[PATCH v1] perf doc: Improve perf trace's doc on --force-btf option
From: Howard Chu
Date: Wed Mar 26 2025 - 12:08:59 EST
As mentioned by Arnaldo in a past discussion (Link:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-perf-users/Z2m0pWiQgZNXhvxK@x1/), the
current documentation on --force-btf is vague and inaccurate, this patch
aims to provide a clearer explanation of the option.
Signed-off-by: Howard Chu <howardchu95@xxxxxxxxx>
Suggested-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/perf/Documentation/perf-trace.txt | 8 ++++----
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-trace.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-trace.txt
index 887dc37773d0..cf2445d2ba3d 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-trace.txt
+++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-trace.txt
@@ -246,10 +246,10 @@ the thread executes on the designated CPUs. Default is to monitor all CPUs.
arguments to strings (pid to comm, syscall id to syscall name, etc).
--force-btf::
- Use btf_dump to pretty print syscall argument data, instead of using hand-crafted pretty
- printers. This option is intended for testing BTF integration in perf trace. btf_dump-based
- pretty-printing serves as a fallback to hand-crafted pretty printers, as the latter can
- better pretty-print integer flags and struct pointers.
+ Use libbpf's btf_dump to pretty print syscall arguments, utilizing only the debug
+ information from BTF. This option is intended for testing BTF integration in perf
+ trace. Using libbpf is a fallback to perf trace's own prettifiers generated from the
+ kernel source, as the latter can better pretty-print integer flags and struct members.
PAGEFAULTS
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2.45.2