Description of problem: The packaged version of paraview is lacking trace support as detailed at: http://www.paraview.org/Wiki/Python_GUI_Tools Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 3.8.0 (Trace support became available for version 3.6.2) Steps to Reproduce: Trace support, when available, should be accessible through the "Tools" menu. Additional info: Trace support is available when paraview is compiled with Python wrapping.
You aren't looking in the right place. Tools -> Python shell. Then on the right side of the python shell window there is a trace tab that will show the start/stop trace button.