iovisor / iovisor/bcc

Adding 'netstacklat' as a new libbpf-tools utility?

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Description

Hello folks

We have developed the [netstacklat](https://github.com/xdp-project/bpf-examples/tree/main/netstacklat) utility over in the bpf-examples repository, and this has now progressed to a state where it is useful out of the box. So we are now looking for a home for it, and are wondering whether it would be appropriate as a new addition to the libbpf-tools distributed as part of BCC?

Netstacklat can show the latency of packets traversing the kernel networking stack, by attaching small BPF probes to different places in the stack, and relying on software timestamping to collect aggregate packet latency statistics at each point. As such, it falls into the same category as some of the other standalone utilities in this repository.

There's a longer explanation of the utility [over on the Red Hat developer's blog](https://developers.redhat.com/articles/2026/04/29/boosting-speed-use-ebpf-and-netstacklat-troubleshoot-latency).

We are aware that some adjustments would need to be made before opening a PR (such as writing a man page), but wanted to gauge interest here before undertaking that work.

So, my question is simply, do you think netstacklat would be an appropriate addition to the libbpf-tools, and would a PR adding it be welcome?

Thanks!

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Start with the bpf-examples/netstacklat utility and compare it with the existing libbpf-tools utilities; the issue specifically flags a man page as needed. Done means maintainers confirm the addition is welcome and the utility is integrated with the requested documentation.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c, linux
Domain
networking, observability, performance
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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