perf tools: Update Intel PT documentation

Update Intel PT documentation to describe new features.

Signed-off-by: Adrian Hunter <adrian.hunter@intel.com>
Cc: Jiri Olsa <jolsa@redhat.com>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1437150840-31811-26-git-send-email-adrian.hunter@intel.com
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com>
This commit is contained in:
Adrian Hunter 2015-07-17 19:34:00 +03:00 committed by Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo
parent 7eacca3ebb
commit 9d1bf02ac3

View file

@ -142,19 +142,21 @@ which is the same as
-e intel_pt/tsc=1,noretcomp=0/
Note there are now new config terms - see section 'config terms' further below.
The config terms are listed in /sys/devices/intel_pt/format. They are bit
fields within the config member of the struct perf_event_attr which is
passed to the kernel by the perf_event_open system call. They correspond to bit
fields in the IA32_RTIT_CTL MSR. Here is a list of them and their definitions:
$ for f in `ls /sys/devices/intel_pt/format`;do
> echo $f
> cat /sys/devices/intel_pt/format/$f
> done
noretcomp
config:11
tsc
config:10
$ grep -H . /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/*
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/cyc:config:1
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/cyc_thresh:config:19-22
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/mtc:config:9
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/mtc_period:config:14-17
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/noretcomp:config:11
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/psb_period:config:24-27
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/tsc:config:10
Note that the default config must be overridden for each term i.e.
@ -209,9 +211,185 @@ perf_event_attr is displayed if the -vv option is used e.g.
------------------------------------------------------------
config terms
------------
The June 2015 version of Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer
Manuals, Chapter 36 Intel Processor Trace, defined new Intel PT features.
Some of the features are reflect in new config terms. All the config terms are
described below.
tsc Always supported. Produces TSC timestamp packets to provide
timing information. In some cases it is possible to decode
without timing information, for example a per-thread context
that does not overlap executable memory maps.
The default config selects tsc (i.e. tsc=1).
noretcomp Always supported. Disables "return compression" so a TIP packet
is produced when a function returns. Causes more packets to be
produced but might make decoding more reliable.
The default config does not select noretcomp (i.e. noretcomp=0).
psb_period Allows the frequency of PSB packets to be specified.
The PSB packet is a synchronization packet that provides a
starting point for decoding or recovery from errors.
Support for psb_period is indicated by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_cyc
which contains "1" if the feature is supported and "0"
otherwise.
Valid values are given by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_periods
which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.
The psb_period value is converted to the approximate number of
trace bytes between PSB packets as:
2 ^ (value + 11)
e.g. value 3 means 16KiB bytes between PSBs
If an invalid value is entered, the error message
will give a list of valid values e.g.
$ perf record -e intel_pt/psb_period=15/u uname
Invalid psb_period for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0-5
If MTC packets are selected, the default config selects a value
of 3 (i.e. psb_period=3) or the nearest lower value that is
supported (0 is always supported). Otherwise the default is 0.
If decoding is expected to be reliable and the buffer is large
then a large PSB period can be used.
Because a TSC packet is produced with PSB, the PSB period can
also affect the granularity to timing information in the absence
of MTC or CYC.
mtc Produces MTC timing packets.
MTC packets provide finer grain timestamp information than TSC
packets. MTC packets record time using the hardware crystal
clock (CTC) which is related to TSC packets using a TMA packet.
Support for this feature is indicated by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/mtc
which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
"0" otherwise.
The frequency of MTC packets can also be specified - see
mtc_period below.
mtc_period Specifies how frequently MTC packets are produced - see mtc
above for how to determine if MTC packets are supported.
Valid values are given by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/mtc_periods
which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.
The mtc_period value is converted to the MTC frequency as:
CTC-frequency / (2 ^ value)
e.g. value 3 means one eighth of CTC-frequency
Where CTC is the hardware crystal clock, the frequency of which
can be related to TSC via values provided in cpuid leaf 0x15.
If an invalid value is entered, the error message
will give a list of valid values e.g.
$ perf record -e intel_pt/mtc_period=15/u uname
Invalid mtc_period for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0,3,6,9
The default value is 3 or the nearest lower value
that is supported (0 is always supported).
cyc Produces CYC timing packets.
CYC packets provide even finer grain timestamp information than
MTC and TSC packets. A CYC packet contains the number of CPU
cycles since the last CYC packet. Unlike MTC and TSC packets,
CYC packets are only sent when another packet is also sent.
Support for this feature is indicated by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_cyc
which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
"0" otherwise.
The number of CYC packets produced can be reduced by specifying
a threshold - see cyc_thresh below.
cyc_thresh Specifies how frequently CYC packets are produced - see cyc
above for how to determine if CYC packets are supported.
Valid cyc_thresh values are given by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/cycle_thresholds
which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.
The cyc_thresh value represents the minimum number of CPU cycles
that must have passed before a CYC packet can be sent. The
number of CPU cycles is:
2 ^ (value - 1)
e.g. value 4 means 8 CPU cycles must pass before a CYC packet
can be sent. Note a CYC packet is still only sent when another
packet is sent, not at, e.g. every 8 CPU cycles.
If an invalid value is entered, the error message
will give a list of valid values e.g.
$ perf record -e intel_pt/cyc,cyc_thresh=15/u uname
Invalid cyc_thresh for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0-12
CYC packets are not requested by default.
no_force_psb This is a driver option and is not in the IA32_RTIT_CTL MSR.
It stops the driver resetting the byte count to zero whenever
enabling the trace (for example on context switches) which in
turn results in no PSB being forced. However some processors
will produce a PSB anyway.
In any case, there is still a PSB when the trace is enabled for
the first time.
no_force_psb can be used to slightly decrease the trace size but
may make it harder for the decoder to recover from errors.
no_force_psb is not selected by default.
new snapshot option
-------------------
The difference between full trace and snapshot from the kernel's perspective is
that in full trace we don't overwrite trace data that the user hasn't collected
yet (and indicated that by advancing aux_tail), whereas in snapshot mode we let
the trace run and overwrite older data in the buffer so that whenever something
interesting happens, we can stop it and grab a snapshot of what was going on
around that interesting moment.
To select snapshot mode a new option has been added:
-S