Tracing Resource-constrained Embedded Systems Using eBPF

Even though eBPF/IOVisor provide safe and powerful tools to trace both systems in development and in production in general, one encounters very significant problems when trying to run these tools on e …

Even though eBPF/IOVisor provide safe and powerful tools to trace both systems in development and in production in general, one encounters very significant problems when trying to run these tools on embedded devices which are often resource-constrained. This talk gives a brief introduction to the eBPF awesomeness and the mainstream way of tracing using the eBPF Compiller Collection, which works so well for data centers, then examines the hurdles which must be overcome to get it working on embedded devices (portability problems, kernel headers and build issues, size constraints and so on). In recent times, at least four separate projects have been started, each with a different approach, with the goal of bringing the eBPF awesomeness to embedded: What trade-offs are each of them making? In what stages of completion are they? Where are more efforts needed? To find out all these and more please watch the presentation.