execsnoop.bt(8) System Manager's Manual execsnoop.bt(8)
NAME
execsnoop.bt - Trace new processes via exec() syscalls. Uses bpf-
trace/eBPF.
SYNOPSIS
execsnoop.bt
DESCRIPTION
This traces when processes call exec() (execve()). It is handy for
identifying new processes created via the usual fork()->exec() se-
quence. Note that the return value is not currently traced, so the
exec() may have failed.
This tool is useful for debugging shell scripts, including application
startup. It is also useful for identifying a type of performance is-
sue: a flood of short-lived processes, that end quickly and aren't
readily visible in top(1).
Since this uses BPF, only the root user can use this tool.
REQUIREMENTS
CONFIG_BPF and bpftrace.
EXAMPLES
Trace all new processes calling execve():
# execsnoop.bt
FIELDS
TIME Time of the exec() call, in milliseconds since program start.
PID Process ID
PPID Parent Process ID
ARGS Process name and arguments (16 word maximum).
OVERHEAD
This traces the execve() tracepoint and prints output for each event.
As the rate of this is generally expected to be low (< 100/s), the
overhead is also expected to be negligible. If you have an application
that is spawning a high rate of new processes for a reason (large build
process), this could cause a small amount of overhead: test and under-
stand overhead before use.
SOURCE
This is from bpftrace.
https://github.com/iovisor/bpftrace
Also look in the bpftrace distribution for a companion _examples.txt
file containing example usage, output, and commentary for this tool.
This is a bpftrace version of the bcc tool of the same name. The bcc
tool provides more fields and options to customize the output.
https://github.com/iovisor/bcc
OS
Linux
STABILITY
Unstable - in development.
AUTHOR
Brendan Gregg
SEE ALSO
opensnoop.bt(8)
USER COMMANDS 2018-09-11 execsnoop.bt(8)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 15:58:19 CET 2025.