While Linus Torvalds pushes the release candidate versions for the upcoming Linux kernel 5.16, the work on the future version, 5.17 is also continuing. AMD‘s Smart Trace Buffer will enable users to contain debug logs in the chip to be inspected after failure. For the next version of the Linux kernel, the AMD STB feature will be added to drivers.
Isolating the logs in the system-on-chip
AMD Smart Trace Buffer is a feature that helps to prevent failures from happening on the system-on-chip. To do that, it analyses the last feature the system was using when it hits a failure. The feature runs in the background and stores the traces in the SoC for newer AMD hardware that supports Smart Trace Buffer. Then the traces can be read by using the DebugFS interface.
The traces can be read by using the DebugFS interface
It is currently unknown which CPUs will support Smart Trace Buffer, but clues support the Ryzen 5000 mobile chips. The AMD Radeon graphics drivers are also getting this feature.
The Linux kernel 5.17 is currently under development, and in the regular schedule, the first release candidates should be around on January 2022. The final release of 5.17 is expected at the end of the first quarter of 2022.