Thread (8 messages) 8 messages, 2 authors, 2026-01-28

Re: [PATCH v3 2/3] tracing/kprobes: Make setup_boot_kprobe_events() asynchronous

From: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@kernel.org>
Date: 2026-01-28 04:49:39
Also in: linux-block, lkml

On Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:23:12 +0800
Yaxiong Tian [off-list ref] wrote:
quoted hunk ↗ jump to hunk
During kernel boot, the setup_boot_kprobe_events() function causes
significant delays, increasing overall startup time.

The root cause is a lock contention chain: its child function
enable_boot_kprobe_events() requires the event_mutex, which is
already held by early_event_add_tracer(). early_event_add_tracer()
itself is blocked waiting for the trace_event_sem  read-write lock,
which is held for an extended period by trace_event_update_all().

To resolve this, we have moved the execution of
setup_boot_kprobe_events() to the trace_init_wq  workqueue, allowing
it to run asynchronously.

Signed-off-by: Yaxiong Tian <redacted>
---
 kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c | 14 +++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c b/kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c
index 9953506370a5..4c6621f02696 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c
@@ -2031,6 +2031,13 @@ static __init int init_kprobe_trace_early(void)
 }
 core_initcall(init_kprobe_trace_early);
 
+static struct work_struct kprobe_trace_work __initdata;
+
+static void __init kprobe_trace_works_func(struct work_struct *work)
+{
+	setup_boot_kprobe_events();
+}
+
 /* Make a tracefs interface for controlling probe points */
 static __init int init_kprobe_trace(void)
 {
@@ -2048,7 +2055,12 @@ static __init int init_kprobe_trace(void)
 	trace_create_file("kprobe_profile", TRACE_MODE_READ,
 			  NULL, NULL, &kprobe_profile_ops);
 
-	setup_boot_kprobe_events();
+	if (trace_init_wq) {
+		INIT_WORK(&kprobe_trace_work, kprobe_trace_works_func);
+		queue_work(trace_init_wq, &kprobe_trace_work);
Hmm, this queue_work is not required if kprobe_boot_events_buf[] is
empty. We should check it because most of the time we don't need it.
Also, deferring initialization makes it indeterminate when this
tracing will begin.

For kprobe event use case, I think setup_boot_kprobe_events() should
check the kprobe_boot_events_buf is empty at first. But I think Yaxiong
use case happens when you are using kprobe events via cmdline, is that
correct?

I think introducing "async" cmdline option is more preferable.

BTW, I found that the kprobe events from kernel cmdline will be made
after boot-time tracing from bootconfig. Maybe it should be run this
earlier timing too.

Thank you,

+	} else {
+		setup_boot_kprobe_events();
+	}
 
 	return 0;
 }
-- 
2.25.1

-- 
Masami Hiramatsu (Google) [off-list ref]
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