notrace

Notrace is a Linux kernel option that can be enabled to disable tracing capabilities. Tracing is a mechanism used for observing and debugging the behavior of a running system, often employed by tools like ftrace. When notrace is activated, the kernel's tracing infrastructure is compiled out or disabled at runtime, preventing the collection of trace data. This can be done for various reasons, such as improving performance by removing the overhead associated with tracing or for security purposes where the exposure of system internals through tracing is undesirable.

The notrace option is typically a compile-time configuration parameter. This means that to have the notrace functionality available, the Linux kernel needs to be compiled with this specific option enabled. Once compiled, the effect of notrace is to prevent any tracing events from being captured or analyzed. This can lead to a slight performance improvement in some scenarios because the code paths related to tracing are not present or are inactive.

The primary use cases for notrace are in environments where performance is critical and the overhead of tracing is unacceptable, or in security-sensitive deployments where the potential for tracing to reveal system information is a concern. For developers and system administrators who rely heavily on tracing for debugging, notrace would render those tools ineffective. Therefore, its use is generally considered in specific, often production or performance-critical, environments rather than during general development or debugging phases.