Re: SystemTap on Ubuntu 7.04 i386

[Peter Bach <peterzbach@comcast.net>]

Mike Mason wrote:
> I'm wondering if we could get the distros to install the vmlinux-only 
> debuginfo by default.  I'm guessing this would allow 95% of systemtap 
> to work out-of-box.
This is a great idea, to have the debuginfo available. The situation I 
find myself in is to load the distro (usually RedHat or SuSE), and use 
online repositories to keep up to date. The problem is that if a new 
kernel gets installed, I have to recompile with debuginfo just to get 
the usefulness of SystemTap. I always take the defaults for a kernel 
build, I want to use a computer for useful stuff; I would hate to 
calculate how much time I've wasted compiling kernels just to get 
debuginfo for SystemTap. Is there a better way?

I don't know if this is a function of having the distros compile a 
version with debuginfo, or just making it available in the online 
repositories, but this would seem to be a big hurdle that impedes that 
uptake of SystemTap for all but die hard users.

The real value is that SystemTap is not only useful for solving problems 
in during the development cycle, but illuminates how Linux works under 
the covers, in the most dynamic way, when it is actually running. This 
is much more useful that perusing the code. The target audience for this 
is only every CS student on the planet.