KSYMS(4)                                                   BSD Kernel Interfaces Manual                                                   KSYMS(4)

NAME

     ksyms -- kernel symbol table interface

SYNOPSIS

     device ksyms

DESCRIPTION

     The /dev/ksyms character device provides a read-only interface to a snapshot of the kernel symbol table.  The in-kernel symbol manager is
     designed to be able to handle many types of symbols tables, however, only elf(5) symbol tables are supported by this device.  The ELF format
     image contains two sections: a symbol table and a corresponding string table.

           Symbol Table
                   The SYMTAB section contains the symbol table entries present in the current running kernel, including the symbol table entries
                   of any loaded modules. The symbols are ordered by the kernel module load time starting with kernel file symbols first, followed
                   by the first loaded module's symbols and so on.

           String Table
                   The STRTAB section contains the symbol name strings from the kernel and any loaded modules that the symbol table entries refer-
                   ence.

     Elf formated symbol table data read from the /dev/ksyms file represents the state of the kernel at the time when the device is opened.  Since
     /dev/ksyms has no text or data, most of the fields are initialized to NULL.  The ksyms driver does not block the loading or unloading of mod-
     ules into the kernel while the /dev/ksyms file is open but may contain stale data.

IOCTLS

     The ioctl(2) command codes below are defined in <sys/ksyms.h>.

     The (third) argument to the ioctl(2) should be a pointer to the type indicated.

           KIOCGSIZE (size_t)
                   Returns the total size of the current symbol table.  This can be used when allocating a buffer to make a copy of the kernel
                   symbol table.

           KIOCGADDR (void *)
                   Returns the address of the kernel symbol table mapped in the process memory.

FILES

     /dev/ksyms

ERRORS

     An open(2) of /dev/ksyms will fail if:

     [EBUSY]            The device is already open.  A process must close /dev/ksyms before it can be opened again.

     [ENOMEM]           There is a resource shortage in the kernel.

     [ENXIO]            The driver was unsuccessful in creating a snapshot of the kernel symbol table.  This may occur if the kernel was in the
                        process of loading or unloading a module.

SEE ALSO

     ioctl(2), nlist(3), elf(5), kldload(8)

HISTORY

     A ksyms device exists in many different operating systems.  This implementation is similar in function to the Solaris and NetBSD ksyms
     driver.

     The ksyms driver first appeared in FreeBSD 8.0 to support lockstat(1).

BUGS

     Because files can be dynamically linked into the kernel at any time the symbol information can vary.  When you open the /dev/ksyms file, you
     have access to an ELF image which represents a snapshot of the state of the kernel symbol information at that instant in time. Keeping the
     device open does not block the loading or unloading of kernel modules.  To get a new snapshot you must close and re-open the device.

     A process is only allowed to open the /dev/ksyms file once at a time.  The process must close the /dev/ksyms before it is allowed to open it
     again.

     The ksyms driver uses the calling process' memory address space to store the snapshot.  ioctl(2) can be used to get the memory address where
     the symbol table is stored to save kernel memory.  mmap(2) may also be used but it will map it to another address.

AUTHORS

     The ksyms driver was written by Stacey Son <sson@freebsd.org>.

BSD                                                                April 5, 2009                                                               BSD