Oracle Exploring DTrace With eBPF

While this year Oracle was successful in getting DTrace working well on Linux assuming you apply their patches or (more easily) using their Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel on Oracle Linux, they are looking at enhancing DTrace with the increasingly-used eBPF framework / in-kernel JIT.

Oracle developers are looking at supporting eBPF as an execution engine for DTrace. This would avoid some duplication efforts as DTrace continues to be improved for Linux by making use of all the functionality that has built up around eBPF the past few years. Oracle would look at contributing extensions to BPF and other kernel tracing code to further the DTrace integration.

Oracle's Kris van Hees outlined some of these plans last week at the Linux Plumbers Conference 2018 in Vancouver. A brief look at the envisioned DTrace + eBPF design can be found via this PDF slide deck.