tracing_is_enabled(9)
π tracing_is_enabled: the vibe check for your kernel's global trace
okay so bestie, welcome to the tracing_is_enabled(9) page β part of the Kernel API Manual, no big deal, just the little function that tells you whether your global trace is out here living its best life or fully asleep π΄β¨
β¨ NAME β¨
tracing_is_enabled β literally just here to show you if global_trace has been enabled π
π SYNOPSIS π
int tracing_is_enabled (void );
that's it. that's the whole signature. she's lowkey iconic for it π
π«Ά ARGUMENTS π«Ά
voidβ no arguments. none. zero. the girl takes nothing and gives you a boolean-ish vibe back π¦
π DESCRIPTION π
so here's the tea β β this function shows you whether the global trace has been enabled or not. yes, that's genuinely the whole job, and she does it fast.
the way she pulls it off is by peeking at the mirror flag buffer_disabled, which is what makes her cheap enough to be used in fast paths β like for the irqsoff tracer, where you do not have time to be fancy πββοΈπ¨
π but bestie, hear me β she may be inaccurate due to races. this is not a read-the-room-and-trust-her-fully situation. that's the tradeoff for the speed.
if you actually need to know the accurate state, go use tracing_is_on β she's a little slower, but she's accurate. pick your fighter, know the cost, no cap ππ
π SEE ALSO π
kernel file ./kernel/trace/trace.c and the whole friend group:
trace_array_put(9)tracing_on(9)tracing_snapshot(9)tracing_alloc_snapshot(9)tracer_tracing_disable(9)tracer_tracing_enable(9)tracing_off(9)tracer_tracing_is_on(9)tracing_is_on(9)register_tracer(9)tracing_start(9)tracing_stop(9)trace_buffered_event_enable(9)trace_buffered_event_disable(9)trace_dump_stack(9)ignore_event(9)trace_adjust_address(9)tracing_update_buffers(9)trace_user_fault_destroy(9)trace_user_fault_init(9)trace_user_fault_get(9)trace_user_fault_put(9)trace_user_fault_read(9)err_pos(9)tracing_log_err(9)trace_array_get_by_name(9)tracing_init_dentry(9)
and that's the page, bestie! this one lives in ./kernel/trace and it's the October 2026 edition of the Kernel API Manual β go forth and check your trace state, just remember the race caveat ok bye love u ππ§π
π¦ where this page comes from
- nixpkgs unstable: linux-manual 7.3.1
- π girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms