Debugging the kernel using Ftrace---http://lwn.net/Articles/365835/

1. Setting up Ftrace

For the purpose of debugging, the kernel configuration parameters that should be enabled are:

    CONFIG_FUNCTION_TRACER
    CONFIG_FUNCTION_GRAPH_TRACER
    CONFIG_STACK_TRACER
    CONFIG_DYNAMIC_FTRACE

 

Function tracing

One of the most powerful tracers of Ftrace is the function tracer. It uses the-pg option of gcc to have every function in the kernel call a special function "mcount()". That function must be implemented in assembly because the call does not follow the normal C ABI.