[PATCH RFC 7/7] tracing: Parse filter from event string

From: Thomas Weißschuh

Date: Thu Aug 13 2026 - 10:09:29 EST


Make it possible to specify a trace event filter from the
kernel command line.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Weißschuh <thomas.weissschuh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

---
For the non-RFC patch this should probably be limited to only apply to
the cmdline path.
---
kernel/trace/trace.h | 3 ++-
kernel/trace/trace_events.c | 13 +++++++++----
kernel/trace/trace_events_test.c | 20 +++++++++++++++++---
3 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace.h b/kernel/trace/trace.h
index 6bf4f031efa8..9102bf0a45a9 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace.h
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace.h
@@ -2507,5 +2507,6 @@ static inline int rv_init_interface(void)
#endif /* _LINUX_KERNEL_TRACE_H */

#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_KUNIT)
-void ftrace_parse_event_string(char *buf, char **match, char **sub, char **event, char **mod);
+void ftrace_parse_event_string(char *buf, char **match, char **sub, char **event, char **mod,
+ char **filter);
#endif
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_events.c b/kernel/trace/trace_events.c
index c24929d003dd..d4c46b24c382 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_events.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_events.c
@@ -1426,10 +1426,12 @@ static int __ftrace_set_clr_event(struct trace_array *tr, const char *match,
}

VISIBLE_IF_KUNIT void
-ftrace_parse_event_string(char *buf, char **match, char **sub, char **event, char **mod)
+ftrace_parse_event_string(char *buf, char **match, char **sub, char **event, char **mod,
+ char **filter)
{
*event = NULL;
*sub = NULL;
+ *filter = NULL;

/* Modules events can be appended with :mod:<module> */
*mod = strstr(buf, ":mod:");
@@ -1453,6 +1455,9 @@ ftrace_parse_event_string(char *buf, char **match, char **sub, char **event, cha

*match = strsep(&buf, ":");
if (buf) {
+ *filter = buf;
+ strsep(filter, ":");
+
*sub = *match;
*event = buf;
*match = NULL;
@@ -1471,7 +1476,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_IF_KUNIT(ftrace_parse_event_string);

int ftrace_set_clr_event(struct trace_array *tr, const char *_buf, int set)
{
- char *event, *sub, *match, *mod;
+ char *event, *sub, *match, *mod, *filter;

if (!tr)
return -ENOENT;
@@ -1480,9 +1485,9 @@ int ftrace_set_clr_event(struct trace_array *tr, const char *_buf, int set)
if (!buf)
return -ENOMEM;

- ftrace_parse_event_string(buf, &match, &sub, &event, &mod);
+ ftrace_parse_event_string(buf, &match, &sub, &event, &mod, &filter);

- return __ftrace_set_clr_event(tr, match, sub, event, set, mod, NULL);
+ return __ftrace_set_clr_event(tr, match, sub, event, set, mod, filter);
}

/**
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_events_test.c b/kernel/trace/trace_events_test.c
index e090a699b8d5..fd54eb03b58f 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_events_test.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_events_test.c
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
struct parse_event_test_case {
const char *input;

- const char *match, *sub, *event, *mod;
+ const char *match, *sub, *event, *mod, *filter;
};

static const struct parse_event_test_case parse_event_test_cases[] = {
@@ -37,6 +37,12 @@ static const struct parse_event_test_case parse_event_test_cases[] = {
.sub = "sub",
.event = "event",
},
+ {
+ "sub:event:filter",
+ .sub = "sub",
+ .event = "event",
+ .filter = "filter",
+ },
{
"match",
.match = "match",
@@ -51,6 +57,13 @@ static const struct parse_event_test_case parse_event_test_cases[] = {
.event = "event",
.mod = "module",
},
+ {
+ "sub:event:filter:mod:module",
+ .sub = "sub",
+ .event = "event",
+ .mod = "module",
+ .filter = "filter",
+ },
};

static void parse_event_test_desc(const struct parse_event_test_case *params, char *desc)
@@ -71,18 +84,19 @@ KUNIT_ARRAY_PARAM(parse_event, parse_event_test_cases, parse_event_test_desc);
static void parse_event(struct kunit *test)
{
const struct parse_event_test_case *params = test->param_value;
- char *input, *match, *sub, *event, *mod;
+ char *input, *match, *sub, *event, *mod, *filter;

input = kunit_kstrdup(test, params->input, GFP_KERNEL);
if (!input)
kunit_skip(test, "ENOMEM");

- ftrace_parse_event_string(input, &match, &sub, &event, &mod);
+ ftrace_parse_event_string(input, &match, &sub, &event, &mod, &filter);

EXPECT_NULL_OR_STR_EQ(test, match, params->match);
EXPECT_NULL_OR_STR_EQ(test, sub, params->sub);
EXPECT_NULL_OR_STR_EQ(test, event, params->event);
EXPECT_NULL_OR_STR_EQ(test, mod, params->mod);
+ EXPECT_NULL_OR_STR_EQ(test, filter, params->filter);
}

static struct kunit_case trace_events_test_cases[] = {

--
2.55.0