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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-27 10:05:51 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-27 10:05:51 +0000
commit5d1646d90e1f2cceb9f0828f4b28318cd0ec7744 (patch)
treea94efe259b9009378be6d90eb30d2b019d95c194 /tools/lib/perf/Documentation/libperf-sampling.txt
parentInitial commit. (diff)
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Adding upstream version 5.10.209.upstream/5.10.209upstream
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
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+libperf-sampling(7)
+===================
+
+NAME
+----
+libperf-sampling - sampling interface
+
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+The sampling interface provides API to measure and get count for specific perf events.
+
+The following test tries to explain count on `sampling.c` example.
+
+It is by no means complete guide to sampling, but shows libperf basic API for sampling.
+
+The `sampling.c` comes with libperf package and can be compiled and run like:
+
+[source,bash]
+--
+$ gcc -o sampling sampling.c -lperf
+$ sudo ./sampling
+cpu 0, pid 0, tid 0, ip ffffffffad06c4e6, period 1
+cpu 0, pid 4465, tid 4469, ip ffffffffad118748, period 18322959
+cpu 0, pid 0, tid 0, ip ffffffffad115722, period 33544846
+cpu 0, pid 4465, tid 4470, ip 7f84fe0cdad6, period 23687474
+cpu 0, pid 0, tid 0, ip ffffffffad9e0349, period 34255790
+cpu 0, pid 4465, tid 4469, ip ffffffffad136581, period 38664069
+cpu 0, pid 0, tid 0, ip ffffffffad9e55e2, period 21922384
+cpu 0, pid 4465, tid 4470, ip 7f84fe0ebebf, period 17655175
+...
+--
+
+It requires root access, because it uses hardware cycles event.
+
+The `sampling.c` example profiles/samples all CPUs with hardware cycles, in a
+nutshell it:
+
+- creates events
+- adds them to the event list
+- opens and enables events through the event list
+- sleeps for 3 seconds
+- disables events
+- reads and displays recorded samples
+- destroys the event list
+
+The first thing you need to do before using libperf is to call init function:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+ 12 static int libperf_print(enum libperf_print_level level,
+ 13 const char *fmt, va_list ap)
+ 14 {
+ 15 return vfprintf(stderr, fmt, ap);
+ 16 }
+
+ 23 int main(int argc, char **argv)
+ 24 {
+ ...
+ 40 libperf_init(libperf_print);
+--
+
+It will setup the library and sets function for debug output from library.
+
+The `libperf_print` callback will receive any message with its debug level,
+defined as:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+enum libperf_print_level {
+ LIBPERF_ERR,
+ LIBPERF_WARN,
+ LIBPERF_INFO,
+ LIBPERF_DEBUG,
+ LIBPERF_DEBUG2,
+ LIBPERF_DEBUG3,
+};
+--
+
+Once the setup is complete we start by defining cycles event using the `struct perf_event_attr`:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+ 29 struct perf_event_attr attr = {
+ 30 .type = PERF_TYPE_HARDWARE,
+ 31 .config = PERF_COUNT_HW_CPU_CYCLES,
+ 32 .disabled = 1,
+ 33 .freq = 1,
+ 34 .sample_freq = 10,
+ 35 .sample_type = PERF_SAMPLE_IP|PERF_SAMPLE_TID|PERF_SAMPLE_CPU|PERF_SAMPLE_PERIOD,
+ 36 };
+--
+
+Next step is to prepare CPUs map.
+
+In this case we will monitor all the available CPUs:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+ 42 cpus = perf_cpu_map__new(NULL);
+ 43 if (!cpus) {
+ 44 fprintf(stderr, "failed to create cpus\n");
+ 45 return -1;
+ 46 }
+--
+
+Now we create libperf's event list, which will serve as holder for the cycles event:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+ 48 evlist = perf_evlist__new();
+ 49 if (!evlist) {
+ 50 fprintf(stderr, "failed to create evlist\n");
+ 51 goto out_cpus;
+ 52 }
+--
+
+We create libperf's event for the cycles attribute we defined earlier and add it to the list:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+ 54 evsel = perf_evsel__new(&attr);
+ 55 if (!evsel) {
+ 56 fprintf(stderr, "failed to create cycles\n");
+ 57 goto out_cpus;
+ 58 }
+ 59
+ 60 perf_evlist__add(evlist, evsel);
+--
+
+Configure event list with the cpus map and open event:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+ 62 perf_evlist__set_maps(evlist, cpus, NULL);
+ 63
+ 64 err = perf_evlist__open(evlist);
+ 65 if (err) {
+ 66 fprintf(stderr, "failed to open evlist\n");
+ 67 goto out_evlist;
+ 68 }
+--
+
+Once the events list is open, we can create memory maps AKA perf ring buffers:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+ 70 err = perf_evlist__mmap(evlist, 4);
+ 71 if (err) {
+ 72 fprintf(stderr, "failed to mmap evlist\n");
+ 73 goto out_evlist;
+ 74 }
+--
+
+The event is created as disabled (note the `disabled = 1` assignment above),
+so we need to enable the events list explicitly.
+
+From this moment the cycles event is sampling.
+
+We will sleep for 3 seconds while the ring buffers get data from all CPUs, then we disable the events list.
+
+[source,c]
+--
+ 76 perf_evlist__enable(evlist);
+ 77 sleep(3);
+ 78 perf_evlist__disable(evlist);
+--
+
+Following code walks through the ring buffers and reads stored events/samples:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+ 80 perf_evlist__for_each_mmap(evlist, map, false) {
+ 81 if (perf_mmap__read_init(map) < 0)
+ 82 continue;
+ 83
+ 84 while ((event = perf_mmap__read_event(map)) != NULL) {
+
+ /* process event */
+
+108 perf_mmap__consume(map);
+109 }
+110 perf_mmap__read_done(map);
+111 }
+
+--
+
+Each sample needs to get parsed:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+ 85 int cpu, pid, tid;
+ 86 __u64 ip, period, *array;
+ 87 union u64_swap u;
+ 88
+ 89 array = event->sample.array;
+ 90
+ 91 ip = *array;
+ 92 array++;
+ 93
+ 94 u.val64 = *array;
+ 95 pid = u.val32[0];
+ 96 tid = u.val32[1];
+ 97 array++;
+ 98
+ 99 u.val64 = *array;
+100 cpu = u.val32[0];
+101 array++;
+102
+103 period = *array;
+104
+105 fprintf(stdout, "cpu %3d, pid %6d, tid %6d, ip %20llx, period %20llu\n",
+106 cpu, pid, tid, ip, period);
+--
+
+And finally cleanup.
+
+We close the whole events list (both events) and remove it together with the threads map:
+
+[source,c]
+--
+113 out_evlist:
+114 perf_evlist__delete(evlist);
+115 out_cpus:
+116 perf_cpu_map__put(cpus);
+117 return err;
+118 }
+--
+
+REPORTING BUGS
+--------------
+Report bugs to <linux-perf-users@vger.kernel.org>.
+
+LICENSE
+-------
+libperf is Free Software licensed under the GNU LGPL 2.1
+
+RESOURCES
+---------
+https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
+
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+libperf(3), libperf-counting(7)