Using the Library (libscope.so)

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To use the library independently of the CLI or loader, you rely on the LD_PRELOAD environment variable. This section provides several examples – all calling the system-level ps command – simply to show how the syntax works.

LD_PRELOAD Environment Variable with a Single Command

Start with this basic example:

LD_PRELOAD=./libscope.so ps -ef

This executes the command ps -ef. But first, the OS' loader loads the AppScope library, as part of loading and linking the ps executable.

Details of the ps application's execution are emitted to the configured transport, in the configured format. For configuration details, see Configuring the Library below.

LD_PRELOAD Environment Variable – Extended Examples

These examples demonstrate using LD_PRELOAD with additional variables.

Example 1:

LD_PRELOAD=./libscope.so SCOPE_METRIC_VERBOSITY=5 ps -ef

This again executes the ps command using the AppScope library. But it also defines the verbosity for metric extraction as level 5. (This verbosity setting overrides any config-file setting, as well as the default value.)

Example 2:

LD_PRELOAD=./libscope.so SCOPE_HOME=/etc/scope ps -ef

This again executes the ps command using the AppScope library. But it also directs the library to use the config file /etc/scope/scope.yml.

Example 3:

LD_PRELOAD=./libscope.so SCOPE_EVENT_DEST=tcp://localhost:9999 ps -ef

This again executes the ps command using the AppScope library. But here, we also specify that events (as opposed to metrics) will be sent over a TCP connection to localhost, using port 9999. (This event destination setting overrides any config-file setting, as well as the default value.)

Configuring the Library

For a full list of library environment variables, execute: ./libscope.so all

For the default settings in the sample scope.yml configuration file, see Config Files, or inspect the most-recent file on GitHub.