linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] tracing: remove tracing_is

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Message-ID: <20240725092609.1441788d@gandalf.local.home>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2024 09:26:09 -0400
From: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>
To: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@...nel.org>,
 Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] tracing: remove tracing_is_on export

On Thu, 25 Jul 2024 14:52:24 +0200
Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org> wrote:

> On Thu, Jul 25, 2024 at 08:31:02AM -0400, Steven Rostedt wrote:
> > On Thu, 25 Jul 2024 11:36:08 +0200
> > Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org> wrote:
> >   
> > > The function tracing_is_on() is only called by in-kernel code, not by
> > > any modules, so no need to export it as a symbol at all.  
> > 
> > Hmm, this is part of the debugging code along with:
> > 
> >  tracing_on();  tracing_off();
> > 
> > I had it exported in case a module needed to use it in debugging.  
> 
> What module?  There is no in-kernel user of it as a module that I could
> find, what am I missing?
>

Any module ;-)

It's for debugging. Just like trace_printk(). Something you would add to
debug a module and then delete it before submitting. It's why I put the
prototype into kernel.h. It's one of functions that can be handy during
development. It's not supposed to be submitted into the kernel.

Granted, tracing_is_on() is probably the least likely one to be used, but I
added it with the package, and I have actually used it for debugging a few
times.

-- Steve