ptrace currently doesn't work. There are some test cases at /dj.hoffman/public/ptrace-tests-lxzed that scratch the surface of the many and layered complex states that arise from this mess of a subsystem.
Former user commented on 2015-01-08T14:05:06.000-0500:
illumos-joyent commit 8ca0fc0 (branch master, by Jerry Jelinek)
OS-3675#icft=OS-3675 lxbrand ptrace setoptions handling is broken
OS-3352#icft=OS-3352 ptrace needs to work for linux, wait on non-children etc.
OS-3306#icft=OS-3306 PTRACE_O_TRACEFORK should stop parent and child as they exit fork
OS-3250#icft=OS-3250 lxbrand initctl stop/start svcs can hang
OS-2916#icft=OS-2916 lxbrand add ptrace PTRACE_GETEVENTMSG support