NAME

       execsnoop.bt - Trace new processes via exec() syscalls. Uses bpftrace/eBPF.

SYNOPSIS

       execsnoop.bt

DESCRIPTION

       This  traces when processes call exec() (execve()). It is handy for identifying new processes created via
       the usual fork()->exec() sequence. Note that the return value is not currently traced, so the exec()  may
       have failed.

       This  tool  is  useful for debugging shell scripts, including application startup.  It is also useful for
       identifying a type of performance issue: a flood of short-lived processes, that end  quickly  and  aren't
       readily visible in top(1).

       Since this uses BPF, only the root user can use this tool.

REQUIREMENTS

       CONFIG_BPF and bpftrace.

EXAMPLES

       Trace all new processes calling execve():
              # execsnoop.bt

FIELDS

       TIME   Time of the exec() call, in milliseconds since program start.

       PID    Process ID

       PPID   Parent Process ID

       ARGS   Process name and arguments (16 word maximum).

OVERHEAD

       This  traces  the  execve() tracepoint and prints output for each event. As the rate of this is generally
       expected to be low (< 100/s), the overhead is also expected to be negligible. If you have an  application
       that  is  spawning  a  high  rate of new processes for a reason (large build process), this could cause a
       small amount of overhead: test and understand overhead before use.

SOURCE

       This is from bpftrace.

              https://github.com/bpftrace/bpftrace

       Also look in the bpftrace distribution for a  companion  _examples.txt  file  containing  example  usage,
       output, and commentary for this tool.

       This  is  a  bpftrace  version  of  the  bcc tool of the same name. The bcc tool provides more fields and
       options to customize the output.

              https://github.com/iovisor/bcc

OS

       Linux

STABILITY

       Unstable - in development.

AUTHOR

       Brendan Gregg

SEE ALSO

       opensnoop.bt(8)

USER COMMANDS                                      2018-09-11                                    execsnoop.bt(8)