a Shows the argument strings that are passed in each
exec() system call.
-e Shows the environment strings that are passed in each
exec() system call.
-i Do not display interruptible sleeping system calls.
Certain system calls, such as open() and read() on
terminal devices or pipes, can sleep for indefinite
periods and are interruptible. Normally, truss reports
such sleeping system calls if they remain asleep for
more than one second. The system call is reported
again a second time when it completes. The -i option
causes such system calls to be reported only once,
when they complete.
-l Includes the id of the responsible lightweight process
(LWP) with each line of trace output. If -f is also
specified, both the process-id and the LWP-id are
included.
-d Includes a time stamp on each line of trace output.
The time stamp appears as a field containing
seconds.fraction at the start of the line. This
represents a time in seconds relative to the beginning
of the trace. The first line of the trace output will
show the base time from which the individual time
stamps are measured, both as seconds since the epoch
(see time(2)) and as a date string (see ctime(3C) and
date(1)). The times that are reported are the times
that the event in question occurred. For all system
calls, the event is the completion of the system call,
not the start of the system call.
-D Includes a time delta on each line of trace output.
The value appears as a field containing
seconds.fraction and represents the elapsed time for
the LWP that incurred the event since the last
reported event incurred by that LWP. Specifically,
for system calls, this is not the time spent within
the system call.
-t [!]syscall,...
System calls to trace or exclude. Those system calls
specified in the comma-separated list are traced. If
the list begins with a !, the specified system calls
are excluded from the trace output. Default is -tall.
-T [!]syscall,...
System calls that stop the process. The specified sys-
tem calls are added to the set specified by -t. If one
of the specified system calls is encountered, truss
leaves the process stopped and abandoned. That is,
truss releases the process and exits but leaves the
process in the stopped state at completion of the sys-
tem call in question. A debugger or other process
inspection tool (see proc(1)) can then be applied to
the stopped process. truss can be reapplied to the
stopped process with the same or different options to
continue tracing. Default is -T!all.
A process left stopped in this manner cannot be res-
tarted by the application of kill -CONT because it is
stopped on an event of interest via /proc, not by the
default action of a stopping signal (see
signal(3HEAD)). The prun(1) command described in
proc(1) can be used to set the stopped process running
again.
-v [!]syscall,...
Verbose. Displays the contents of any structures
passed by address to the specified system calls (if
traced by -t). Input values as well as values returned
by the operating system are shown. For any field used
as both input and output, only the output value is
shown. Default is -v!all.
-x [!]syscall,...
Displays the arguments to the specified system calls
(if traced by -t) in raw form, usually hexadecimal,
rather than symbolically. This is for unredeemed hack-
ers who must see the raw bits to be happy. Default is
-x!all.
-s [!]signal,...
Signals to trace or exclude. Those signals specified
in the comma-separated list are traced. The trace out-
put reports the receipt of each specified signal, even
if the signal is being ignored (not blocked). (Blocked
signals are not received until they are unblocked.)
Signals may be specified by name or number (see
<sys/signal.h>). If the list begins with a !, the
specified signals are excluded from the trace output.
Default is -sall.
-S [!]signal,...
Signals that stop the process. The specified signals
are added to the set specified by -s. If one of the
specified signals is received, truss leaves the pro-
cess stopped and abandoned (see the -T option).
Default is -S!all.
-m [!]fault,...
Machine faults to trace or exclude. Those faults
specified in the comma-separated list are traced.
Faults may be specified by name or number (see
<sys/fault.h>). If the list begins with a !, the
specified faults are excluded from the trace output.
Default is -mall -m!fltpage.
-M [!]fault,...
Machine faults that stop the process. The specified
faults are added to the set specified by -m. If one of
the specified faults is incurred, truss leaves the
process stopped and abandoned (see the -T option).
Default is -M!all.
-r [!]fd,...
Shows the full contents of the I/O buffer for each
read() on any of the specified file descriptors. The
output is formatted 32 bytes per line and shows each
byte as an ASCII character (preceded by one blank) or
as a 2-character C language escape sequence for con-
trol characters such as horizontal tab (\t) and new-
line (\n). If ASCII interpretation is not possible,
the byte is shown in 2-character hexadecimal represen-
tation. (The first 12 bytes of the I/O buffer for each
traced read() are shown even in the absence of -r.)
Default is -r!all.
-w [!]fd,...
Shows the contents of the I/O buffer for each write()
on any of the specified file descriptors (see the -r
option). Default is -w!all.
-u [!]lib,...:[:][!] func,...
User-level function call tracing. lib,... is a comma-
separated list of dynamic library names, excluding the
``.so.n'' suffix. func,... is a comma-separated list
of function names. In both cases the names can include
name-matching metacharacters *,?,[] with the same
meanings as those of sh(1) but as applied to the
library/function name spaces, not to files. An empty
library or function list defaults to *, trace all
libraries or functions in a library. A leading ! on
either list specifies an exclusion list, names of
libraries or functions not to be traced. Excluding a
library excludes all functions in that library; any
function list following a library exclusion list is
ignored.
A single : separating the library list from the func-
tion list means to trace calls into the libraries from
outside the libraries, but omit calls made to func-
tions in a library from other functions in the same
library. A double :: means to trace all calls, regard-
less of origin.
Library patterns do not match either the executable
file or the dynamic linker unless there is an exact
match (l* will not match ld.so.1). To trace functions
in either of these objects, the names must be speci-
fied exactly, as in: truss -u a.out -u ld ...
a.out is the literal name to be used for this purpose;
it does not stand for the name of the executable file.
Tracing a.out function calls implies all calls
(default is ::).
Multiple -u options may be specified and they are
honored left-to-right. If the process is linked with
-lthread, the id of the thread that performed the
function call is included in the trace output for the
call. truss searches the dynamic symbol table in each
library to find function names and will also search
the standard symbol table if it has not been stripped.
-U [!]lib,...:[:][!] func,...
User-level function calls that stop the process. The
specified functions are added to the set specified by
-u. If one of the specified functions is called, truss
leaves the process stopped and abandoned (see the -T
option).
-o outfile
File to be used for the trace output. By default, the
output goes to standard error.
See man pages section 2: System Calls for system call names
accepted by the -t, -T, -v, and -x options. System call
numbers are also accepted.
If truss is used to initiate and trace a specified command
and if the -o option is used or if standard error is
redirected to a non-terminal file, then truss runs with
hangup, interrupt, and quit signals ignored. This facili-
tates tracing of interactive programs that catch interrupt
and quit signals from the terminal.
If the trace output remains directed to the terminal, or if
existing processes are traced (the -p option), then truss
responds to hangup, interrupt, and quit signals by releasing
all traced processes and exiting. This enables the user to
terminate excessive trace output and to release previously-
existing processes. Released processes continue normally, as
though they had never been touched.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Tracing a command
This example produces a trace of the find(1) command on the
terminal:
example$ truss find . -print >find.out
Example 2: Tracing common system calls
To see only a trace of the open, close, read, and write sys-
tem calls:
example$ truss -t open,close,read,write find . -print >find.out
Example 3: Tracing a shell script
This produces a trace of the spell(1) command on the file
truss.out:
example$ truss -f -o truss.out spell document
spell is a shell script, so the -f flag is needed to trace
not only the shell but also the processes created by the
shell. (The spell script runs a pipeline of eight
processes.)
Example 4: Abbreviating output
A particularly boring example is:
example$ truss nroff -mm document >nroff.out
because 97% of the output reports lseek(), read(), and
write() system calls. To abbreviate it:
example$ truss -t !lseek,read,write nroff -mm document >nroff.out
Example 5: Tracing library calls from outside the C library
This example traces all user-level calls made to any func-
tion in the C library from outside the C library:
example$ truss -u libc ...
Example 6: Tracing library calls from within the C library
This example includes calls made to functions in the C
library from within the C library itself:
example$ truss -u libc:: ...
Example 7: Tracing library calls other than the C library
This example traces all user-level calls made to any library
other than the C library:
example$ truss -u '*' -u !libc ...
Example 8: Tracing printf and scanf function calls
This example traces all user-level calls to functions in the
printf and scanf family contained in the C library:
example$ truss -u 'libc:*printf,*scanf' ...
Example 9: Tracing any user-level function call
This example traces every user-level function call from any-
where to anywhere:
example$ truss -u a.out -u ld:: -u :: ...
Example 10: Tracing a system call verbosely
This example verbosely traces the system call activity of
process #1, init(1M) (if you are a privileged user):
example# truss -p -v all 1
Interrupting truss returns init to normal operation.
FILES
/proc/*
process files
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWtoo (32-bit) |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| | SUNWtoox (64-bit) |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
date(1), find(1), proc(1), ps(1), sh(1), spell(1), init
(1M), intro(3), exec(2), fork(2), lseek(2), open(2),
read(2), time(2), vfork(2), write(2), ctime(3C),
threads(3THR), proc(4), attributes(5), signal(3HEAD)
man pages section 2: System Calls
NOTES
Some of the system calls described in man pages section 2:
System Calls differ from the actual operating system inter-
faces. Do not be surprised by minor deviations of the trace
output from the descriptions in that document.
Every machine fault (except a page fault) results in the
posting of a signal to the LWP that incurred the fault. A
report of a received signal will immediately follow each
report of a machine fault (except a page fault) unless that
signal is being blocked.
The operating system enforces certain security restrictions
on the tracing of processes. In particular, any command
whose object file (a.out) cannot be read by a user cannot be
traced by that user; set-uid and set-gid commands can be
traced only by a privileged user. Unless it is run by a
privileged user, truss loses control of any process that
performs an exec() of a set-id or unreadable object file;
such processes continue normally, though independently of
truss, from the point of the exec().
To avoid collisions with other controlling processes, truss
will not trace a process that it detects is being controlled
by another process via the /proc interface. This allows
truss to be applied to proc(4)-based debuggers as well as to
another instance of itself.
The trace output contains tab characters under the assump-
tion that standard tab stops are set (every eight posi-
tions).
The trace output for multiple processes or for a mul-
tithreaded process (one that contains more than one LWP) is
not produced in strict time order. For example, a read() on
a pipe may be reported before the corresponding write(). For
any one LWP (a traditional process contains only one), the
output is strictly time-ordered.
When tracing more than one process, truss runs as one con-
trolling process for each process being traced. For the
example of the spell command shown above, spell itself uses
9 process slots, one for the shell and 8 for the 8-member
pipeline, while truss adds another 9 processes, for a total
of 18.
Not all possible structures passed in all possible system
calls are displayed under the -v option.
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