Gavin Guo

👋 Hi, I’m Gavin Guo. I’m a systems engineer with 15+ years in the Linux kernel and low-level subsystems—CPU architecture, memory management, virtualization, and performance optimization. Beyond work, I’m a lifelong strength athlete. I went from breakdancing in school to coaching swimming, then into competitive powerlifting and mentoring. I also hold the NSCA’s CSCS certification. I’m a deliberate learner: tools like SuperMemo shaped how I practice spaced repetition, and books continue to refine how I think—Moonwalking with Einstein on memory, The Culture Map on cross-cultural collaboration, and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. The line often quoted via Nietzsche still grounds me: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”

In this blog post, we’ll explore how to use Bpftrace to investigate and analyze a deadlock issue in the Linux kernel’s hugetlb subsystem. We’ll walk through the process of identifying the root cause using Bpftrace’s tracing capabilities, examining kernel function calls and variables in real-time, and finally developing a solution. Let’s get started! Bpftrace Bpftrace is a high-level tracing language with scriptable syntax support for Linux that leverages eBPF (Extended Berkeley Packet Filter) technology for powerful kernel observability. Created by Alastair Robertson and significantly advanced by Brendan Gregg, it’s inspired by awk, C, and predecessors like DTrace and SystemTap. ...

Engineering, Life & Thought

Using Bpftrace to Detect Deadlock in Hugetlb Subsystem