Bug 691700

Happens on x86_64 too.

I assume the time difference might be explained by caching versus non-caching.
Does stap -l vm.* still take that long against 1.4-4 on the second run?

If it is just timing, does it pass when you increase the following timeout
in /usr/share/systemtap/testsuite/systemtap.base/cmd_parse.exp 

spawn stap -l {vm.*}
expect {
    -timeout 60
    -re "vm.*" {pass "cmd_parse8"}
    timeout {fail "cmd_parse8: unexpected timeout"}
    eof {fail "cmd_parse8: unexpected EOF"}
}
wait;catch {close}

Say from 60 to 120.

If not, could you run make RUNTESTFLAGS=systemtap.base/cmd_parse.exp installcheck
again and attach the systemtap.log file?

Second run is quick, so it is solved by caching, but that does not explain the speed hit in the first place. Old systemtap was not that slow even with cold cache (these are i686 results: ppc & s390x have a perf hit with old systemtap and cold cache, but not as painful: 20-30s).

NEW:
# rm -rf ~/.systemtap/cache/*
# time stap -l vm.* > /dev/null // cold cache, slow
real    1m20.625s
# time stap -l vm.* > /dev/null // warm cache, fast
real    0m1.499s
# time stap -l vm.* > /dev/null // still warm cache, fast
real    0m1.512s
# rm -rf ~/.systemtap/cache/* 
# time stap -l vm.* > /dev/null // cold cache again, slow
real    1m20.509s

OLD:
# rm -rf ~/.systemtap/cache/*
# time stap -l vm.* > /dev/null // cold cache, slow
real    0m2.789s
# time stap -l vm.* > /dev/null // warm cache, fast
real    0m0.989s
# time stap -l vm.* > /dev/null // still warm cache, fast
real    0m0.955s
# rm -rf ~/.systemtap/cache/* 
# time stap -l vm.* > /dev/null // cold cache again, slow
real    0m2.613s

systemtap.base/cmd_parse8 PASSes with 120 second timeout.

New systemtap looks for more tracepoints and more aggressively than
the previous, but I'm not able to reproduce this slowdown.  As the
code still works, but the testsuite needs a little more time, let's
defer this.

Development Management has reviewed and declined this request.  You may appeal
this decision by reopening this request.