# man > strace(1)

> **TLDR:** Troubleshooting tool for tracing system calls.
>
- Start tracing a specific process by its PID:
  `sudo strace {{-p|--attach}} {{pid}}`
- Trace a process and filter output by system call [e]xpression:
  `sudo strace {{-p|--attach}} {{pid}} -e {{system_call,system_call2,...}}`
- Count time, calls, and errors for each system call and report a summary on program exit:
  `sudo strace {{-p|--attach}} {{pid}} {{-c|--summary-only}}`
- Show the time spent in every system call and specify the maximum string size to print:
  `sudo strace {{-p|--attach}} {{pid}} {{-T|--syscall-times}} {{-s|--string-limit}} {{32}}`
- Start tracing a program by executing it:
  `strace {{program}}`
- Start tracing file operations of a program:
  `strace -e trace=file {{program}}`
- Start tracing network operations of a program as well as all its forked and child processes, saving the output to a file:
  `strace {{-f|--follow-forks}} -e trace=network {{-o|--output}} {{trace.txt}} {{program}}`

*Source: tldr-pages*

---

[_STRACE_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/STRACE/1/markdown)                              General Commands Manual                             [_STRACE_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/STRACE/1/markdown)

## NAME
       strace - trace system calls and signals

## SYNOPSIS
       **strace **[**-ACdffhikqqrtttTvVwxxyyYzZ**] [**-a _**column_] [**-b _**execve_] [**-e _**expr_]... [**-I _**n_] [**-o _**file_]
              [**-O _**overhead_] [**-p _**pid_]... [**-P _**path_]... [**-s _**strsize_] [**-S _**sortby_] [**-U _**columns_]
              [**-X _**format_] [**--seccomp-bpf**] [**--stack-trace-frame-limit**=_limit_] [**--syscall-limit=_**limit_]
              [**--tips**[=_format_]] { **-p _**pid_ | [**-DDD**] [**-E _**var_[=_val_]]... [**-u _**username_] _command_ [_args_] }

       **strace -c **[**-dfwzZ**] [**-b _**execve_] [**-e _**expr_]... [**-I _**n_] [**-O _**overhead_] [**-p _**pid_]... [**-P _**path_]...
              [**-S _**sortby_] [**-U _**columns_] [**--seccomp-bpf**] [**--syscall-limit=_**limit_] [**--tips**[=_format_]] {
              **-p _**pid_ | [**-DDD**] [**-E _**var_[=_val_]]... [**-u _**username_] _command_ [_args_] }

       **strace --tips**[=_format_]

## DESCRIPTION
       In  the  simplest  case  **strace **runs the specified _command_ until it exits.  It intercepts and
       records the system calls which are called by a process and the signals which are received  by
       a  process.   The name of each system call, its arguments and its return value are printed on
       standard error or to the file specified with the **-o **option.

       **strace **is a useful diagnostic, instructional, and debugging tool.  System administrators, di‐
       agnosticians and trouble-shooters will find it invaluable for solving problems with  programs
       for  which the source is not readily available since they do not need to be recompiled in or‐
       der to trace them.  Students, hackers and the overly-curious will find that a great deal  can
       be  learned  about a system and its system calls by tracing even ordinary programs.  And pro‐
       grammers will find that since system  calls  and  signals  are  events  that  happen  at  the
       user/kernel interface, a close examination of this boundary is very useful for bug isolation,
       sanity checking and attempting to capture race conditions.

       Each  line in the trace contains the system call name, followed by its arguments in parenthe‐
       ses and its return value.  An example from stracing the command "cat /dev/null" is:

           open("/dev/null", O_RDONLY) = 3

       Errors (typically a return value of -1) have the errno symbol and error string appended.

           open("/foo/bar", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)

       Signals are printed as signal symbol and decoded siginfo structure.  An excerpt from stracing
       and interrupting the command "sleep 666" is:

           sigsuspend([] <unfinished ...>
           --- SIGINT {si_signo=SIGINT, si_code=SI_USER, si_pid=...} ---
           +++ killed by SIGINT +++

       If a system call is being executed and meanwhile another one is being called from a different
       thread/process then **strace **will try to preserve the order of those events and mark the  ongo‐
       ing call as being _unfinished_.  When the call returns it will be marked as _resumed_.

           [pid 28772] select(4, [3], NULL, NULL, NULL <unfinished ...>
           [pid 28779] clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, {tv_sec=1130322148, tv_nsec=3977000}) = 0
           [pid 28772] <... select resumed> )      = 1 (in [3])

       Interruption  of a (restartable) system call by a signal delivery is processed differently as
       kernel terminates the system call and also arranges its immediate reexecution after the  sig‐
       nal handler completes.

           read(0, 0x7ffff72cf5cf, 1)              = ? ERESTARTSYS (To be restarted)
           --- SIGALRM {si_signo=SIGALRM, si_code=SI_KERNEL} ---
           rt_sigreturn({mask=[]})                 = 0
           read(0, "", 1)                          = 0

       Arguments are printed in symbolic form with passion.  This example shows the shell performing
       ">>xyzzy" output redirection:

           open("xyzzy", O_WRONLY|O_APPEND|O_CREAT, 0666) = 3

       Here,  the second and the third argument of [**open**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/open/2/markdown) are decoded by breaking down the flag ar‐
       gument into its three bitwise-OR constituents and printing the mode value in octal by  tradi‐
       tion.  Where the traditional or native usage differs from ANSI or POSIX, the latter forms are
       preferred.  In some cases, **strace **output is proven to be more readable than the source.

       Structure  pointers  are  dereferenced and the members are displayed as appropriate.  In most
       cases, arguments are formatted in the most C-like fashion possible.  For example, the essence
       of the command "ls -l /dev/null" is captured as:

           lstat("/dev/null", {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0666, st_rdev=makedev(0x1, 0x3), ...}) = 0

       Notice how the 'struct stat' argument is dereferenced and how each member is  displayed  sym‐
       bolically.   In  particular,  observe how the **st_mode **member is carefully decoded into a bit‐
       wise-OR of symbolic and numeric values.  Also notice in this example that the first  argument
       to  [**lstat**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lstat/2/markdown) is an input to the system call and the second argument is an output.  Since out‐
       put arguments are not modified if the system call fails, arguments may not always be derefer‐
       enced.  For example, retrying the "ls -l" example with a non-existent file produces the  fol‐
       lowing line:

           lstat("/foo/bar", 0xb004) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)

       In this case the porch light is on but nobody is home.

       Syscalls  unknown  to  **strace **are printed raw, with the unknown system call number printed in
       hexadecimal form and prefixed with "syscall_":

           syscall_0xbad(0x1, 0x2, 0x3, 0x4, 0x5, 0x6) = -1 ENOSYS (Function not implemented)


       Character pointers are dereferenced and printed as C  strings.   Non-printing  characters  in
       strings  are  normally represented by ordinary C escape codes.  Only the first _strsize_ (32 by
       default) bytes of strings are printed; longer strings have an ellipsis appended following the
       closing quote.  Here is a line from "ls -l" where the [**getpwuid**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getpwuid/3/markdown) library routine is  reading
       the password file:

           read(3, "[root::0](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/root%3A%3A0/markdown):0:System Administrator:/"..., 1024) = 422

       While  structures  are  annotated  using curly braces, pointers to basic types and arrays are
       printed using square brackets with commas separating the elements.  Here is an  example  from
       the command [**id**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/id/1/markdown) on a system with supplementary group ids:

           getgroups(32, [100, 0]) = 2

       On  the other hand, bit-sets are also shown using square brackets, but set elements are sepa‐
       rated only by a space.  Here is the shell, preparing to execute an external command:

           sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, [CHLD TTOU], []) = 0

       Here, the second argument is a bit-set of two signals, **SIGCHLD **and **SIGTTOU**.  In  some  cases,
       the  bit-set is so full that printing out the unset elements is more valuable.  In that case,
       the bit-set is prefixed by a tilde like this:

           sigprocmask(SIG_UNBLOCK, ~[], NULL) = 0

       Here, the second argument represents the full set of all signals.

## OPTIONS
### General
### -e _
                   them.  The format of the expression is:

                             [_qualifier_**=**][**!**]_value_[**,_**value_]...

                   where _qualifier_ is one of **trace **(or **t**), **trace-fds **(or **trace-fd **or **fd **or **fds**), **ab‐**
                   **brev **(or **a**), **verbose **(or **v**), **raw **(or **x**), **signal **(or **signals **or **s**), **read **(or **reads**
                   or **r**), **write **(or **writes **or **w**), **fault**, **inject**, **status**, **quiet **(or **silent **or **silence**
                   or  **q**), **decode-fds **(or **decode-fd**), **decode-pids **(or **decode-pid**), or **kvm**, and _value_
                   is a qualifier-dependent symbol or number.  The default qualifier is **trace**.   Us‐
                   ing  an  exclamation  mark negates the set of values.  For example, **-e open **means
                   literally **-e trace**=**open **which in turn means trace only the **open **system call.   By
                   contrast,  **-e trace**=!**open **means to trace every system call except **open**.  In addi‐
                   tion, the special values **all **and **none **have the obvious meanings.

                   Note that some shells use the exclamation point for history expansion even inside
                   quoted arguments.  If so, you must escape the exclamation point with a backslash.

### Startup
### -E _
       **--env**=_var_=_val_
                   Run command with _var_=_val_ in its list of environment variables.

### -E _
       **--env**=_var_   Remove _var_ from the inherited list of environment variables before passing it  on
                   to the command.

### -p _
       **--attach**=_pid_
                   Attach  to  the process with the process ID _pid_ and begin tracing.  The trace may
                   be terminated at any time by a keyboard interrupt signal (**CTRL-C**).   **strace  **will
                   respond by detaching itself from the traced process(es) leaving it (them) to con‐
                   tinue  running.   Multiple  **-p **options can be used to attach to many processes in
                   addition to _command_ (which is optional if at least one **-p **option is given).  Mul‐
                   tiple process IDs, separated by either comma (“,”), space (“ ”), tab, or  newline
                   character, can be provided as an argument to a single **-p **option, so, for example,
                   **-p **"$(pidof PROG)" and **-p **"$(pgrep PROG)" syntaxes are supported.

### -u _
       **--user**=_username_
                   Run  command  with  the  user ID, group ID, and supplementary groups of _username_.
                   This option is only useful when running as root and enables the correct execution
                   of setuid and/or setgid binaries.  Unless this option is used setuid  and  setgid
                   programs are executed without effective privileges.

       **--argv0**=_name_
                   Set argv[0] of the command being executed to _name_.  Useful for tracing multi-call
                   executables which interpret argv[0], such as busybox or kmod.

### Tracing
### -b _
       **--detach-on**=_syscall_
                   If specified syscall is reached, detach from traced process.  Currently, only **ex‐**
                   [**ecve**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ecve/2/markdown)  syscall is supported.  This option is useful if you want to trace multi-
                   threaded process and therefore require **-f**, but don't want to  trace  its  (poten‐
                   tially very complex) children.

### -D
### --daemonize
       **--daemonize**=**grandchild**
                   Run  tracer  process  as a grandchild, not as the parent of the tracee.  This re‐
                   duces the visible effect of **strace **by keeping the tracee a direct  child  of  the
                   calling process.

### -DD
       **--daemonize**=**pgroup**
       **--daemonize**=**pgrp**
                   Run  tracer process as tracee's grandchild in a separate process group.  In addi‐
                   tion to reduction of the visible effect of **strace**,  it  also  avoids  killing  of
                   **strace **with [**kill**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/kill/2/markdown) issued to the whole process group.

### -DDD
       **--daemonize**=**session**
                   Run tracer process as tracee's grandchild in a separate session ("true daemonisa‐
                   tion").  In addition to reduction of the visible effect of **strace**, it also avoids
                   killing of **strace **upon session termination.

### -f
### --follow-forks
                   Trace  child processes as they are created by currently traced processes as a re‐
                   sult of the [**fork**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fork/2/markdown), [**vfork**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vfork/2/markdown) and [**clone**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/clone/2/markdown) system calls.  Note  that  **-p  _**PID_  **-f**
                   will  attach  all threads of process _PID_ if it is multi-threaded, not only thread
                   with _thread_id_ = _PID_.

### --output-separately
                   If the **--output**=_filename_ option is in effect, each processes trace is written  to
                   _filename_._pid_ where _pid_ is the numeric process id of each process.

### -ff
### --follow-forks --output-separately
                   Combine  the  effects of **--follow-forks **and **--output-separately **options.  This is
                   incompatible with **-c**, since no per-process counts are kept.

                   One might want to consider using [**strace-log-merge**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/strace-log-merge/1/markdown) to obtain a combined  strace
                   log view.

### -I _
       **--interruptible**=_interruptible_
                   When **strace **can be interrupted by signals (such as pressing **CTRL-C**).

                   **1**, **anywhere    **no signals are blocked;
                   **2**, **waiting     **fatal signals are blocked while decoding syscall (default);
                   **3**, **never       **fatal signals are always blocked (default if **-o _**FILE_ _PROG_);
                   **4**, **never_tstp  **fatal  signals  and **SIGTSTP **(**CTRL-Z**) are always blocked (useful to
                                  make **strace -o _**FILE_ _PROG_ not stop on **CTRL-Z**, default if **-D**).

       **--syscall-limit**=_limit_
                   Detach all tracees when _limit_ number of syscalls  have  been  captured.  Syscalls
                   filtered  out  via  **--trace**,  **--trace-path **or **--status **options are not considered
                   when keeping track of the number of syscalls that are captured.

### --kill-on-exit
                   Set **PTRACE_O_EXITKILL **ptrace option to all tracee processes (which send a SIGKILL
                   signal to the tracee if the tracer exits) and do not detach them  on  cleanup  so
                   they  will not be left running after the tracer exit.  **--kill-on-exit **is not com‐
                   patible with **-p**/**--attach **options.

### Filtering
### -e trace
### -e t
       **--trace**=_syscall_set_
                   Trace only the  specified  set  of  system  calls.   _syscall_set_  is  defined  as
                   [**!**]_value_[**,_**value_], and _value_ can be one of the following:

                   _syscall_      Trace specific syscall, specified by its name (see [**syscalls**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/syscalls/2/markdown) for a
                                reference, but also see **NOTES**).

                   **?_**value_       Question mark before the syscall qualification allows suppression of
                                error in case no syscalls matched the qualification provided.

                   _value_**@64     **Limit the syscall specification described by _value_ to 64-bit person‐
                                ality.

                   _value_**@32     **Limit the syscall specification described by _value_ to 32-bit person‐
                                ality.

                   _value_**@x32    **Limit  the syscall specification described by _value_ to x32 personal‐
                                ity.

                   **all          **Trace all system calls.

                   **/_**regex_       Trace only those system calls that match the  _regex_.   You  can  use
                                **POSIX **Extended Regular Expression syntax (see [**regex**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/regex/7/markdown)).

                   **%file**
                   **file         **Trace  all  system calls which take a file name as an argument.  You
                                can     think     of     this     as     an     abbreviation     for
                                **-e trace**=**open**,**stat**,**chmod**,**unlink**,...   which is useful to seeing what
                                files the process is referencing.  Furthermore, using the  abbrevia‐
                                tion  will  ensure  that  you don't accidentally forget to include a
                                call like [**lstat**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lstat/2/markdown) in the list.  Betchya  woulda  forgot  that  one.
                                The  syntax  without  a  preceding percent sign ("**-e trace**=**file**") is
                                deprecated.

                   **%process**
                   **process      **Trace system calls  associated  with  process  lifecycle  (creation,
                                exec,  termination).   The  syntax  without a preceding percent sign
                                ("**-e trace**=**process**") is deprecated.

                   **%net**
                   **%network**
                   **network      **Trace all the network related system calls.  The  syntax  without  a
                                preceding percent sign ("**-e trace**=**network**") is deprecated.

                   **%signal**
                   **signal       **Trace all signal related system calls.  The syntax without a preced‐
                                ing percent sign ("**-e trace**=**signal**") is deprecated.

                   **%ipc**
                   **ipc          **Trace  all IPC related system calls.  The syntax without a preceding
                                percent sign ("**-e trace**=**ipc**") is deprecated.

                   **%desc**
                   **desc         **Trace all file descriptor related system calls.  The syntax  without
                                a preceding percent sign ("**-e trace**=**desc**") is deprecated.

                   **%memory**
                   **memory       **Trace all memory mapping related system calls.  The syntax without a
                                preceding percent sign ("**-e trace**=**memory**") is deprecated.

                   **%creds       **Trace system calls that read or modify user and group identifiers or
                                capability sets.

                   **%stat        **Trace stat syscall variants.

                   **%lstat       **Trace lstat syscall variants.

                   **%fstat       **Trace fstat, fstatat, and statx syscall variants.

                   **%%stat       **Trace  syscalls used for requesting file status (stat, lstat, fstat,
                                fstatat, statx, and their variants).

                   **%statfs      **Trace statfs, statfs64, statvfs, osf_statfs, and osf_statfs64 system
                                calls.     The    same    effect    can     be     achieved     with
                                **-e trace**=**/^(.*_)?statv?fs **regular expression.

                   **%fstatfs     **Trace  fstatfs,  fstatfs64, fstatvfs, osf_fstatfs, and osf_fstatfs64
                                system calls.  The same effect can be  achieved  with  **-e trace**=**/fs‐**
                                **tatv?fs **regular expression.

                   **%%statfs     **Trace  syscalls  related to file system statistics (statfs-like, fs‐
                                tatfs-like, and ustat).   The  same  effect  can  be  achieved  with
                                **-e trace**=**/statv?fs|fsstat|ustat **regular expression.

                   **%clock       **Trace system calls that read or modify system clocks.

                   **%pure        **Trace  syscalls  that  always  succeed  and have no arguments.  Cur‐
                                rently, this list includes  [**arc_gettls**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/arcgettls/2/markdown),  [**getdtablesize**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getdtablesize/2/markdown),  **gete‐**
                                [**gid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gid/2/markdown),  [**getegid32**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getegid32/2/markdown),  [**geteuid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/geteuid/2/markdown),  [**geteuid32**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/geteuid32/2/markdown),  [**getgid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getgid/2/markdown),  **get‐**
                                [**gid32**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gid32/2/markdown),   [**getpagesize**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getpagesize/2/markdown),   [**getpgrp**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getpgrp/2/markdown),   [**getpid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getpid/2/markdown),   [**getppid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getppid/2/markdown),
                                [**get_thread_area**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getthreadarea/2/markdown)  (on  architectures  other  than x86), [**gettid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gettid/2/markdown),
                                [**get_tls**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gettls/2/markdown),   [**getuid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getuid/2/markdown),   [**getuid32**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getuid32/2/markdown),   [**getxgid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getxgid/2/markdown),    [**getxpid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getxpid/2/markdown),
                                [**getxuid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getxuid/2/markdown), [**kern_features**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/kernfeatures/2/markdown), and [**metag_get_tls**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/metaggettls/2/markdown) syscalls.

                   The  **-c  **option  is  useful for determining which system calls might be useful to
                   trace.  For example, **trace**=**open,close,read,write **means to only trace  those  four
                   system  calls.   Be careful when making inferences about the user/kernel boundary
                   if only a subset of system calls are being monitored.  The default is **trace**=**all**.

### -e trace-fd
### -e trace-fds
### -e fd
### -e fds
       **--trace-fds**=_set_
                   Trace only the syscalls that operate on the specified  subset  of  (non-negative)
                   file  descriptors.   Note  that  usage  of  this  option also filters out all the
                   syscalls that do not operate on file descriptors at all.  Applies in  (inclusive)
                   disjunction with the **--trace-path **option.

### -e signal
### -e signals
### -e s
       **--signal**=_set_
                   Trace  only the specified subset of signals.  The default is **signal**=**all**.  For ex‐
                   ample, **signal**=!**SIGIO **(or **signal**=!**io**) causes **SIGIO **signals not to be traced.

### -e status
       **--status**=_set_
                   Print only system calls with the specified return status.  The  default  is  **sta‐**
                   **tus**=**all**.   When using the **status **qualifier, because **strace **waits for system calls
                   to return before deciding whether they should be printed or not, the  traditional
                   order  of  events may not be preserved anymore.  If two system calls are executed
                   by concurrent threads, **strace **will first print both the entry  and  exit  of  the
                   first  system call to exit, regardless of their respective entry time.  The entry
                   and exit of the second system call to exit will be printed afterwards.   Here  is
                   an  example  when  [**select**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/select/2/markdown)  is  called, but a different thread calls **clock_get‐**
                   [**time**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/time/2/markdown) before [**select**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/select/2/markdown) finishes:

                       [pid 28779] 1130322148.939977 clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, {1130322148, 939977000}) = 0
                       [pid 28772] 1130322148.438139 select(4, [3], NULL, NULL, NULL) = 1 (in [3])

                   _set_ can include the following elements:

                   **successful   **Trace system calls that returned without an error code.  The **-z  **op‐
                                tion has the effect of **status**=**successful**.
                   **failed       **Trace  system calls that returned with an error code.  The **-Z **option
                                has the effect of **status**=**failed**.
                   **unfinished   **Trace system calls that did not return.  This might happen, for  ex‐
                                ample, due to an execve call in a neighbour thread.
                   **unavailable  **Trace  system calls that returned but strace failed to fetch the er‐
                                ror status.
                   **detached     **Trace system calls for which strace detached before the return.

### -P _
       **--trace-path**=_path_
                   Trace only system calls accessing _path_.  Multiple **-P **options can be used to spec‐
                   ify several paths.  Applies in (inclusive) disjunction with the  **--trace-fds  **op‐
                   tion.

### -z
### --successful-only
                   Print only syscalls that returned without an error code.

### -Z
### --failed-only
                   Print only syscalls that returned with an error code.

### Output format
### -a _
       **--columns**=_column_
                   Align return values in a specific column (default column 40).

### -e abbrev
### -e a
       **--abbrev**=_syscall_set_
                   Abbreviate  the output from printing each member of large structures.  The syntax
                   of the _syscall_set_ specification is the same as in the **-e trace **option.  The  de‐
                   fault is **abbrev**=**all**.  The **-v **option has the effect of **abbrev**=**none**.

### -e verbose
### -e v
       **--verbose**=_syscall_set_
                   Dereference  structures for the specified set of system calls.  The syntax of the
                   _syscall_set_ specification is the same as in the **-e trace **option.  The default  is
                   **verbose**=**all**.

### -e raw
### -e x
       **--raw**=_syscall_set_
                   Print raw, undecoded arguments for the specified set of system calls.  The syntax
                   of the _syscall_set_ specification is the same as in the **-e trace **option.  This op‐
                   tion  has the effect of causing all arguments to be printed in hexadecimal.  This
                   is mostly useful if you don't trust the decoding or you need to know  the  actual
                   numeric value of an argument.  See also **-X raw **option.

### -e read
### -e reads
### -e r
       **--read**=_set_  Perform a full hexadecimal and ASCII dump of all the data read from file descrip‐
                   tors listed in the specified set.  For example, to see all input activity on file
                   descriptors _3_ and _5_ use **-e read**=_3_,_5_.  Note that this is independent from the nor‐
                   mal  tracing  of  the  [**read**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/read/2/markdown)  system  call  which  is  controlled by the option
                   **-e trace**=**read**.

### -e write
### -e writes
### -e w
       **--write**=_set_ Perform a full hexadecimal and ASCII dump of all the data  written  to  file  de‐
                   scriptors  listed  in the specified set.  For example, to see all output activity
                   on file descriptors _3_ and _5_ use **-e write**=_3_,_5_.  Note that this is independent from
                   the normal tracing of the [**write**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/write/2/markdown) system call which is controlled by the  option
                   **-e trace**=**write**.

### -e quiet
### -e silent
### -e silence
### -e q
       **--quiet**=_set_
       **--silent**=_set_
       **--silence**=_set_
                   Suppress  various  information messages.  The default is **quiet**=**none**.  _set_ can in‐
                   clude the following elements:

                   **attach           **Suppress messages about attaching and detaching ("**[ Process NNNN**
                                    **attached ]**", "**[ Process NNNN detached ]**").
                   **exit             **Suppress messages about process  exits  ("**+++  exited  with  SSS**
                                    **+++**").
                   **path-resolution  **Suppress  messages about resolution of paths provided via the **-P**
                                    option ("**Requested path "..." resolved into "..."**").
                   **personality      **Suppress messages about process personality changes ("**[  Process**
                                    **PID=NNNN runs in PPP mode. ]**").
                   **thread-execve**
                   **superseded       **Suppress messages about process being superseded by [**execve**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/execve/2/markdown) in
                                    another thread ("**+++ superseded by execve in pid NNNN +++**").

### -e decode-fds
       **--decode-fds**=_set_
                   Decode  various information associated with file descriptors.  The default is **de‐**
                   **code-fds**=**none**.  _set_ can include the following elements:

                   **path     **Print file paths.  Also enables printing of tracee's current working di‐
                            rectory when **AT_FDCWD **constant is used.
                   **socket   **Print socket protocol-specific information,
                   **dev      **Print character/block device numbers.
                   **pidfd    **Print PIDs associated with pidfd file descriptors.
                   **signalfd **Print signal masks associated with signalfd file descriptors.

### -e decode-pids
       **--decode-pids**=_set_
                   Decode various information associated with process  IDs  (and  also  thread  IDs,
                   process  group  IDs, and session IDs).  The default is **decode-pids**=**none**.  _set_ can
                   include the following elements:

                   **comm    **Print command names associated with thread or process IDs.
                   **pidns   **Print thread, process, process group, and session  IDs  in  strace's  PID
                           namespace if the tracee is in a different PID namespace.

### -e kvm
       **--kvm**=**vcpu  **Print  the  exit  reason  of  kvm  vcpu.  Requires Linux kernel version 4.16.0 or
                   higher.

### -i
### --instruction-pointer
                   Print the instruction pointer at the time of the system call.

### -n
### --syscall-number
                   Print the syscall number.

### -k
       **--stack-trace**[=**symbol**]
                   Print the execution stack trace of the traced processes after each system call.

       **--stack-trace-frame-limit**=_limit_
                   Print no more than this amount of stack trace frames when  backtracing  a  system
                   call  (the  default  is 256).  Use this option with the **--stack-trace **(or **-k**) op‐
                   tion.

### -o _
       **--output**=_filename_
                   Write the trace output to the file _filename_ rather than to stderr.   _filename_._pid_
                   form  is used if **-ff **option is supplied.  If the argument begins with '|' or '!',
                   the rest of the argument is treated as a command and all output is piped  to  it.
                   This is convenient for piping the debugging output to a program without affecting
                   the redirections of executed programs.  The latter is not compatible with **-ff **op‐
                   tion currently.

### -A
### --output-append-mode
                   Open the file provided in the **-o **option in append mode.

### -q
### --quiet
       **--quiet**=**attach**,**personality**
                   Suppress messages about attaching, detaching, and personality changes.  This hap‐
                   pens automatically when output is redirected to a file and the command is run di‐
                   rectly instead of attaching.

### -qq
       **--quiet**=**attach**,**personality**,**exit**
                   Suppress  messages  attaching,  detaching, personality changes, and about process
                   exit status.

### -qqq
       **--quiet**=**all **Suppress all suppressible messages (please refer to the **-e quiet **option  descrip‐
                   tion for the full list of suppressible messages).

### -r
       **--relative-timestamps**[=_precision_]
                   Print a relative timestamp upon entry to each system call.  This records the time
                   difference  between  the  beginning of successive system calls.  _precision_ can be
                   one of **s **(for seconds), **ms **(milliseconds), **us  **(microseconds),  or  **ns  **(nanosec‐
                   onds),  and allows setting the precision of time value being printed.  Default is
### us (microseconds)
                   measuring  time difference and not the wall clock time, its measurements can dif‐
                   fer from the difference in time reported by the **-t **option.

### -s _
       **--string-limit**=_strsize_
                   Specify the maximum string size to print (the default is 32).   Note  that  file‐
                   names are not considered strings and are always printed in full.

       **--absolute-timestamps**[=[[**format:**]_format_],[[**precision:**]_precision_]]
       **--timestamps**[=[[**format:**]_format_],[[**precision:**]_precision_]]
                   Prefix  each  line  of the trace with the wall clock time in the specified _format_
                   with the specified _precision_.  _format_ can be one of the following:

                   **none          **No time stamp is printed.  Can be used  to  override  the  previous
                                 setting.
                   **time          **Wall clock time ([**strftime**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/strftime/3/markdown) format string is **%T**).
                   **unix          **Number  of  seconds  since  the epoch ([**strftime**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/strftime/3/markdown) format string is
                                 **%s**).

                   _precision_ can be one of **s **(for seconds), **ms **(milliseconds), **us **(microseconds), or
### ns (nanoseconds)

### -t
### --absolute-timestamps
                   Prefix each line of the trace with the wall clock time.

### -tt
       **--absolute-timestamps**=**precision:us**
                   If given twice, the time printed will include the microseconds.

### -ttt
       **--absolute-timestamps**=**format:unix**,**precision:us**
                   If given thrice, the time printed will include the microseconds and  the  leading
                   portion will be printed as the number of seconds since the epoch.

### -T
       **--syscall-times**[=_precision_]
                   Show  the  time  spent in system calls.  This records the time difference between
                   the beginning and the end of each system call.  _precision_ can be one  of  **s  **(for
                   seconds),  **ms  **(milliseconds), **us **(microseconds), or **ns **(nanoseconds), and allows
                   setting the precision of time value being printed.  Default is **us **(microseconds).

### -v
       **--no-abbrev **Print unabbreviated versions of environment, stat, termios, etc.   calls.   These
                   structures  are  very common in calls and so the default behavior displays a rea‐
                   sonable subset of structure members.  Use this option to get all of the gory  de‐
                   tails.

       **--strings-in-hex**[=_option_]
                   Control  usage  of  escape  sequences  with  hexadecimal  numbers  in the printed
                   strings.  Normally (when no **--strings-in-hex **or **-x **option  is  supplied),  escape
                   sequences  are  used  to  print  non-printable and non-ASCII characters (that is,
                   characters with a character code less than 32 or greater than 127), or to  disam‐
                   biguate  the  output (so, for quotes and other characters that encase the printed
                   string, for example, angle brackets, in case of file descriptor path output); for
                   the former use case, unless it is a white space character that has a symbolic es‐
                   cape sequence defined in the C standard (that is, “**\t**” for a horizontal tab, “**\n**”
                   for a newline, “**\v**” for a vertical tab, “**\f**” for a form feed page break, and “**\r**”
                   for a carriage return) are printed using escape sequences with numbers that  cor‐
                   respond to their byte values, with octal number format being the default.  _option_
                   can be one of the following:

                   **none             **Hexadecimal  numbers  are  not  used in the output at all.  When
                                    there is a need to emit an escape sequence,  octal  numbers  are
                                    used.
                   **non-ascii-chars  **Hexadecimal  numbers are used instead of octal in the escape se‐
                                    quences.
                   **non-ascii        **Strings that contain non-ASCII characters are printed using  es‐
                                    cape sequences with hexadecimal numbers.
                   **all              **All  strings are printed using escape sequences with hexadecimal
                                    numbers.

                   When the option is supplied without an argument, **all **is assumed.

### -x
       **--strings-in-hex**=**non-ascii**
                   Print all non-ASCII strings in hexadecimal string format.

### -xx
       **--strings-in-hex**[=**all**]
                   Print all strings in hexadecimal string format.

### -X _
       **--const-print-style**=_format_
                   Set the format for printing of named constants and flags.  Supported _format_  val‐
                   ues are:

                   **raw       **Raw number output, without decoding.
                   **abbrev    **Output  a named constant or a set of flags instead of the raw number if
                             they are found.  This is the default **strace **behaviour.
                   **verbose   **Output both the raw value and the decoded string (as a comment).

### -y
### --decode-fds
       **--decode-fds**=**path**
                   Print paths associated with file descriptor arguments and with the **AT_FDCWD  **con‐
                   stant.

### -yy
       **--decode-fds**=**all**
                   Print  all  available information associated with file descriptors: protocol-spe‐
                   cific information associated with socket file descriptors, block/character device
                   number associated with device file descriptors, and PIDs  associated  with  pidfd
                   file descriptors.

### --pidns-translation
       **--decode-pids**=**pidns**
                   If  strace  and  tracee  are  in different PID namespaces, print PIDs in strace's
                   namespace, too.

### -Y
       **--decode-pids**=**comm**
                   Print command names for PIDs.

### Statistics
### -c
### --summary-only
                   Count time, calls, and errors for each system call and report a summary  on  pro‐
                   gram  exit,  suppressing  the  regular output.  This attempts to show system time
                   (CPU time spent running in the kernel) independent of wall clock time.  If **-c  **is
                   used with **-f**, only aggregate totals for all traced processes are kept.

### -C
       **--summary   **Like **-c **but also print regular output while processes are running.

### -O _
       **--summary-syscall-overhead**=_overhead_
                   Set  the overhead for tracing system calls to _overhead_.  This is useful for over‐
                   riding the default heuristic for guessing how much time is spent in mere  measur‐
                   ing  when timing system calls using the **-c **option.  The accuracy of the heuristic
                   can be gauged by timing a given program run without tracing (using  [**time**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/time/1/markdown))  and
                   comparing the accumulated system call time to the total produced using **-c**.

                   The  format  of _overhead_ specification is described in section _Time_ _specification_
                   _format_ _description_.

### -S _
       **--summary-sort-by**=_sortby_
                   Sort the output of the histogram printed by the **-c **option by the specified crite‐
                   rion.  Legal values are **time  **(or  **time-percent  **or  **time-total  **or  **total-time**),
                   **min-time  **(or  **shortest **or **time-min**), **max-time **(or **longest **or **time-max**), **avg-time**
                   (or **time-avg**),  **calls  **(or  **count**),  **errors  **(or  **error**),  **name  **(or  **syscall  **or
                   **syscall-name**), and **nothing **(or **none**); default is **time**.

### -U _
       **--summary-columns**=_columns_
                   Configure  a  set  (and  order)  of columns being shown in the call summary.  The
                   _columns_ argument is a comma-separated list with items being one of the following:

                   **time-percent **(or **time**)              Percentage of cumulative time consumed  by  a
                                                       specific system call.
                   **total-time **(or **time-total**)          Total  system (or wall clock, if **-w **option is
                                                       provided) time consumed by a specific  system
                                                       call.
                   **min-time **(or **shortest **or **time-min**)  Minimum observed call duration.
                   **max-time **(or **longest **or **time-max**)   Maximum observed call duration.
                   **avg-time **(or **time-avg**)              Average call duration.
                   **calls **(or **count**)                    Call count.
                   **errors **(or **error**)                   Error count.
                   **name **(or **syscall **or **syscall-name**)   Syscall name.

                   The  default value is **time-percent**,**total-time**,**avg-time**,**calls**,**errors**,**name**.  If the
                   **name **field is not supplied explicitly, it is added as the last column.

### -w
### --summary-wall-clock
                   Summarise the time difference between the beginning and end of each system  call.
                   The default is to summarise the system time.

### Tampering
### -e inject
       **ter**=_delay_][:**delay_exit**=_delay_][:**poke_enter**=_@argN=DATAN,@argM=DATAM..._]
       [:**poke_exit**=_@argN=DATAN,@argM=DATAM..._][:**when**=_expr_]
       **--inject**=_syscall_set_[:**error**=_errno_|:**retval**=_value_][:**signal**=_sig_][:**syscall**=_syscall_][:**delay_en‐**
       **ter**=_delay_][:**delay_exit**=_delay_][:**poke_enter**=_@argN=DATAN,@argM=DATAM..._]
       [:**poke_exit**=_@argN=DATAN,@argM=DATAM..._][:**when**=_expr_]
                   Perform  syscall  tampering for the specified set of syscalls.  The syntax of the
                   _syscall_set_ specification is the same as in the **-e trace **option.

                   At least one of **error**, **retval**, **signal**, **delay_enter**,  **delay_exit**,  **poke_enter**,  or
                   **poke_exit **options has to be specified.  **error **and **retval **are mutually exclusive.

                   If  :**error**=_errno_  option is specified, a fault is injected into a syscall invoca‐
                   tion: the syscall number is replaced  by  -1  which  corresponds  to  an  invalid
                   syscall (unless a syscall is specified with :**syscall= **option), and the error code
                   is  specified  using a symbolic _errno_ value like **ENOSYS **or a numeric value within
                   1..4095 range.

                   If :**retval**=_value_ option is specified, success injection is performed: the syscall
                   number is replaced by -1, but a bogus success value is returned to the callee.

                   If :**signal**=_sig_ option is specified with either a symbolic value like **SIGSEGV **or a
                   numeric value within 1..**SIGRTMAX **range, that  signal  is  delivered  on  entering
                   every syscall specified by the _set_.

                   If :**delay_enter**=_delay_ or :**delay_exit**=_delay_ options are specified, delay injection
                   is performed: the tracee is delayed by time period specified by _delay_ on entering
                   or  exiting  the syscall, respectively.  The format of _delay_ specification is de‐
                   scribed in section _Time_ _specification_ _format_ _description_.

                   If                   :**poke_enter**=_@argN=DATAN,@argM=DATAM..._                    or
                   :**poke_exit**=_@argN=DATAN,@argM=DATAM..._  options  are specified, tracee's memory at
                   locations, pointed to by system call arguments _argN_ and _argM_ (going from _arg1_  to
                   _arg7_)  is  overwritten  by data _DATAN_ and _DATAM_ (specified in hexadecimal format;
                   for example :**poke_enter**=_@arg1=0000DEAD0000BEEF_).  :**poke_enter **modifies memory  on
                   syscall enter, and :**poke_exit **- on exit.

                   If  :**signal**=_sig_  option  is specified without :**error**=_errno_, :**retval**=_value_ or :**de‐**
                   **lay_{enter,exit}**=_usecs_ options, then only a signal _sig_  is  delivered  without  a
                   syscall  fault or delay injection.  Conversely, :**error**=_errno_ or :**retval**=_value_ op‐
                   tion without :**delay_enter**=_delay_, :**delay_exit**=_delay_ or :**signal**=_sig_ options injects
                   a fault without delivering a signal or injecting a delay, etc.

                   If :**signal**=_sig_ option is specified together with :**error**=_errno_  or  :**retval**=_value_,
                   then both injection of a fault or success and signal delivery are performed.

                   if  :**syscall**=_syscall_  option is specified, the corresponding syscall with no side
                   effects is injected instead of -1.  Currently, only "pure"  (see  **-e  trace**=**%pure**
                   description) syscalls can be specified there.

                   Unless  a  :**when**=_expr_ subexpression is specified, an injection is being made into
                   every invocation of each syscall from the _set_.

                   The format of the subexpression is:

                             _first_[**.._**last_][**+**[_step_]]

                   Number _first_ stands for the first invocation number in  the  range,  number  _last_
                   stands  for the last invocation number in the range, and _step_ stands for the step
                   between two consecutive invocations.  The following combinations are useful:

                   _first_             For every syscall from the _set_, perform an  injection  for  the
                                     syscall invocation number _first_ only.
                   _first_**.._**last_       For  every  syscall  from the _set_, perform an injection for the
                                     syscall invocation number _first_ and all subsequent  invocations
                                     until the invocation number _last_ (inclusive).
                   _first_**+            **For  every  syscall  from  the  _set_, perform injections for the
                                     syscall invocation number _first_ and all subsequent invocations.
                   _first_**.._**last_**+      **For every syscall from the  _set_,  perform  injections  for  the
                                     syscall  invocation number _first_ and all subsequent invocations
                                     until the invocation number _last_ (inclusive).
                   _first_**+_**step_        For every syscall from the _set_, perform injections for  syscall
                                     invocations  number  _first_, _first_+_step_, _first_+_step_+_step_, and so
                                     on.
                   _first_**.._**last_**+_**step_  Same as the previous, but  consider  only  syscall  invocations
                                     with numbers up to _last_ (inclusive).

                   For  example,  to  fail each third and subsequent chdir syscalls with **ENOENT**, use
                   **-e inject**=_chdir_:**error**=_ENOENT_:**when**=_3_**+**.

                   The valid range for numbers _first_ and _step_ is 1..65535, and for  number  _last_  is
                   1..65534.

                   An injection expression can contain only one **error**= or **retval**= specification, and
                   only  one  **signal**=  specification.   If an injection expression contains multiple
                   **when**= specifications, the last one takes precedence.

                   Accounting of syscalls that are subject to injection is done per syscall and  per
                   tracee.

                   Specification  of  syscall injection can be combined with other syscall filtering
                   options, for example, **-P _**/dev/urandom_ **-e inject**=_file_:**error**=_ENOENT_.

### -e fault
       **--fault**=_syscall_set_[:**error**=_errno_][:**when**=_expr_]
                   Perform syscall fault injection for the specified set of syscalls.

                   This is equivalent to more generic **-e inject**= expression with  default  value  of
                   _errno_ option set to **ENOSYS**.

### Miscellaneous
### -d
       **--debug     **Show some debugging output of **strace **itself on the standard error.

### -F          
                   may be removed in future releases.  Usage of multiple instances of **-F  **option  is
                   still  equivalent to a single **-f**, and it is ignored at all if used along with one
                   or more instances of **-f **option.

### -h
       **--help      **Print the help summary.

### --seccomp-bpf
                   Try to enable use of seccomp-bpf (see [**seccomp**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/seccomp/2/markdown)) to  have  [**ptrace**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ptrace/2/markdown)-stops  only
                   when  system calls that are being traced occur in the traced processes.  This op‐
                   tion has no effect unless **-f**/**--follow-forks **is also specified.  **--seccomp-bpf  **is
                   not  compatible  with **--syscall-limit **and **-b**/**--detach-on **options.  It is also not
                   applicable to processes attached using **-p**/**--attach **option.  An attempt to  enable
                   system calls filtering using seccomp-bpf may fail for various reasons, e.g. there
                   are  too many system calls to filter, the seccomp API is not available, or **strace**
                   itself is being traced.  In cases when seccomp-bpf filter  setup  failed,  **strace**
                   proceeds  as  usual and stops traced processes on every system call.  When **--sec‐**
                   **comp-bpf **is activated and **-p**/**--attach **option is not used,  **--kill-on-exit  **option
                   is activated as well.

       **--tips**[=[[**id:**]_id_],[[**format:**]_format_]]
                   Show strace tips, tricks, and tweaks before exit.  _id_ can be a non-negative inte‐
                   ger number, which enables printing of specific tip, trick, or tweak (these ID are
                   not guaranteed to be stable), or **random **(the default), in which case a random tip
                   is printed.  _format_ can be one of the following:

                   **none     **No tip is printed.  Can be used to override the previous setting.
                   **compact  **Print the tip just big enough to contain all the text.
                   **full     **Print the tip in its full glory.

                   Default is **id:random,format:compact**.

### -V
       **--version   **Print the version number of **strace**.  Multiple instances of the option beyond spe‐
                   cific threshold tend to increase Strauss awareness.

### Time specification format description
       Time values can be specified as a decimal floating point number (in a format accepted by **str‐**
       [**tod**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tod/3/markdown)),  optionally followed by one of the following suffices that specify the unit of time:
### s (seconds), ms (milliseconds), us (microseconds),
       specified, the value is interpreted as microseconds.

       The described format is used for **-O**, **-e inject**=**delay_enter**, and **-e inject**=**delay_exit **options.

## DIAGNOSTICS
       When  _command_  exits,  **strace **exits with the same exit status.  If _command_ is terminated by a
       signal, **strace **terminates itself with the same signal, so that **strace **can be used as a  wrap‐
       per  process transparent to the invoking parent process.  Note that parent-child relationship
       (signal stop notifications, [**getppid**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getppid/2/markdown) value, etc) between traced process and its parent  are
       not preserved unless **-D **is used.

       When  using  **-p  **without a _command_, the exit status of **strace **is zero unless no processes has
       been attached or there was an unexpected error in doing the tracing.

## SETUID INSTALLATION
       If **strace **is installed setuid to root then the invoking user will be able to  attach  to  and
       trace  processes  owned by any user.  In addition setuid and setgid programs will be executed
       and traced with the correct effective privileges.  Since only users trusted  with  full  root
       privileges should be allowed to do these things, it only makes sense to install **strace **as se‐
       tuid  to  root  when the users who can execute it are restricted to those users who have this
       trust.  For example, it makes sense to install a special version of **strace **with  mode  'rwsr-
       xr--', user **root **and group **trace**, where members of the **trace **group are trusted users.  If you
       do  use  this  feature, please remember to install a regular non-setuid version of **strace **for
       ordinary users to use.

## MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES SUPPORT
       On some architectures, **strace **supports decoding of syscalls for processes that use  different
       ABI  rather  than  the  one  **strace  **uses.  Specifically, in addition to decoding native ABI,
       **strace **can decode the following ABIs on the following architectures:
       ┌────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┐
       │ **Architecture       **│ **ABIs supported          **│
       ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
       │ x86_64             │ i386, x32 [1]; i386 [2] │
       ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
       │ AArch64            │ ARM 32-bit EABI         │
       ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
       │ PowerPC 64-bit [3] │ PowerPC 32-bit          │
       ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
       │ s390x              │ s390                    │
       ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
       │ SPARC 64-bit       │ SPARC 32-bit            │
       ├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
       │ TILE 64-bit        │ TILE 32-bit             │
       └────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┘

       [1]  When **strace **is built as an x86_64 application
       [2]  When **strace **is built as an x32 application
       [3]  Big endian only

       This support is optional and relies on ability to generate and  parse  structure  definitions
       during  the build time.  Please refer to the output of the **strace -V **command in order to fig‐
       ure out what support is available in your **strace **build ("non-native" refers to  an  ABI  that
       differs from the ABI **strace **has):

       **m32-mpers      strace **can trace and properly decode non-native 32-bit binaries.
       **no-m32-mpers   strace **can trace, but cannot properly decode non-native 32-bit binaries.
       **mx32-mpers     strace **can trace and properly decode non-native 32-on-64-bit binaries.
       **no-mx32-mpers  strace **can trace, but cannot properly decode non-native 32-on-64-bit binaries.

       If the output contains neither **m32-mpers **nor **no-m32-mpers**, then decoding of non-native 32-bit
       binaries is not implemented at all or not applicable.

       Likewise,  if the output contains neither **mx32-mpers **nor **no-mx32-mpers**, then decoding of non-
       native 32-on-64-bit binaries is not implemented at all or not applicable.

## NOTES
       It is a pity that so much tracing clutter is produced by systems employing shared libraries.

       It is instructive to think about system call inputs  and  outputs  as  data-flow  across  the
       user/kernel  boundary.   Because  user-space  and  kernel-space are separate and address-pro‐
       tected, it is sometimes possible to make deductive inferences about  process  behavior  using
       inputs and outputs as propositions.

       In  some  cases,  a  system call will differ from the documented behavior or have a different
       name.  For example, the [**faccessat**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/faccessat/2/markdown) system call does not have _flags_ argument, and the  **setr‐**
       [**limit**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/limit/2/markdown)  library  function uses [**prlimit64**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/prlimit64/2/markdown) system call on modern (2.6.38+) kernels.  These
       discrepancies are normal but idiosyncratic characteristics of the system call  interface  and
       are accounted for by C library wrapper functions.

       Some  system  calls  have  different  names in different architectures and personalities.  In
       these cases, system call filtering and printing  uses  the  names  that  match  corresponding
       **__NR_***  kernel macros of the tracee's architecture and personality.  There are two exceptions
       from this general rule: [**arm_fadvise64_64**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/armfadvise6464/2/markdown) ARM  syscall  and  [**xtensa_fadvise64_64**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xtensafadvise6464/2/markdown)  Xtensa
       syscall are filtered and printed as [**fadvise64_64**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fadvise6464/2/markdown).

       On x32, syscalls that are intended to be used by 64-bit processes and not x32 ones (for exam‐
       ple,  [**readv**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/readv/2/markdown),  that  has  syscall number 19 on x86_64, with its x32 counterpart has syscall
       number 515), but called with **__X32_SYSCALL_BIT **flag being set, are designated with  **#64  **suf‐
       fix.

       On  some  platforms  a  process that is attached to with the **-p **option may observe a spurious
       **EINTR **return from the current system call that is  not  restartable.   (Ideally,  all  system
       calls  should  be  restarted  on  **strace  **attach,  making  the attach invisible to the traced
       process, but a few system calls aren't.  Arguably, every instance of such behavior is a  ker‐
       nel  bug.)   This may have an unpredictable effect on the process if the process takes no ac‐
       tion to restart the system call.

       As **strace **executes the specified _command_ directly and does  not  employ  a  shell  for  that,
       scripts without shebang that usually run just fine when invoked by shell fail to execute with
       **ENOEXEC  **error.   It  is advisable to manually supply a shell as a _command_ with the script as
       its argument.

## BUGS
       Programs that use the _setuid_ bit do not have effective user ID privileges while being traced.

       A traced process runs slowly (but check out the **--seccomp-bpf **option).

       Unless **--kill-on-exit **option is used (or **--seccomp-bpf **option is used in a way  that  implies
       **--kill-on-exit**),  traced processes which are descended from _command_ may be left running after
       an interrupt signal (**CTRL-C**).

## HISTORY
       The original **strace **was written by Paul Kranenburg for SunOS and was inspired  by  its  **trace**
       utility.   The  SunOS version of **strace **was ported to Linux and enhanced by Branko Lankester,
       who also wrote the Linux kernel support.  Even though  Paul  released  **strace  **2.5  in  1992,
       Branko's work was based on Paul's **strace **1.5 release from 1991.  In 1993, Rick Sladkey merged
       **strace  **2.5  for SunOS and the second release of **strace **for Linux, added many of the features
       of [**truss**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/truss/1/markdown) from SVR4, and produced an **strace **that worked on both platforms.   In  1994  Rick
       ported  **strace **to SVR4 and Solaris and wrote the automatic configuration support.  In 1995 he
       ported **strace **to Irix and became tired of writing about himself in the third person.

       Beginning with 1996, **strace **was maintained by Wichert Akkerman.  During  his  tenure,  **strace**
       development migrated to CVS; ports to FreeBSD and many architectures on Linux (including ARM,
       IA-64,  MIPS,  PA-RISC, PowerPC, s390, SPARC) were introduced.  In 2002, the burden of **strace**
       maintainership was transferred to Roland McGrath.  Since then, **strace **gained support for sev‐
       eral new Linux architectures (AMD64, s390x, SuperH),  bi-architecture  support  for  some  of
       them,  and received numerous additions and improvements in syscalls decoders on Linux; **strace**
       development migrated to **Git **during that period.  Since 2009, **strace **is actively maintained by
       Dmitry Levin.  **strace **gained support for AArch64, ARC, AVR32, Blackfin, Meta, Nios II,  Open‐
       RISC  1000, RISC-V, Tile/TileGx, Xtensa architectures since that time.  In 2012, unmaintained
       and apparently broken support for non-Linux operating systems was  removed.   Also,  in  2012
       **strace  **gained  support for path tracing and file descriptor path decoding.  In 2014, support
       for stack trace printing was added.  In 2016, syscall fault injection was implemented.

       For the additional information, please refer to the **NEWS **file and  **strace  **repository  commit
       log.

## REPORTING BUGS
       Problems with **strace **should be reported to the ]8;;mailto:<strace-devel@lists.strace.io>\**strace **mailing list]8;;\.

## SEE ALSO
       [**strace-log-merge**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/strace-log-merge/1/markdown),  [**ltrace**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ltrace/1/markdown), [**perf-trace**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/perf-trace/1/markdown), [**trace-cmd**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/trace-cmd/1/markdown), [**time**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/time/1/markdown), [**ptrace**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ptrace/2/markdown), [**syscall**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/syscall/2/markdown),
       [**proc**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/proc/5/markdown), [**signal**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/signal/7/markdown)

       ]8;;<https://strace.io/>\**strace **Home Page]8;;\

## AUTHORS
       The complete list of **strace **contributors can be found in the **CREDITS **file.

strace 6.8                                   2024-03-13                                    [_STRACE_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/STRACE/1/markdown)
