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Message-ID: <20231117103236.GI3818@noisy.programming.kicks-ass.net>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2023 11:32:36 +0100
From: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>
To: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@...nel.org>,
Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>,
Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>, x86@...nel.org,
linux-perf-users@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
Like Xu <likexu@...cent.com>,
Jim Mattson <jmattson@...gle.com>,
Mingwei Zhang <mizhang@...gle.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] perf/x86: Don't enforce minimum period for KVM
guest-only events
On Tue, Nov 07, 2023 at 10:36:05AM -0800, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> Don't apply minimum period workarounds/requirements to events that are
> being created by KVM to virtualize PMCs for guests, i.e. skip limit
> enforcement for events that exclude the host. Perf's somewhat arbitrary
> limits prevents KVM from correctly virtualizing counter overflow, e.g. if
> the guest sets a counter to have an effective period of '1', forcing a
> minimum period of '2' results in overflow occurring at the incorrect time.
>
> Whether or not a "real" profiling use case is affected is debatable, but
> the incorrect behavior is trivially easy to observe and reproduce, and is
> deterministic enough to make the PMU appear to be broken from the guest's
> perspective.
>
> Furthermore, the "period" set by KVM isn't actually a period, as KVM won't
> automatically reprogram the event with the same period on overflow. KVM
> will synthesize a PMI into the guest when appropriate, but what the guest
> does in response to the PMI is purely a guest decision. In other words,
> KVM effectively operates in a one-shot mode, not a periodic mode.
>
> Letting KVM and/or the guest program "too small" periods is safe for the
> host, as events that exclude the host are atomically disabled with respect
> to VM-Exit, i.e. are guaranteed to stop counting upon transitioning to the
> host. And whether or not *explicitly* programming a short period is safe
> is somewhat of a moot point, as transitions to/from the guest effectively
> yield the same effect, e.g. an unrelated VM-Exit => VM-Enter transition
> will re-enable guest PMCs with whatever count happened to be in the PMC at
> the time of VM-Exit.
>
> Cc: Like Xu <likexu@...cent.com>
> Cc: Jim Mattson <jmattson@...gle.com>
> Cc: Mingwei Zhang <mizhang@...gle.com>
> Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com>
> ---
>
> Disclaimer: I've only tested this from KVM's side of things.
>
> arch/x86/events/core.c | 21 +++++++++++++++------
> 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/x86/events/core.c b/arch/x86/events/core.c
> index 40ad1425ffa2..f8a8a4ea4d47 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/events/core.c
> +++ b/arch/x86/events/core.c
> @@ -1388,16 +1388,25 @@ int x86_perf_event_set_period(struct perf_event *event)
> hwc->last_period = period;
> ret = 1;
> }
> - /*
> - * Quirk: certain CPUs dont like it if just 1 hw_event is left:
> - */
> - if (unlikely(left < 2))
> - left = 2;
>
> if (left > x86_pmu.max_period)
> left = x86_pmu.max_period;
>
> - static_call_cond(x86_pmu_limit_period)(event, &left);
> + /*
> + * Exempt KVM guest events from the minimum period requirements. It's
> + * the guest's responsibility to ensure it can make forward progress,
> + * and it's KVM's responsibility to configure an appropriate "period"
> + * to correctly virtualize overflow for the guest's PMCs.
> + */
> + if (!event->attr.exclude_host) {
> + /*
> + * Quirk: certain CPUs dont like it if just 1 event is left:
> + */
> + if (unlikely(left < 2))
> + left = 2;
> +
> + static_call_cond(x86_pmu_limit_period)(event, &left);
> + }
Hmm, IIRC we can disable that left < 2 thing for anything that doesn't
have x86_pmu.pebs_no_isolation IIRC.
I'm not sure about taking out the limit_period call, why does it make
sense to allow the guest to program obviously invalid settings?
That is, would something like the below work for you?
---
diff --git a/arch/x86/events/core.c b/arch/x86/events/core.c
index 40ad1425ffa2..5543a0bab1f8 100644
--- a/arch/x86/events/core.c
+++ b/arch/x86/events/core.c
@@ -152,6 +152,14 @@ u64 x86_perf_event_update(struct perf_event *event)
return new_raw_count;
}
+static void x86_perf_limit_period(struct perf_event *event, s64 *left)
+{
+ /*
+ * Quirk: certain CPUs dont like it if just 1 hw_event is left:
+ */
+ *left = max(*left, 2);
+}
+
/*
* Find and validate any extra registers to set up.
*/
@@ -1388,11 +1396,6 @@ int x86_perf_event_set_period(struct perf_event *event)
hwc->last_period = period;
ret = 1;
}
- /*
- * Quirk: certain CPUs dont like it if just 1 hw_event is left:
- */
- if (unlikely(left < 2))
- left = 2;
if (left > x86_pmu.max_period)
left = x86_pmu.max_period;
@@ -2130,6 +2133,10 @@ static int __init init_hw_perf_events(void)
if (!x86_pmu.update)
x86_pmu.update = x86_perf_event_update;
+ // XXX check non-Intel
+ if (!x86_pmu.limit_period && x86_pmu.pebs_no_isolation)
+ x86_pmu.limit_update = x86_perf_limit_period;
+
x86_pmu_static_call_update();
/*
diff --git a/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c b/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c
index a08f794a0e79..9fe0f241779e 100644
--- a/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c
+++ b/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c
@@ -4471,7 +4471,10 @@ static void bdw_limit_period(struct perf_event *event, s64 *left)
if (*left < 128)
*left = 128;
*left &= ~0x3fULL;
+ return;
}
+ if (unlikely(x86_pmu.pebs_no_isolation))
+ *left = max(*left, 2);
}
static void nhm_limit_period(struct perf_event *event, s64 *left)
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