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What is linux-syscall-monitor?

tracebyte8/linux-syscall-monitor — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

9CAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · moderate

In one sentence

A C tool that traces a program's system calls with ptrace and produces an HTML report of its process, file, and memory activity.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((syscall monitor))
    What it does
      Traces a running program
      Uses ptrace API
      Builds HTML report
    Tracked calls
      Process fork execve wait
      File open read close
      Memory mmap mprotect munmap
    Tech stack
      C
      Make
      ptrace
    Use cases
      Debug program behavior
      Security research
      Learn syscalls

Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Trace a program to see which files it opens and reads while running.

USE CASE 2

Watch a process's memory allocation calls to debug memory related behavior.

USE CASE 3

Generate an HTML report to document a program's system call activity for a security or research writeup.

USE CASE 4

Learn how Linux process tracing works by reading and extending a small ptrace based codebase.

What is it built with?

CptraceMakeGCCHTMLCSS

How does it compare?

tracebyte8/linux-syscall-monitordanterolle/tundalexzorzi/inferno-android
Stars9910
LanguageCCC
Setup difficultymoderatemoderatehard
Complexity3/53/55/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires a Linux machine with GCC and Make, and editing main.c to point at a target executable before building.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

So what is it?

Linux Syscall Monitor is a small command line tool written in C that watches what a program does at the operating system level while it runs. It uses ptrace, a built in Linux interface for tracing processes, to attach to a target program and record which system calls it makes, the low level requests a program sends to the operating system to do things like open files or allocate memory. The tool currently tracks process related calls such as fork, execve, and wait, which cover when a program starts, launches another program, or waits for one to finish. It also tracks file related calls like open, openat, read, and close, so you can see which files a program touches and how it reads from them. On the memory side, it watches mmap, mprotect, and munmap, the calls a program uses to reserve, change, or release chunks of memory. Network monitoring is listed as a planned feature that has not been built yet. After tracing finishes, the tool generates an HTML report styled with CSS that summarizes everything it observed, organized by process, file, memory, and network activity. To use it, you point the program at a target executable inside the main.c file, build the project with make, and run the resulting binary. The report is saved as report.html and can be opened in any web browser. The project is aimed at people learning how Linux processes and system calls work, or anyone doing lightweight research into what a specific program does under the hood. The author notes it is meant for educational and research use, and that it should only be pointed at programs you own or have permission to inspect. It requires a Linux system with GCC and Make installed, and is released under the MIT License.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Explain how ptrace lets this tool intercept fork, execve, and wait calls from a traced process.
Prompt 2
Show me how to add a new syscall to the file monitoring list in this project.
Prompt 3
Walk me through building this project with make and running it against a sample program.
Prompt 4
Help me implement the network monitoring feature that this project has not built yet.
Prompt 5
Explain the difference between mmap, mprotect, and munmap as monitored by this tool.

Frequently asked questions

What is linux-syscall-monitor?

A C tool that traces a program's system calls with ptrace and produces an HTML report of its process, file, and memory activity.

What language is linux-syscall-monitor written in?

Mainly C. The stack also includes C, ptrace, Make.

What license does linux-syscall-monitor use?

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is linux-syscall-monitor to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is linux-syscall-monitor for?

Mainly developer.

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