# DTrace at 20

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2023-09-12
- Length: 2h 04m
- Episode: 26
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/bdfd0524

## Summary

Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, co-creators of DTrace, along with Josh Clulow, reflect on the 20-year history of the dynamic tracing tool, from its conception at Sun Microsystems to its modern use at Oxide Computer Company. They discuss the technical challenges of integrating DTrace into Solaris, including the Cheetah+ TLB issues and the 'world's worst router' misconfiguration, and highlight key innovations like USDT, uStack helpers, and postmortem tracing. The conversation also covers the tool's evolution across platforms, its open-source release, and its continued relevance in debugging complex systems, including recent applications in Rust and Oxide's infrastructure.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20#t=0) Introduction: 20 Years of DTrace and Hungry Jack's
- [8:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20#t=516) The Origin of DTrace: Dynamic Instrumentation and Sun Microsystems
- [14:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20#t=876) Debugging the Sun E10000: The World's Worst Router
- [20:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20#t=1251) Cheetah+ TLB Issues and the Path to DTrace Development
- [31:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20#t=1884) DTrace Design Principles: Safety, Production Use, and FPT
- [43:52](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20#t=2632) Hella Skiing, Fear of Death, and Writing the Last Will on the Whiteboard
- [54:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20#t=3296) Userland Tracing: Mister Sparkle, uStack, and Firebird
- [1:05:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20#t=3915) Integration into Solaris 10, 9/11, and the USENIX Paper
- [1:15:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20#t=4524) Post-Sun Journey: dtrace.com, USDT, and Open Source
- [1:31:39](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20#t=5499) Modern DTrace: Rust, Oxide, and Advanced Features like Speculative Tracing

## Topics

- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [Intellectual property](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/intellectual-property)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

established companies

## Mentioned

- DTrace (tool)
- Sun Microsystems (company)
- Solaris (other)
- Oxide Computer Company (company)
- Cheetah+ (chip)
- USDT (tool)
- uStack (tool)
- Firebird (product)
- Mozilla (company)
- Rust (other)
- USENIX (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [141: Malevolent and Trying to Trick You](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2016-03-02-141-malevolent-and-trying-to-trick-you) (Embedded.fm)
- [200: Oops](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-05-17-200-oops) (Embedded.fm)
- [It Works With Option Number 5](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-06-19-it-works-with-option-number-5) (The Amp Hour)
- [Rubber Ducking](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-09-30-rubber-ducking) (The Amp Hour)
- [070 - I Have a DediProblem](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2024-06-09-070-i-have-a-dediproblem) (Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2023-09-12-dtrace-at-20. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.