StackWalk as a Service

A basic web service with an API for performing Google Breakpad crash dump decoding using the StackWalk tool.

Runs in a docker container for maximum portability.

Doesn't handle uploading symbol files. That's left to the user.

Running

Available from docker hub with docker pull hhyyrylainen/stackwalk:latest

Running:

docker run -itd -p 127.0.0.1:9090:9090 -v $(pwd)/build/src/Symbols:/Symbols:ro --restart always --name stackwalkweb hhyyrylainen/stackwalk:latest --http-port 9090

The three part port syntax is ensured so that the container is listening only for local connections. It's not safe to expose this service to the internet directly so this is a recommended safety precaution.

Before you run the command adjust the path for the mounted symbol folder (the host path is the first path listed in the -v option), as well as make sure the folder exists on the host and contains the needed symbol files.

That starts a container that is in the background running the service and automatically restarting when needed. You can use docker ps to see the running container's name in order to stop it, for example when upgrading the service version.

Podman

Alternatively the container can be run with podman with a command similar to this:

podman run -d --rm -p 127.0.0.1:9090:9090 --mount type=bind,src=$(pwd)/build/src/Symbols,destination=/Symbols,ro=true,relabel=shared --name stackwalkweb hhyyrylainen/stackwalk:latest --http-port 9090

Note that to make it persistent you need to create a systemd service (separate account rather than running as root is recommended):

useradd stackwalk -s /sbin/nologin
podman generate systemd --new --name stackwalkweb > /etc/systemd/system/stackwalkweb.service
# Edit to run as our stackwalk user
# Add `User=stackwalk` to the service section and replace `%t/` with `/home/stackwalk/`
emacs /etc/systemd/system/stackwalkweb.service
podman stop stackwalkweb
systemctl daemon-reload
# You need to run the container at least once as the user you specified in the service file
# the service failing to start is not a problem as long as the container managed to start correctly
su - stackwalk -s /usr/bin/bash
podman run --rm --name stackwalkweb hhyyrylainen/stackwalk:latest
exit
systemctl enable --now stackwalkweb
systemctl status stackwalkweb

More info about that can be found elsewhere, for example: https://www.tutorialworks.com/podman-systemd/

API

The API is accessed by adding /api/v1 to the web server path. The API allows uploading one crash dump file at a time as form data.

For example using httpie client:

http -f POST http://localhost:9090/api/v1 [email protected]

Change the URL to match where the service is hosted if not running locally, and replace the file name after the @ character to the file you have.

Building

Docker build

git submodule update --init
docker build .

Native build

It's also possible to compile and run this on the host provided all the needed libraries and tools are installed.

Rough steps:

gem install os colorize rubyzip json sha3
./setup.rb

On OSes other than Ubuntu or Fedora you will want to run the setup with --no-packagemanager parameter.

Note: Windows build might work but is untested.

You can then for example run the compiled program like this:

build/src/stackwalkwebapp --docroot build/src/ --http-address 0.0.0.0 --http-port 9090 -c config/wt_config.xml

Note that you may need to specify a different symbol directory or create the folder build/src/Symbols.

You can check the Makefile for example commands how to rebuild and run after minimal changes.