linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] perf/stat: Fix perf stat for forked applications

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Date:   Thu, 24 Mar 2022 17:36:50 -0300
From:   Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@...nel.org>
To:     Namhyung Kim <namhyung@...nel.org>
Cc:     Jiri Olsa <olsajiri@...il.com>,
        Thomas Richter <tmricht@...ux.ibm.com>,
        linux-kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        linux-perf-users <linux-perf-users@...r.kernel.org>,
        gor@...ux.ibm.com, Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@...hat.com>,
        Sven Schnelle <svens@...ux.ibm.com>, sumanthk@...ux.ibm.com,
        Heiko Carstens <hca@...ux.ibm.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] perf/stat: Fix perf stat for forked applications

Em Wed, Mar 23, 2022 at 01:54:23PM -0700, Namhyung Kim escreveu:
> On Wed, Mar 23, 2022 at 4:07 AM Jiri Olsa <olsajiri@...il.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 04:53:46PM +0100, Thomas Richter wrote:
> > > I have run into the following issue:
> > >
> > >  # perf stat -a -e new_pmu/INSTRUCTION_7/ --  mytest -c1 7
> > >
> > >  Performance counter stats for 'system wide':
> > >
> > >                  0      new_pmu/INSTRUCTION_7/
> > >
> > >        0.000366428 seconds time elapsed
> > >  #
> > >
> > > The new PMU for s390 counts the execution of certain CPU instructions.
> > > The root cause is the extremely small run time of the
> > > mytest program. It just executes some assembly instructions
> > > and then exits. In above invocation the instruction is executed
> > > exactly one time (-c1 option). The PMU is expected to report this one
> > > time execution by a counter value of one, but fails to do so
> > > in some cases, not all.
> > >
> > > Debugging reveals the invocation of the child process is done
> > > *before* the counter events are installed and enabled. Tracing
> > > reveals that sometimes the child process starts and exits before
> > > the event is installed on all CPUs. The more CPUs the machine has,
> > > the more often this miscount happens.
> > >
> > > Fix this by reversing the start of the work load after the events
> > > have been installed on the specified CPUs. Now the comment also
> > > matches the code.
> > >
> > > Output after:
> > >  # perf stat -a -e new_pmu/INSTRUCTION_7/ --  mytest -c1 7
> > >
> > >  Performance counter stats for 'system wide':
> > >
> > >                  1      new_pmu/INSTRUCTION_7/
> > >
> > >        0.000366428 seconds time elapsed
> > >  #
> > >
> > > Now the correct result is reported rock solid all the time regardless
> > > how many CPUs are online.
> > >
> > > Fixes:  acf2892270dc ("perf stat: Use perf_evlist__prepare/start_workload())
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Thomas Richter <tmricht@...ux.ibm.com>
> > > Acked-by: Sumanth Korikkar <sumanthk@...ux.ibm.com>
> > > Cc: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@...nel.org>
> > > ---
> > >  tools/perf/builtin-stat.c | 2 +-
> > >  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> > >
> > > diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
> > > index 3f98689dd687..60baa3dadc4b 100644
> > > --- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
> > > +++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
> > > @@ -955,10 +955,10 @@ static int __run_perf_stat(int argc, const char **argv, int run_idx)
> > >        * Enable counters and exec the command:
> > >        */
> > >       if (forks) {
> > > -             evlist__start_workload(evsel_list);
> > >               err = enable_counters();
> > >               if (err)
> > >                       return -1;
> > > +             evlist__start_workload(evsel_list);
> >
> > right, without -a the event has enable_on_exec so the race does not
> > matter, but it's a problem for system wide with fork
> 
> Agreed.  Also we may move the enable_counters() and the
> clock code out of the if block to be shared with the else block.
> 
> Acked-by: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@...nel.org>

Thanks, applied and added your comments as "Reviewer notes", and please
consider using the Reviewed-by tag instead of the Acked-by ones.

Thanks anyways, as always!

- Arnaldo