Re: [PATCH v3 4/7] perf record: Track sideband events for all CPUs when tracing selected CPUs

From: Yang Jihong
Date: Mon Jul 31 2023 - 08:39:09 EST


Hello,

On 2023/7/31 19:08, Adrian Hunter wrote:
On 22/07/23 12:32, Yang Jihong wrote:
User space tasks can migrate between CPUs, we need to track side-band
events for all CPUs.

The specific scenarios are as follows:

CPU0 CPU1
perf record -C 0 start
taskA starts to be created and executed
-> PERF_RECORD_COMM and PERF_RECORD_MMAP
events only deliver to CPU1
......
|
migrate to CPU0
|
Running on CPU0 <----------/
...

perf record -C 0 stop

Now perf samples the PC of taskA. However, perf does not record the
PERF_RECORD_COMM and PERF_RECORD_MMAP events of taskA.
Therefore, the comm and symbols of taskA cannot be parsed.

The solution is to record sideband events for all CPUs when tracing
selected CPUs. Because this modifies the default behavior, add related
comments to the perf record man page.

The sys_perf_event_open invoked is as follows:

# perf --debug verbose=3 record -e cpu-clock -C 1 true
<SNIP>
Opening: cpu-clock
------------------------------------------------------------
perf_event_attr:
type 1 (PERF_TYPE_SOFTWARE)
size 136
config 0 (PERF_COUNT_SW_CPU_CLOCK)
{ sample_period, sample_freq } 4000
sample_type IP|TID|TIME|CPU|PERIOD|IDENTIFIER
read_format ID|LOST
disabled 1
inherit 1
freq 1
sample_id_all 1
exclude_guest 1
------------------------------------------------------------
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 1 group_fd -1 flags 0x8 = 5
Opening: dummy:u
------------------------------------------------------------
perf_event_attr:
type 1 (PERF_TYPE_SOFTWARE)
size 136
config 0x9 (PERF_COUNT_SW_DUMMY)
{ sample_period, sample_freq } 1
sample_type IP|TID|TIME|CPU|IDENTIFIER
read_format ID|LOST
inherit 1
exclude_kernel 1
exclude_hv 1
mmap 1
comm 1
task 1
sample_id_all 1
exclude_guest 1
mmap2 1
comm_exec 1
ksymbol 1
bpf_event 1
------------------------------------------------------------
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 0 group_fd -1 flags 0x8 = 6
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 1 group_fd -1 flags 0x8 = 7
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 2 group_fd -1 flags 0x8 = 9
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 3 group_fd -1 flags 0x8 = 10
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 4 group_fd -1 flags 0x8 = 11
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 5 group_fd -1 flags 0x8 = 12
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 6 group_fd -1 flags 0x8 = 13
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 7 group_fd -1 flags 0x8 = 14
<SNIP>

Signed-off-by: Yang Jihong <yangjihong1@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt | 3 +++
tools/perf/builtin-record.c | 14 +++++++++++++-
2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt
index 680396c56bd1..dac53ece51ab 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt
+++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt
@@ -388,6 +388,9 @@ comma-separated list with no space: 0,1. Ranges of CPUs are specified with -: 0-
In per-thread mode with inheritance mode on (default), samples are captured only when
the thread executes on the designated CPUs. Default is to monitor all CPUs.
+User space tasks can migrate between CPUs, so when tracing selected CPUs,
+a dummy event is created to track sideband for all CPUs.
+
-B::
--no-buildid::
Do not save the build ids of binaries in the perf.data files. This skips
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
index 3ff9d972225e..4e8e97928f05 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
@@ -912,6 +912,7 @@ static int record__config_tracking_events(struct record *rec)
{
struct record_opts *opts = &rec->opts;
struct evlist *evlist = rec->evlist;
+ bool system_wide = false;
struct evsel *evsel;
/*
@@ -921,7 +922,18 @@ static int record__config_tracking_events(struct record *rec)
*/
if (opts->target.initial_delay || target__has_cpu(&opts->target) ||
perf_pmus__num_core_pmus() > 1) {
- evsel = evlist__findnew_tracking_event(evlist, false);
+
+ /*
+ * User space tasks can migrate between CPUs, so when tracing
+ * selected CPUs, sideband for all CPUs is still needed.
+ *
+ * If all (non-dummy) evsel have exclude_user,
+ * system_wide is not needed.
+ */
+ if (!!opts->target.cpu_list && !opts->all_kernel)

Not everyone uses all-kernel. Can we check the evsels are either dummy
or exclude_user?
For perf_record, exclude_user of all evsels is set in evsel__config(), and record__config_tracking_events() is before evsel__config().

Uh..., it seems that only opts->all_kernel can be used to check exclude_user of evsels.

void evsel__config()
{
...
if (opts->all_kernel) {
attr->exclude_kernel = 0;
attr->exclude_user = 1;
}
...
}

Thanks,
Yang