Thread (8 messages) flat view 8 messages, 3 authors, 2025-02-13

Re: [PATCH v2] docs: trace: Refactor index documentation

From: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Date: 2025-02-10 22:45:54
Also in: linux-doc, lkml

On Thu,  6 Feb 2025 19:44:53 +0530
Purva Yeshi [off-list ref] wrote:

Note, subject should start with: "docs: tracing: ..." as "tracing" is the
subsystem and not "trace". Even though the directory is "trace" the
subsystem is "tracing".
Refactored Documentation/trace/index.rst to improve clarity, structure, 
and organization. Reformatted sections, added appropriate headings.

Background of Patch:
This patch is inspired by the maintainer's suggestion on the v1 patch to
Usually it's bad form to have a patch reference itself as "Patch". The
above could be written as:

   Background:
   These changes were inspired by...
quoted hunk ↗ jump to hunk
bring the documentation into real order, similar to commit '270beb5b2aae'
from Linux 6.13, improving clarity, structure, and usability.

Signed-off-by: Purva Yeshi <redacted>
---
V1 - https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250204133616.27694-1-purvayeshi550@gmail.com/ (local)
V2 - Refined formatting and improved section organization.

 Documentation/trace/index.rst | 86 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 75 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/index.rst b/Documentation/trace/index.rst
index 2c991dc96..c4ff7e7de 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/trace/index.rst
@@ -1,39 +1,103 @@
-==========================
-Linux Tracing Technologies
-==========================
+================================
+Linux Tracing Technologies Guide
+================================
+
+Tracing in the Linux kernel is a powerful mechanism that allows
+developers and system administrators to analyze and debug system
+behavior. This guide provides documentation on various tracing
+frameworks and tools available in the Linux kernel.
+
+Introduction to Tracing
+-----------------------
+
+This section provides an overview of Linux tracing mechanisms
+and debugging approaches.
 
 .. toctree::
-   :maxdepth: 2
+   :maxdepth: 1
I don't really know what the maxdepth gives here, but there was no mention
in the change log why it had to be converted from 2 to 1.
 
-   ftrace-design
+   debugging
+   tracepoints
    tracepoint-analysis
+
+Core Tracing Frameworks
+-----------------------
+
+The following are the primary tracing frameworks integrated into
+the Linux kernel.
+
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 1
+
    ftrace
+   ftrace-design
    ftrace-uses
-   fprobe
    kprobes
    kprobetrace
    uprobetracer
    fprobetrace
-   tracepoints
+   fprobe
+
+Event Tracing and Analysis
+--------------------------
+
+A detailed explanation of event tracing mechanisms and their
+applications.
+
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 1
+
    events
    events-kmem
    events-power
    events-nmi
    events-msr
-   mmiotrace
+   boottime-trace
    histogram
    histogram-design
-   boottime-trace
-   debugging
    hwlat_detector
    osnoise-tracer
    timerlat-tracer
The above 3 probably should be in the hardware interactions section below.
+
+Hardware and Performance Tracing
+--------------------------------
+
+This section covers tracing features that monitor hardware
+interactions and system performance.
+
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 1
+
    intel_th
    ring-buffer-design
The ring-buffer-design should be in "Core Tracing Frameworks".
    ring-buffer-map
This describes how to map the ring buffer in user space. Maybe it should go
at the "Introduction" section?

    stm
    sys-t
    coresight/index
-   user_events
    rv/index
    hisi-ptt
+
+User-space Tracing
+------------------
+
+These tools allow tracing user-space applications and
+interactions.
+
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 1
+
+   user_events
+   mmiotrace
mmiotrace traces events between hardware and the drivers. Perhaps this
should go up into the Hardware and Performance tracing.
+
+Additional Resources
+--------------------
+
+For more details, refer to the respective documentation of each
+tracing tool and framework.
+
+.. only:: subproject and html
+
+   Indices
+   =======
+
+   * :ref:`genindex`
\ No newline at end of file

Thanks,

-- Steve
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