Re: Anyone tried SystemTap with the latest RHEL5 Beta refresh

[David Wilder <dwilder at us dot ibm dot com>]

Frank Ch. Eigler wrote:

> "Ken Robson" <ken@odtv.com> writes:
>
>  
>
> > [...]  To me it is valid to install minus the debuginfo files on
> > almost all Production hosts.  I am experimenting with developing my
> > scripts off box with my cache directory set to an exported read-only
> > NFS share which is then mounted as the module cache directory on my
> > Production boxes [...]
> >    
>
> More than that - on such production boxes, you will need to install
> only the "staprun" (formerly "stapd") binary, now separated into a
> systemtap-runtime RPM.  For the moment though please be careful with
> building probes for mismatching machines: the module address tables
> are not yet fully adaptive.
>
> - FChE
>  
The cached debuginfo is a really cool concept. But it wont solve the 
problem of simplifying the use of systemtap for the customers. From a 
support standpoint if a customer system is missing a debug tool (or some 
dependent component) the tool may as well not exist! If it comes down to 
fix the debug tool or find another approach to solve the customers 
problem the later will generally win. To make stap successful we need to 
get people using it and providing feedback, let's make it as easy as 
possible to use. All dependencies must be installed when selecting a 
product for install.

--
David Wilder
IBM Linux Technology Center
Beaverton, Oregon, USA 
dwilder@us.ibm.com
(503)578-3789