The stap command doesn't work on FC7, latest kernel (i.e. without the fix): # uname -a Linux host 2.6.23.14-64.fc7 #1 SMP Sun Jan 20 22:20:19 EST 2008 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux # stap -v -g -e 'probe syscall.vmsplice { printf("blocking vmsplice (%s) uid %d pid %d exec %s\n", argstr, uid(), pid(), execname()) $nr_segs = 0 }' Pass 1: parsed user script and 54 library script(s) in 210usr/0sys/226real ms. semantic error: probe point mismatch at position 1 (alternatives: accept access acct add_key adjtimex alarm arch_prctl bdflush bind brk capget capset chdir chmod chown chown16 chroot clock_getres clock_gettime clock_nanosleep clock_settime close compat_getitimer compat_nanosleep compat_setitimer compat_utime connect creat delete_module dup dup2 epoll_create epoll_ctl epoll_wait execve exit exit_group fadvise64 fadvise64_64 fchdir fchmod fchown fchown16 fcntl fdatasync fgetxattr flistxattr flock fork fremovexattr fsetxattr fstat fstatfs fstatfs64 fsync ftruncate ftruncate64 futex get_mempolicy getcwd getdents getdents64 getegid getegid16 geteuid geteuid16 getgid getgid16 getgroups getgroups16 gethostname getitimer getpeername getpgid getpgrp getpid getppid getpriority getresgid getresgid16 getresuid getresuid16 getrlimit getrusage getsid getsockname getsockopt gettid gettimeofday getuid getuid16 getxattr init_module io_cancel io_destroy io_getevents io_setup io_submit ioctl ioperm iopl ioprio_get ioprio_set kexec_load keyctl kill lchown lchown16 lgetxattr link listen listxattr llistxattr llseek lookup_dcookie lremovexattr lseek lsetxattr lstat madvise mbind mincore mkdir mkdirat mknod mlock mlockall mmap mmap2 modify_ldt mount mprotect mq_getsetattr mq_notify mq_open mq_timedreceive mq_timedsend mq_unlink mremap msgctl msgget msgrcv msgsnd msync munlock munlockall munmap nanosleep nfsservctl ni_syscall nice old_getrlimit open pause personality pipe pivot_root poll prctl pread64 ptrace pwrite64 quotactl read readahead readlink readv reboot recv recvfrom recvmsg remap_file_pages removexattr rename request_key restart_syscall rmdir rt_sigaction rt_sigaction32 rt_sigpending rt_sigprocmask rt_sigqueueinfo rt_sigreturn rt_sigsuspend rt_sigtimedwait sched_get_priority_max sched_get_priority_min sched_getaffinity sched_getparam sched_getscheduler sched_rr_get_interval sched_setaffinity sched_yield select semctl semget semop semtimedop send sendfile sendmsg sendto set_mempolicy set_tid_address setdomainname setfsgid setfsgid16 setfsuid setfsuid16 setgid setgid16 setgroups setgroups16 sethostname setitimer setpgid setpriority setregid setregid16 setresgid setresgid16 setresuid setresuid16 setreuid setreuid16 setrlimit setsid setsockopt settimeofday settimeofday32 setuid setuid16 setxattr sgetmask shmctl shmdt shmget shutdown sigaltstack signal sigpending sigprocmask socket socketpair ssetmask stat statfs statfs64 stime swapoff swapon symlink sync sysctl sysfs sysinfo syslog tgkill time timer_create timer_delete timer_getoverrun timer_gettime timer_settime times tkill truncate tux umask umount uname unlink uselib ustat ustat32 utime utimes vhangup wait4 waitid write writev) while resolving probe point syscall.vmsplice Pass 2: analyzed script: 0 probe(s), 0 function(s), 0 embed(s), 0 global(s) in 10usr/0sys/6real ms. Pass 2: analysis failed. Try again with more '-v' (verbose) options.