GabrielMajeri / rust-ptrace-example

Using `ptrace` to debug a process with Rust

Rust ptrace example

This repo contains an example of using the ptrace system call from Rust to start and control the execution of a child process.

Profiling flow

The example was initially intended to become a statistic profiler. The current steps are:

• The profiler main process starts.
• The profiler forks itself.
  • The child immediately raises a SIGSTOP.
  • The parent waits for its child to stop using waitpid(UNTRACED).
• At this point, the profiler attaches itself to the child using ptrace.
• Also using ptrace, the child process is allowed to continue execution.
• The child performs an exec call to start the python3 interpreter (at this point, the child stops and the profiler is notified of this).
• Python then executes another exec call (again the profiler is notified).
• The profiler allows the child to execute and waits for a given interval.
• After a given interval, it stops the child using ptrace.