1.5. The stap command
The stap program is the front-end to the SystemTap tool. It accepts probing instructions written in its scripting language, translates those instructions into C code, compiles this C code, and loads the resulting kernel module into a running Linux kernel to perform the requested system trace or probe functions. You can supply the script in a named file, from standard input, or from the command line. The program runs until it is interrupted by the user or a sufficient number of soft errors, or if the script voluntarily invokes the exit() function.
The stap command does the following:
- Translates the script
- Generates and compiles a kernel module
- Inserts the module; output to stap's stdout
- CTRL-C unloads the module and terminates stap
For a full list of options to the stap command, see the stap(1) manual page.
