[Bug documentation/11554] New: Document SYSTEMTAP_DEBUGINFO_PATH better

["jkenisto at us dot ibm dot com" <sourceware-bugzilla at sourceware dot org>]

>From time to time, a stap user comes to me with the following problem.  He (or
she) is trying to debug a distro-provided kernel.  He's downloaded the debuginfo
rpm, but he doesn't know how to tell stap where to find the debuginfo.  And even
though I've been using stap for years, neither do I.

I know that there's probably some way to set the SYSTEMTAP_DEBUGINFO_PATH
environment variable to solve his problem, but the stap(1) man page (which is
the only place I see SYSTEMTAP_DEBUGINFO_PATH mentioned) is almost no help here.
 Even consulting the stap source is no help, because the debuginfo search
algorithm seems to be buried in the bowels of elfutils.

I usually end up advising them to do what I do, which is to build a new kernel
with -g and point /boot/vmlinux-<version> at it.  But that's often not an option.

So could somebody who knows this stuff please document it clearly?  Specifically...
1. What does stap expect the kernel debuginfo file to be called?
2. How do you tell stap to find it in directory D?
3. What about debuginfo for kernel modules?
4. What about debuginfo for user programs?
5. What about debuginfo for libraries?

-- 
           Summary: Document SYSTEMTAP_DEBUGINFO_PATH better
           Product: systemtap
           Version: unspecified
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: documentation
        AssignedTo: systemtap at sources dot redhat dot com
        ReportedBy: jkenisto at us dot ibm dot com


http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=11554

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