Oracle has made a significant update by announcing the release of DTrace 2.0.0 for Linux, which is now available to the whole Linux ecosystem. This marks a notable expansion from its initial availability, which was restricted to Oracle Linux users after its original development for Solaris.
What is DTrace?
DTrace, or Dynamic Tracing, is a comprehensive real-time system and application diagnostics toolkit. Originally developed by Sun Microsystems for Solaris and then available only to Oracle Linux, it helps developers and administrators monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize systems in real-time.
It enables the inspection of both user applications and operating systems using a wide array of diagnostic tools without significantly impacting system performance.
Transition to Linux
Oracle’s latest release of DTrace leverages BPF (Berkeley Packet Filter) and other kernel tracing features, which were implemented as a userspace application. This means it does not require integration at the kernel level, allowing for broader compatibility and easier deployment across various Linux versions.
The new 2.0.0-1.14 release promises a feature set close to the original kernel module-based version of DTrace for Linux, with ongoing development to ensure full feature parity. It can be utilized on any Linux kernel that supports BPF-based tracing and BTF (BPF Type Format) type data, with optional kernel patches available to enhance functionality.
DTrace 2.0.0 introduces several new features, including:
- New probes for CPU performance counters, process lifecycles, system calls, and more.
- Enhanced speculative tracing functions and extended support for variables and aggregations.
- Enhanced actions and subroutines, including new capabilities like type-annotated data output and dynamic path cleaning.
- Advanced runtime features, like CPU-specific probes and improved buffer handling for trace data.
The updated DTrace toolkit can be downloaded freely from Oracle’s GitHub repository. For more information, visit the announcement or the DTrace reference guide.
