tracing/Documentation: Add a section about backup instance

Add a section about backup instance to the debugging.rst.

Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/177502548479.1311542.7062269603547001007.stgit@mhiramat.tok.corp.google.com
Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (Google) <rostedt@goodmis.org>

diff --git a/Documentation/trace/debugging.rst b/Documentation/trace/debugging.rst
index 4d88c346fc382b65bb8d4c9bb1065aba863d9340..bca1710d92bf1f1f9c49be2bdca7b4153ac31173 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/trace/debugging.rst
+++ b/Documentation/trace/debugging.rst
@@ -159,3 +159,22 @@ If setting it from the kernel command line, it is recommended to also
 disable tracing with the "traceoff" flag, and enable tracing after boot up.
 Otherwise the trace from the most recent boot will be mixed with the trace
 from the previous boot, and may make it confusing to read.
+
+Using a backup instance for keeping previous boot data
+------------------------------------------------------
+
+It is also possible to record trace data at system boot time by specifying
+events with the persistent ring buffer, but in this case the data before the
+reboot will be lost before it can be read. This problem can be solved by a
+backup instance. From the kernel command line::
+
+  reserve_mem=12M:4096:trace trace_instance=boot_map@trace,sched,irq trace_instance=backup=boot_map
+
+On boot up, the previous data in the "boot_map" is copied to the "backup"
+instance, and the "sched:*" and "irq:*" events for the current boot are traced
+in the "boot_map". Thus the user can read the previous boot data from the "backup"
+instance without stopping the trace.
+
+Note that this "backup" instance is readonly, and will be removed automatically
+if you clear the trace data or read out all trace data from the "trace_pipe"
+or the "trace_pipe_raw" files.