Demonstrations of opensnoop, the Linux eBPF/bcc version. opensnoop traces the open() syscall system-wide, and prints various details. Example output: # ./opensnoop PID COMM FD ERR PATH 17326 <...> 7 0 /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_pipe 1576 snmpd 9 0 /proc/net/dev 1576 snmpd 11 0 /proc/net/if_inet6 1576 snmpd 11 0 /proc/sys/net/ipv4/neigh/eth0/retrans_time_ms 1576 snmpd 11 0 /proc/sys/net/ipv6/neigh/eth0/retrans_time_ms 1576 snmpd 11 0 /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/eth0/forwarding 1576 snmpd 11 0 /proc/sys/net/ipv6/neigh/eth0/base_reachable_time_ms 1576 snmpd 11 0 /proc/sys/net/ipv4/neigh/lo/retrans_time_ms 1576 snmpd 11 0 /proc/sys/net/ipv6/neigh/lo/retrans_time_ms 1576 snmpd 11 0 /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/lo/forwarding 1576 snmpd 11 0 /proc/sys/net/ipv6/neigh/lo/base_reachable_time_ms 1576 snmpd 9 0 /proc/diskstats 1576 snmpd 9 0 /proc/stat 1576 snmpd 9 0 /proc/vmstat 1956 supervise 9 0 supervise/status.new 1956 supervise 9 0 supervise/status.new 17358 run 3 0 /etc/ld.so.cache 17358 run 3 0 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.5 17358 run 3 0 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 17358 run 3 0 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 17358 run -1 6 /dev/tty 17358 run 3 0 /proc/meminfo 17358 run 3 0 /etc/nsswitch.conf 17358 run 3 0 /etc/ld.so.cache 17358 run 3 0 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libnss_compat.so.2 17358 run 3 0 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libnsl.so.1 17358 run 3 0 /etc/ld.so.cache 17358 run 3 0 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libnss_nis.so.2 17358 run 3 0 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libnss_files.so.2 17358 run 3 0 /etc/passwd 17358 run 3 0 ./run ^C While tracing, the snmpd process opened various /proc files (reading metrics), and a "run" process read various libraries and config files (looks like it was starting up: a new process). opensnoop can be useful for discovering configuration and log files, if used during application startup. The -p option can be used to filter on a PID, which is filtered in-kernel. Here I've used it with -t to print timestamps: ./opensnoop -tp 1956 TIME(s) PID COMM FD ERR PATH 0.000000000 1956 supervise 9 0 supervise/status.new 0.000289999 1956 supervise 9 0 supervise/status.new 1.023068000 1956 supervise 9 0 supervise/status.new 1.023381997 1956 supervise 9 0 supervise/status.new 2.046030000 1956 supervise 9 0 supervise/status.new 2.046363000 1956 supervise 9 0 supervise/status.new 3.068203997 1956 supervise 9 0 supervise/status.new 3.068544999 1956 supervise 9 0 supervise/status.new This shows the supervise process is opening the status.new file twice every second. The -x option only prints failed opens: # ./opensnoop -x PID COMM FD ERR PATH 18372 run -1 6 /dev/tty 18373 run -1 6 /dev/tty 18373 multilog -1 13 lock 18372 multilog -1 13 lock 18384 df -1 2 /usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo 18384 df -1 2 /usr/share/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo 18384 df -1 2 /usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo 18384 df -1 2 /usr/share/locale/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo 18384 df -1 2 /usr/share/locale/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo 18384 df -1 2 /usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo 18385 run -1 6 /dev/tty 18386 run -1 6 /dev/tty This caught a df command failing to open a coreutils.mo file, and trying from different directories. The ERR column is the system error number. Error number 2 is ENOENT: no such file or directory. USAGE message: # ./opensnoop -h usage: opensnoop [-h] [-t] [-x] [-p PID] Trace open() syscalls optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -t, --timestamp include timestamp on output -x, --failed only show failed opens -p PID, --pid PID trace this PID only examples: ./opensnoop # trace all open() syscalls ./opensnoop -t # include timestamps ./opensnoop -x # only show failed opens ./opensnoop -p 181 # only trace PID 181