[PATCH V2] POWER: perf_event: Skip updating kernel counters if register value shrinks

From: Eric B Munson
Date: Tue Mar 29 2011 - 10:51:52 EST


Because of speculative event roll back, it is possible for some event coutners
to decrease between reads on POWER7. This causes a problem with the way that
counters are updated. Delta calues are calculated in a 64 bit value and the
top 32 bits are masked. If the register value has decreased, this leaves us
with a very large positive value added to the kernel counters. This patch
protects against this by skipping the update if the delta would be negative.
This can lead to a lack of precision in the coutner values, but from my testing
the value is typcially fewer than 10 samples at a time.

Signed-off-by: Eric B Munson <emunson@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxx
---
Changes from V1:
Updated patch leader
Added stable CC
Use an s32 to hold delta values and discard any values that are less than 0

arch/powerpc/kernel/perf_event.c | 34 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
1 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/perf_event.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/perf_event.c
index 97e0ae4..0a5178f 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/perf_event.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/perf_event.c
@@ -416,6 +416,15 @@ static void power_pmu_read(struct perf_event *event)
prev = local64_read(&event->hw.prev_count);
barrier();
val = read_pmc(event->hw.idx);
+ /*
+ * POWER7 can roll back counter values, if the new value is
+ * smaller than the previous value it will cause the delta
+ * and the counter to have bogus values. If this is the
+ * case skip updating anything until the counter grows again.
+ * This can lead to a small lack of precision in the counters.
+ */
+ if (val < prev)
+ return;
} while (local64_cmpxchg(&event->hw.prev_count, prev, val) != prev);

/* The counters are only 32 bits wide */
@@ -439,7 +448,8 @@ static void freeze_limited_counters(struct cpu_hw_events *cpuhw,
unsigned long pmc5, unsigned long pmc6)
{
struct perf_event *event;
- u64 val, prev, delta;
+ u64 val, prev;
+ s32 delta;
int i;

for (i = 0; i < cpuhw->n_limited; ++i) {
@@ -449,8 +459,13 @@ static void freeze_limited_counters(struct cpu_hw_events *cpuhw,
val = (event->hw.idx == 5) ? pmc5 : pmc6;
prev = local64_read(&event->hw.prev_count);
event->hw.idx = 0;
- delta = (val - prev) & 0xfffffffful;
- local64_add(delta, &event->count);
+ /*
+ * The PerfMon registers are only 32 bits wide so the
+ * delta should not overflow.
+ */
+ delta = val - prev;
+ if (delta > 0)
+ local64_add(delta, &event->count);
}
}

@@ -458,14 +473,16 @@ static void thaw_limited_counters(struct cpu_hw_events *cpuhw,
unsigned long pmc5, unsigned long pmc6)
{
struct perf_event *event;
- u64 val;
+ u64 val, prev;
int i;

for (i = 0; i < cpuhw->n_limited; ++i) {
event = cpuhw->limited_counter[i];
event->hw.idx = cpuhw->limited_hwidx[i];
val = (event->hw.idx == 5) ? pmc5 : pmc6;
- local64_set(&event->hw.prev_count, val);
+ prev = local64_read(&event->hw.prev_count);
+ if (val > prev)
+ local64_set(&event->hw.prev_count, val);
perf_event_update_userpage(event);
}
}
@@ -1187,7 +1204,8 @@ static void record_and_restart(struct perf_event *event, unsigned long val,
struct pt_regs *regs, int nmi)
{
u64 period = event->hw.sample_period;
- s64 prev, delta, left;
+ s64 prev, left;
+ s32 delta;
int record = 0;

if (event->hw.state & PERF_HES_STOPPED) {
@@ -1197,7 +1215,9 @@ static void record_and_restart(struct perf_event *event, unsigned long val,

/* we don't have to worry about interrupts here */
prev = local64_read(&event->hw.prev_count);
- delta = (val - prev) & 0xfffffffful;
+ delta = val - prev;
+ if (delta < 0)
+ delta = 0;
local64_add(delta, &event->count);

/*
--
1.7.1

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