Can Intel PT (Processor Trace) be disabled/configured from within an OS?

Question

I have a number of questions about Intel PT (have been trying to decode the manual but is very difficult). My questions are:

1. I am trying to find out i

Answer 1

This is the patch that enable the use of Intel PT in 4.3:

https://lkml.org/lkml/2013/12/11/233

https://lkml.org/lkml/2015/9/24/181

https://lkml.org/lkml/2015/9/27/45

This is on the interaction of PT with other Intel features like LBT:

https://lkml.org/lkml/2014/7/31/572

Read up the documentation at tools/perf/Documentation/intel-pt.txt on usage how to.

Andi Kleen from Intel is the originator of the patch for Skylakes/Broadwell (only these two processor and the Atom series support Intel PT), and he has the userspace tool for demonstrating its use for debugging:

https://github.com/andikleen/simple-pt

For more details please see:

https://tthtlc.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/intel-processor-trace-how-to-use-it/