[PATCH 1/3] perf trace: Introduce kernel symbol beautifier for virtual addresses
Aaron Tomlin <[email protected]> Mon, 3 Aug 2026 17:08:40 -0400
| Newsgroups | org.kernel.vger.linux-perf-users,org.kernel.vger.linux-kernel |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Currently, when 'perf trace' formats tracepoint payloads or system call arguments containing raw kernel virtual addresses (e.g., a work item function pointer 'work_func_t' in 'workqueue:workqueue_execute_start'), it prints them as raw hexadecimal values (e.g., 0xffffffff81234567). This impairs readability when tracing kernel execution flows. Introduce a dedicated kernel symbol beautifier, 'syscall_arg__scnprintf_ksym' (i.e., SCA_KSYM), to resolve kernel virtual addresses to human-readable symbol names and offsets (e.g., 'flush_to_ldisc'). The beautifier looks up the virtual address in the machine kernel maps via machine__find_kernel_symbol(). If a valid kernel symbol is found, the symbol name and offset are printed without requiring --libtraceevent; if the address is zero, "NULL" is rendered; otherwise, it gracefully falls back to hexadecimal formatting. Signed-off-by: Aaron Tomlin <[email protected]> --- tools/perf/builtin-trace.c | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ tools/perf/trace/beauty/beauty.h | 3 +++ 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+) diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c index 5a3e043b5b72..cbc5bdc0cc12 100644 --- a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c +++ b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c @@ -749,6 +749,30 @@ size_t syscall_arg__scnprintf_ptr(char *bf, size_t size, struct syscall_arg *arg return syscall_arg__scnprintf_hex(bf, size, arg); } +size_t syscall_arg__scnprintf_ksym(char *bf, size_t size, struct syscall_arg *arg) +{ + if (arg->val == 0) + return scnprintf(bf, size, "NULL"); + + if (arg->trace && arg->trace->host) { + struct map *map; + struct symbol *sym = machine__find_kernel_symbol(arg->trace->host, + arg->val, &map); + + if (sym) { + u64 start = map__unmap_ip(map, sym->start); + u64 offset = arg->val - start; + + if (offset == 0) + return scnprintf(bf, size, "%s", sym->name); + return scnprintf(bf, size, "%s+0x%" PRIx64, + sym->name, offset); + } + } + + return syscall_arg__scnprintf_hex(bf, size, arg); +} + size_t syscall_arg__scnprintf_int(char *bf, size_t size, struct syscall_arg *arg) { return scnprintf(bf, size, "%d", arg->val); diff --git a/tools/perf/trace/beauty/beauty.h b/tools/perf/trace/beauty/beauty.h index 58a3206481ae..0f4801c61a5b 100644 --- a/tools/perf/trace/beauty/beauty.h +++ b/tools/perf/trace/beauty/beauty.h @@ -160,6 +160,9 @@ size_t syscall_arg__scnprintf_hex(char *bf, size_t size, struct syscall_arg *arg size_t syscall_arg__scnprintf_ptr(char *bf, size_t size, struct syscall_arg *arg); #define SCA_PTR syscall_arg__scnprintf_ptr +size_t syscall_arg__scnprintf_ksym(char *bf, size_t size, struct syscall_arg *arg); +#define SCA_KSYM syscall_arg__scnprintf_ksym + size_t syscall_arg__scnprintf_int(char *bf, size_t size, struct syscall_arg *arg); #define SCA_INT syscall_arg__scnprintf_int -- 2.55.0