Contributing

How to contribute to stracectl: build, test, PRs, and BPF generation.

Thank you for contributing to stracectl! Contributions are welcome — whether it’s a bugfix, documentation improvement, test, or new feature.

Getting started

  • Fork the repository and create a descriptive branch: git checkout -b fix/issue-123.
  • Run tests locally: go test ./....
  • Format Go code: gofmt -w . and prefer go vet for quick checks.

Build and run

Build the binary locally:

go build -o stracectl ./...

Install for quick testing:

go install github.com/fabianoflorentino/stracectl@latest

BPF / eBPF development

To work with the eBPF tracer you may need additional tooling:

  • Install bpf2go and build prerequisites (clang, llvm, kernel headers):
go install github.com/cilium/ebpf/cmd/bpf2go@latest
go generate ./internal/tracer/...
CGO_ENABLED=1 go build -tags=ebpf ./...
  • The repository includes helper scripts (scripts/generate-bpf.sh) and a Docker target (production) in the Dockerfile to produce a production image containing both the non-eBPF and eBPF binaries.

Submitting a pull request

  • Open a PR from your fork and include a clear description and test steps.
  • If the change touches user-visible behavior, add or update documentation under site/content/docs/.
  • Link relevant issues and include test cases when applicable.

Reporting issues

  • For bugs and feature requests, open a GitHub issue in this repository.
  • For security-sensitive issues, follow the instructions in the Security page (do not open a public issue). See Security.

Thank you — your contributions make this project better for everyone.