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<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
]>
<chapter id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>
<para>
SystemTap provides free software (GPL) infrastructure to simplify the
gathering of information about the running Linux system. This assists
diagnosis of a performance or functional problem. SystemTap eliminates the
need for the developer to go through the tedious and disruptive instrument,
recompile, install, and reboot sequence that may be otherwise required to
collect data.
</para>
<para>
SystemTap provides a simple command line interface and scripting language
for writing instrumentation for a live, running kernel. This instrumentation
uses probe points and functions provided in the <firstterm>tapset</firstterm> library.
</para>
<para>
Simply put, tapsets are scripts that encapsulate knowledge about a kernel subsystem
into pre-written probes and functions that can be used by other scripts.
Tapsets are analogous to libraries for C programs. They hide the
underlying details of a kernel area while exposing the key information
needed to manage and monitor that aspect of the kernel. They are typically
developed by kernel subject-matter experts.
</para>
<para>
A tapset exposes the high-level data and state transitions of a
subsystem. For the most part, good tapset developers assume that
SystemTap users know little to nothing about the kernel subsystem's
low-level details. As such, tapset developers write tapsets that help
ordinary SystemTap users write meaningful and useful SystemTap scripts.
</para>
<!-- add xref to upcoming section on how to write Tapsets/Tapset Comments -->
<section id="docsgoals">
<title>Documentation Goals</title>
<para>
This guide aims to document SystemTap's most useful and common tapset entries; it
also contains guidelines on proper tapset development and documentation.
The tapset definitions contained in this guide are extracted automatically from
properly-formatted comments in the code of each tapset file. As such, any revisions
to the definitions in this guide should be applied directly to their respective
tapset file.
</para>
<remark>add: "while users can read from code, it's easier to read from here!"</remark>
<remark>add: target audience, expected proficiency of readers</remark>
</section>
</chapter>
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