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author | Matt A. Tobin <mattatobin@localhost.localdomain> | 2018-02-02 04:16:08 -0500 |
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committer | Matt A. Tobin <mattatobin@localhost.localdomain> | 2018-02-02 04:16:08 -0500 |
commit | 5f8de423f190bbb79a62f804151bc24824fa32d8 (patch) | |
tree | 10027f336435511475e392454359edea8e25895d /toolkit/components/crashes/docs | |
parent | 49ee0794b5d912db1f95dce6eb52d781dc210db5 (diff) | |
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Add m-esr52 at 52.6.0
Diffstat (limited to 'toolkit/components/crashes/docs')
-rw-r--r-- | toolkit/components/crashes/docs/crash-events.rst | 176 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | toolkit/components/crashes/docs/index.rst | 24 |
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diff --git a/toolkit/components/crashes/docs/crash-events.rst b/toolkit/components/crashes/docs/crash-events.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..b29b27989 --- /dev/null +++ b/toolkit/components/crashes/docs/crash-events.rst @@ -0,0 +1,176 @@ +============ +Crash Events +============ + +**Crash Events** refers to a special subsystem of Gecko that aims to capture +events of interest related to process crashing and hanging. + +When an event worthy of recording occurs, a file containing that event's +information is written to a well-defined location on the filesystem. The Gecko +process periodically scans for produced files and consolidates information +into a more unified and efficient backend store. + +Crash Event Files +================= + +When a crash-related event occurs, a file describing that event is written +to a well-defined directory. That directory is likely in the directory of +the currently-active profile. However, if a profile is not yet active in +the Gecko process, that directory likely resides in the user's *app data* +directory (*UAppData* from the directory service). + +The filename of the event file is not relevant. However, producers need +to choose a filename intelligently to avoid name collisions and race +conditions. Since file locking is potentially dangerous at crash time, +the convention of generating a UUID and using it as a filename has been +adopted. + +File Format +----------- + +All crash event files share the same high-level file format. The format +consists of the following fields delimited by a UNIX newline (*\n*) +character: + +* String event name (valid UTF-8, but likely ASCII) +* String representation of integer seconds since UNIX epoch +* Payload + +The payload is event specific and may contain UNIX newline characters. +The recommended method for parsing is to split at most 3 times on UNIX +newline and then dispatch to an event-specific parsed based on the +event name. + +If an unknown event type is encountered, the event can safely be ignored +until later. This helps ensure that application downgrades (potentially +due to elevated crash rate) don't result in data loss. + +The format and semantics of each event type are meant to be constant once +that event type is committed to the main Firefox repository. If new metadata +needs to be captured or the meaning of data captured in an event changes, +that change should be expressed through the invention of a new event type. +For this reason, event names are highly recommended to contain a version. +e.g. instead of a *Gecko process crashed* event, we prefer a *Gecko process +crashed v1* event. + +Event Types +----------- + +Each subsection documents the different types of crash events that may be +produced. Each section name corresponds to the first line of the crash +event file. + +Currently only main process crashes produce event files. Because crashes and +hangs in child processes can be easily recorded by the main process, we do not +foresee the need for writing event files for child processes, design +considerations below notwithstanding. + +crash.main.2 +^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +This event is produced when the main process crashes. + +The payload of this event is delimited by UNIX newlines (*\n*) and contains the +following fields: + +* The crash ID string, very likely a UUID +* 0 or more lines of metadata, each containing one key=value pair of text + +crash.main.1 +^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +This event is produced when the main process crashes. + +The payload of this event is the string crash ID, very likely a UUID. +There should be ``UUID.dmp`` and ``UUID.extra`` files on disk, saved by +Breakpad. + +crash.submission.1 +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +This event is produced when a crash is submitted. + +The payload of this event is delimited by UNIX newlines (*\n*) and contains the +following fields: + +* The crash ID string +* "true" if the submission succeeded or "false" otherwise +* The remote crash ID string if the submission succeeded + +Aggregated Event Log +==================== + +Crash events are aggregated together into a unified event *log*. Currently, +this *log* is really a JSON file. However, this is an implementation detail +and it could change at any time. The interface to crash data provided by +the JavaScript API is the only supported interface. + +Design Considerations +===================== + +There are many considerations influencing the design of this subsystem. +We attempt to document them in this section. + +Decoupling of Event Files from Final Data Structure +--------------------------------------------------- + +While it is certainly possible for the Gecko process to write directly to +the final data structure on disk, there is an intentional decoupling between +the production of events and their transition into final storage. Along the +same vein, the choice to have events written to multiple files by producers +is deliberate. + +Some recorded events are written immediately after a process crash. This is +a very uncertain time for the host system. There is a high liklihood the +system is in an exceptional state, such as memory exhaustion. Therefore, any +action taken after crashing needs to be very deliberate about what it does. +Excessive memory allocation and certain system calls may cause the system +to crash again or the machine's condition to worsen. This means that the act +of recording a crash event must be very light weight. Writing a new file from +nothing is very light weight. This is one reason we write separate files. + +Another reason we write separate files is because if the main Gecko process +itself crashes (as opposed to say a plugin process), the crash reporter (not +Gecko) is running and the crash reporter needs to handle the writing of the +event info. If this writing is involved (say loading, parsing, updating, and +reserializing back to disk), this logic would need to be implemented in both +Gecko and the crash reporter or would need to be implemented in such a way +that both could use. Neither of these is very practical from a software +lifecycle management perspective. It's much easier to have separate processes +write a simple file and to let a single implementation do all the complex +work. + +Idempotent Event Processing +=========================== + +Processing of event files has been designed such that the result is +idempotent regardless of what order those files are processed in. This is +not only a good design decision, but it is arguably necessary. While event +files are processed in order by file mtime, filesystem times may not have +the resolution required for proper sorting. Therefore, processing order is +merely an optimistic assumption. + +Aggregated Storage Format +========================= + +Crash events are aggregated into a unified data structure on disk. That data +structure is currently LZ4-compressed JSON and is represented by a single file. + +The choice of a single JSON file was initially driven by time and complexity +concerns. Before changing the format or adding significant amounts of new +data, some considerations must be taken into account. + +First, in well-behaving installs, crash data should be minimal. Crashes and +hangs will be rare and thus the size of the crash data should remain small +over time. + +The choice of a single JSON file has larger implications as the amount of +crash data grows. As new data is accumulated, we need to read and write +an entire file to make small updates. LZ4 compression helps reduce I/O. +But, there is a potential for unbounded file growth. We establish a +limit for the max age of records. Anything older than that limit is +pruned. We also establish a daily limit on the number of crashes we will +store. All crashes beyond the first N in a day have no payload and are +only recorded by the presence of a count. This count ensures we can +distinguish between ``N`` and ``100 * N``, which are very different +values! diff --git a/toolkit/components/crashes/docs/index.rst b/toolkit/components/crashes/docs/index.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..e2ab50ea4 --- /dev/null +++ b/toolkit/components/crashes/docs/index.rst @@ -0,0 +1,24 @@ +.. _crashes_crashmanager: + +============= +Crash Manager +============= + +The **Crash Manager** is a service and interface for managing crash +data within the Gecko application. + +From JavaScript, the service can be accessed via:: + + Cu.import("resource://gre/modules/Services.jsm"); + let crashManager = Services.crashmanager; + +That will give you an instance of ``CrashManager`` from ``CrashManager.jsm``. +From there, you can access and manipulate crash data. + +Other Documents +=============== + +.. toctree:: + :maxdepth: 1 + + crash-events |