Message-ID: <9d458499-30b2-77e8-d74c-1623e53539fc@arm.com>
Date:   Thu, 23 Nov 2023 12:35:43 +0000
From:   James Clark <james.clark@....com>
To:     Anshuman Khandual <anshuman.khandual@....com>
Cc:     Mark Brown <broonie@...nel.org>, Rob Herring <robh@...nel.org>,
        Marc Zyngier <maz@...nel.org>,
        Suzuki Poulose <suzuki.poulose@....com>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
        Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
        Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@...nel.org>,
        linux-perf-users@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        will@...nel.org, catalin.marinas@....com, mark.rutland@....com
Subject: Re: [V14 3/8] drivers: perf: arm_pmuv3: Enable branch stack sampling
 framework



On 21/11/2023 09:57, Anshuman Khandual wrote:
> 
> 
> On 11/15/23 15:37, James Clark wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 15/11/2023 07:22, Anshuman Khandual wrote:
>>> On 11/14/23 17:44, James Clark wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 14/11/2023 05:13, Anshuman Khandual wrote:
>>>> [...]
>>>>
>>>>> +/*
>>>>> + * This is a read only constant and safe during multi threaded access
>>>>> + */
>>>>> +static struct perf_branch_stack zero_branch_stack = { .nr = 0, .hw_idx = -1ULL};
>>>>> +
>>>>> +static void read_branch_records(struct pmu_hw_events *cpuc,
>>>>> +				struct perf_event *event,
>>>>> +				struct perf_sample_data *data,
>>>>> +				bool *branch_captured)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +	/*
>>>>> +	 * CPU specific branch records buffer must have been allocated already
>>>>> +	 * for the hardware records to be captured and processed further.
>>>>> +	 */
>>>>> +	if (WARN_ON(!cpuc->branches))
>>>>> +		return;
>>>>> +
>>>>> +	/*
>>>>> +	 * Overflowed event's branch_sample_type does not match the configured
>>>>> +	 * branch filters in the BRBE HW. So the captured branch records here
>>>>> +	 * cannot be co-related to the overflowed event. Report to the user as
>>>>> +	 * if no branch records have been captured, and flush branch records.
>>>>> +	 * The same scenario is applicable when the current task context does
>>>>> +	 * not match with overflown event.
>>>>> +	 */
>>>>> +	if ((cpuc->brbe_sample_type != event->attr.branch_sample_type) ||
>>>>> +	    (event->ctx->task && cpuc->brbe_context != event->ctx)) {
>>>>> +		perf_sample_save_brstack(data, event, &zero_branch_stack);
>>>>
>>>> Is there any benefit to outputting a zero size stack vs not outputting
>>>> anything at all?
>>>
>>> The event has got PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_STACK marked and hence perf_sample_data
>>> must have PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_STACK with it's br_stack pointing to the branch
>>> records. Hence without assigning a zeroed struct perf_branch_stack, there is
>>> a chance, that perf_sample_data will pass on some garbage branch records to
>>> the ring buffer.
>>>
>>
>> I don't think that's an issue, the perf core code handles the case where
>> no branch stack exists on a sample. It even outputs the zero length for
>> you, but there is other stuff that can be skipped if you just never call
>> perf_sample_save_brstack():
> 
> Sending out perf_sample_data without valid data->br_stack seems problematic,
> which would be the case when perf_sample_save_brstack() never gets called on
> the perf_sample_data being prepared, and depend on the below 'else' case for
> pushing out zero records.
> 

I'm not following why it would be problematic. data->br_stack is
initialised to NULL in perf_prepare_sample() and the core code
specifically has a path that was added for the case where
perf_sample_save_brstack() was never called.

> Alternatively - temporarily just zeroing out cpuc->branches->branch_stack.nr
> for immediate perf_sample_save_brstack(), and then restoring it back to it's
> original value might work as well. Remember it still has got valid records
> for other qualifying events.
> 

Zeroing isn't required, br_stack is already zero initialised.

Not sure what you mean by valid records for other qualifying events? But
this is a per sample thing, and the output struct is wiped per sample.

>>
>> from kernel/events/core.c:
>>
>>  if (sample_type & PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_STACK) {
>>   if (data->br_stack) {
>>     size_t size;
>>
>>     size = data->br_stack->nr
>>       * sizeof(struct perf_branch_entry);
>>
>>     perf_output_put(handle, data->br_stack->nr);
>>     if (branch_sample_hw_index(event))
>>       perf_output_put(handle, data->br_stack->hw_idx);
>>     perf_output_copy(handle, data->br_stack->entries, size);
>>   } else {
>>     /*
>>      * we always store at least the value of nr
>>      */
>>     u64 nr = 0;
>>     perf_output_put(handle, nr);
>>   }
>> }
>>
>>
>>>>
>>>>> +		return;
>>>>> +	}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +	/*
>>>>> +	 * Read the branch records from the hardware once after the PMU IRQ
>>>>> +	 * has been triggered but subsequently same records can be used for
>>>>> +	 * other events that might have been overflowed simultaneously thus
>>>>> +	 * saving much CPU cycles.
>>>>> +	 */
>>>>> +	if (!*branch_captured) {
>>>>> +		armv8pmu_branch_read(cpuc, event);
>>>>> +		*branch_captured = true;
>>>>> +	}
>>>>> +	perf_sample_save_brstack(data, event, &cpuc->branches->branch_stack);
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>>  static irqreturn_t armv8pmu_handle_irq(struct arm_pmu *cpu_pmu)
>>>>>  {
>>>>>  	u32 pmovsr;
>>>>> @@ -766,6 +815,7 @@ static irqreturn_t armv8pmu_handle_irq(struct arm_pmu *cpu_pmu)
>>>>>  	struct pmu_hw_events *cpuc = this_cpu_ptr(cpu_pmu->hw_events);
>>>>>  	struct pt_regs *regs;
>>>>>  	int idx;
>>>>> +	bool branch_captured = false;
>>>>>  
>>>>>  	/*
>>>>>  	 * Get and reset the IRQ flags
>>>>> @@ -809,6 +859,13 @@ static irqreturn_t armv8pmu_handle_irq(struct arm_pmu *cpu_pmu)
>>>>>  		if (!armpmu_event_set_period(event))
>>>>>  			continue;
>>>>>  
>>>>> +		/*
>>>>> +		 * PMU IRQ should remain asserted until all branch records
>>>>> +		 * are captured and processed into struct perf_sample_data.
>>>>> +		 */
>>>>> +		if (has_branch_stack(event) && cpu_pmu->has_branch_stack)
>>>>> +			read_branch_records(cpuc, event, &data, &branch_captured);
>>>>
>>>> You could return instead of using the out param, not really any
>>>> different, but maybe a bit more normal:
>>>>
>>>>   branch_captured |= read_branch_records(cpuc, event, &data,
>>>> branch_captured);
>>>
>>> I am just wondering - how that would be any better ?
>>>
>>
>> Maybe it wouldn't, but I suppose it's just the same way you don't write
>> returns like:
>>
>>   armv8pmu_task_ctx_cache_alloc(cpu_pmu, &ret);
>>
>> instead of:
>>
>>   ret = armv8pmu_task_ctx_cache_alloc(cpu_pmu);
>>
>> Out params can be hard to reason about sometimes. Maybe not in this case
>> though.
> 
> The out parameter 'branch_captured' is checked inside read_branch_records()
> to ascertain whether the BRBE records have been already captured inside the
> buffer i.e cpuc->branches->branch_stack, in case the process can be skipped
> (optimization) for subsequent events in the session. Keeping this parameter
> branch_captured just inside the caller i.e armv8pmu_handle_irq() would not
> achieve that objective.
> 

No, it would achieve the objective and it's the same. It's also arguably
two different things. One is whether any output was generated, and the
other is whether to skip, so having a return value allows you to give
the variables two different names.

 skip_output |= read_branch_records(cpuc, event, &data, skip_output);

And on the inside:

 bool read_branch_records(..., bool skip_output)
 {
    bool records_output = false;

    if (thing && !skip_output) {
      output_records();
      records_output = true;
    }

   return records_output;
  }

Either way, I'm not that bothered about this one, I was just mentioning
that the out parameter was a bit weird. But to say you can't accomplish
the same thing isn't right.

>>>>
>>>>> +
>>>>>  		/*
>>>>>  		 * Perf event overflow will queue the processing of the event as
>>>>>  		 * an irq_work which will be taken care of in the handling of
>>>>> @@ -818,6 +875,8 @@ static irqreturn_t armv8pmu_handle_irq(struct arm_pmu *cpu_pmu)
>>>>>  			cpu_pmu->disable(event);
>>>>>  	}
>>>>>  	armv8pmu_start(cpu_pmu);
>>>>> +	if (cpu_pmu->has_branch_stack)
>>>>> +		armv8pmu_branch_reset();
>>>>>  
>>>>>  	return IRQ_HANDLED;
>>>>>  }
>>>>> @@ -907,6 +966,24 @@ static int armv8pmu_user_event_idx(struct perf_event *event)
>>>>>  	return event->hw.idx;
>>>>>  }
>>>>>  
>>>>> +static void armv8pmu_sched_task(struct perf_event_pmu_context *pmu_ctx, bool sched_in)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +	struct arm_pmu *armpmu = to_arm_pmu(pmu_ctx->pmu);
>>>>> +	void *task_ctx = pmu_ctx->task_ctx_data;
>>>>> +
>>>>> +	if (armpmu->has_branch_stack) {
>>>>> +		/* Save branch records in task_ctx on sched out */
>>>>> +		if (task_ctx && !sched_in) {
>>>>> +			armv8pmu_branch_save(armpmu, task_ctx);
>>>>> +			return;
>>>>> +		}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +		/* Reset branch records on sched in */
>>>>> +		if (sched_in)
>>>>> +			armv8pmu_branch_reset();
>>>>> +	}
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>>  /*
>>>>>   * Add an event filter to a given event.
>>>>>   */
>>>>> @@ -977,6 +1054,9 @@ static void armv8pmu_reset(void *info)
>>>>>  		pmcr |= ARMV8_PMU_PMCR_LP;
>>>>>  
>>>>>  	armv8pmu_pmcr_write(pmcr);
>>>>> +
>>>>> +	if (cpu_pmu->has_branch_stack)
>>>>> +		armv8pmu_branch_reset();
>>>>>  }
>>>>>  
>>>>>  static int __armv8_pmuv3_map_event_id(struct arm_pmu *armpmu,
>>>>> @@ -1014,6 +1094,20 @@ static int __armv8_pmuv3_map_event(struct perf_event *event,
>>>>>  
>>>>>  	hw_event_id = __armv8_pmuv3_map_event_id(armpmu, event);
>>>>>  
>>>>> +	if (has_branch_stack(event)) {
>>>>> +		if (!armv8pmu_branch_attr_valid(event))
>>>>> +			return -EOPNOTSUPP;
>>>>> +
>>>>> +		/*
>>>>> +		 * If a task gets scheduled out, the current branch records
>>>>> +		 * get saved in the task's context data, which can be later
>>>>> +		 * used to fill in the records upon an event overflow. Let's
>>>>> +		 * enable PERF_ATTACH_TASK_DATA in 'event->attach_state' for
>>>>> +		 * all branch stack sampling perf events.
>>>>> +		 */
>>>>> +		event->attach_state |= PERF_ATTACH_TASK_DATA;
>>>>> +	}
>>>>> +
>>>>>  	/*
>>>>>  	 * CHAIN events only work when paired with an adjacent counter, and it
>>>>>  	 * never makes sense for a user to open one in isolation, as they'll be
>>>>> @@ -1130,6 +1224,35 @@ static void __armv8pmu_probe_pmu(void *info)
>>>>>  		cpu_pmu->reg_pmmir = read_pmmir();
>>>>>  	else
>>>>>  		cpu_pmu->reg_pmmir = 0;
>>>>> +	armv8pmu_branch_probe(cpu_pmu);
>>>>
>>>> I'm not sure if this is splitting hairs or not, but
>>>> __armv8pmu_probe_pmu() is run on only one of 'any' of the supported CPUs
>>>> for this PMU.
>>>
>>> Right.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Is it not possible to have some of those CPUs support and some not
>>>> support BRBE, even though they are all the same PMU type? Maybe we could
>>>
>>> I am not sure, but not something I have come across.
>>>
>>>> wait for it to explode with some weird system, or change it so that the
>>>> BRBE probe is run on every CPU, with a second 'supported_brbe_mask' field.
>>>
>>> Right, but for now, the current solutions looks sufficient.
>>>
>>
>> I suppose it means people will have to split their PMUs to ones that do
>> and don't support BRBE. I'm not sure if that's worth adding a comment in
>> the docs or it's too obscure
> 
> Sure, can add that comment in brbe.rst. Also with debug enabled i.e wrapped
> inside some debug config, it can be ascertained that all cpus on a given ARM
> PMU have BRBE with exact same properties.
> 
>>
>>>>
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +static int branch_records_alloc(struct arm_pmu *armpmu)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +	struct branch_records __percpu *records;
>>>>> +	int cpu;
>>>>> +
>>>>> +	records = alloc_percpu_gfp(struct branch_records, GFP_KERNEL);
>>>>> +	if (!records)
>>>>> +		return -ENOMEM;
>>>>> +
>>>>
>>>> Doesn't this technically need to take the CPU mask where BRBE is
>>>> supported into account? Otherwise you are allocating for cores that
>>>> never use it.
>>>>
>>>> Also it's done per-CPU _and_ per-PMU type, multiplying the number of
>>>> BRBE buffers allocated, even if they can only ever be used per-CPU.
>>>
>>> Agreed, but I believe we have already been though this discussion, and
>>> settled for this method - for being a simpler approach.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>> +	/*
>>>>> +	 * percpu memory allocated for 'records' gets completely consumed
>>>>> +	 * here, and never required to be freed up later. So permanently
>>>>> +	 * losing access to this anchor i.e 'records' is acceptable.
>>>>> +	 *
>>>>> +	 * Otherwise this allocation handle would have to be saved up for
>>>>> +	 * free_percpu() release later if required.
>>>>> +	 */
>>>>> +	for_each_possible_cpu(cpu) {
>>>>> +		struct pmu_hw_events *events_cpu;
>>>>> +		struct branch_records *records_cpu;
>>>>> +
>>>>> +		events_cpu = per_cpu_ptr(armpmu->hw_events, cpu);
>>>>> +		records_cpu = per_cpu_ptr(records, cpu);
>>>>> +		events_cpu->branches = records_cpu;
>>>>> +	}
>>>>> +	return 0;
>>>>>  }
>>>>>  
>>>>>  static int armv8pmu_probe_pmu(struct arm_pmu *cpu_pmu)
>>>>> @@ -1146,7 +1269,21 @@ static int armv8pmu_probe_pmu(struct arm_pmu *cpu_pmu)
>>>>>  	if (ret)
>>>>>  		return ret;
>>>>>  
>>>>> -	return probe.present ? 0 : -ENODEV;
>>>>> +	if (!probe.present)
>>>>> +		return -ENODEV;
>>>>> +
>>>>> +	if (cpu_pmu->has_branch_stack) {
>>>>> +		ret = armv8pmu_task_ctx_cache_alloc(cpu_pmu);
>>>>> +		if (ret)
>>>>> +			return ret;
>>>>> +
>>>>> +		ret = branch_records_alloc(cpu_pmu);
>>>>> +		if (ret) {
>>>>> +			armv8pmu_task_ctx_cache_free(cpu_pmu);
>>>>> +			return ret;
>>>>> +		}
>>>>> +	}
>>>>> +	return 0;
>>>>>  }
>>>>>  
>>>>
>>>> [...]
>>>>> diff --git a/include/linux/perf/arm_pmuv3.h b/include/linux/perf/arm_pmuv3.h
>>>>> index 9c226adf938a..72da4522397c 100644
>>>>> --- a/include/linux/perf/arm_pmuv3.h
>>>>> +++ b/include/linux/perf/arm_pmuv3.h
>>>>> @@ -303,4 +303,50 @@
>>>>>  		}						\
>>>>>  	} while (0)
>>>>>  
>>>>> +struct pmu_hw_events;
>>>>> +struct arm_pmu;
>>>>> +struct perf_event;
>>>>> +
>>>>> +#ifdef CONFIG_PERF_EVENTS
>>>>
>>>> Very minor nit, but if you end up moving the stubs to the brbe header
>>>> you probably don't need the #ifdef CONFIG_PERF_EVENTS because it just
>>>> won't be included in that case.
>>>
>>> Right, will drop CONFIG_PERF_EVENTS wrapper.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>> +static inline void armv8pmu_branch_reset(void)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +static inline void armv8pmu_branch_probe(struct arm_pmu *arm_pmu)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +static inline bool armv8pmu_branch_attr_valid(struct perf_event *event)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +	WARN_ON_ONCE(!has_branch_stack(event));
>>>>> +	return false;
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +static inline void armv8pmu_branch_enable(struct arm_pmu *arm_pmu)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +static inline void armv8pmu_branch_disable(void)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +static inline void armv8pmu_branch_read(struct pmu_hw_events *cpuc,
>>>>> +					struct perf_event *event)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +	WARN_ON_ONCE(!has_branch_stack(event));
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +static inline void armv8pmu_branch_save(struct arm_pmu *arm_pmu, void *ctx)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +static inline int armv8pmu_task_ctx_cache_alloc(struct arm_pmu *arm_pmu)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +	return 0;
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +
>>>>> +static inline void armv8pmu_task_ctx_cache_free(struct arm_pmu *arm_pmu)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +}
>>>>> +#endif /* CONFIG_PERF_EVENTS */
>>>>>  #endif

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