linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v6 3/3] Documentation: arm64: Document the PMU event counting threshold feature

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Date:   Thu, 30 Nov 2023 10:36:15 +0000
From:   Suzuki K Poulose <suzuki.poulose@....com>
To:     James Clark <james.clark@....com>,
        linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org,
        linux-perf-users@...r.kernel.org, will@...nel.org,
        mark.rutland@....com, anshuman.khandual@....com, namhyung@...il.com
Cc:     Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@....com>,
        Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>, linux-doc@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v6 3/3] Documentation: arm64: Document the PMU event
 counting threshold feature

On 24/11/2023 10:28, James Clark wrote:
> Add documentation for the new Perf event open parameters and
> the threshold_max capability file.
> 
> Signed-off-by: James Clark <james.clark@....com>

Reviewed-by: Suzuki K Poulose <suzuki.poulose@....com>


> ---
>   Documentation/arch/arm64/perf.rst | 72 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>   1 file changed, 72 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/arch/arm64/perf.rst b/Documentation/arch/arm64/perf.rst
> index 1f87b57c2332..41eee68951ff 100644
> --- a/Documentation/arch/arm64/perf.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/arch/arm64/perf.rst
> @@ -164,3 +164,75 @@ and should be used to mask the upper bits as needed.
>      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/tools/perf/arch/arm64/tests/user-events.c
>   .. _tools/lib/perf/tests/test-evsel.c:
>      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/tools/lib/perf/tests/test-evsel.c
> +
> +Event Counting Threshold
> +==========================================
> +
> +Overview
> +--------
> +
> +FEAT_PMUv3_TH (Armv8.8) permits a PMU counter to increment only on
> +events whose count meets a specified threshold condition. For example if
> +threshold_compare is set to 2 ('Greater than or equal'), and the
> +threshold is set to 2, then the PMU counter will now only increment by
> +when an event would have previously incremented the PMU counter by 2 or
> +more on a single processor cycle.
> +
> +To increment by 1 after passing the threshold condition instead of the
> +number of events on that cycle, add the 'threshold_count' option to the
> +commandline.
> +
> +How-to
> +------
> +
> +These are the parameters for controlling the feature:
> +
> +.. list-table::
> +   :header-rows: 1
> +
> +   * - Parameter
> +     - Description
> +   * - threshold
> +     - Value to threshold the event by. A value of 0 means that
> +       thresholding is disabled and the other parameters have no effect.
> +   * - threshold_compare
> +     - | Comparison function to use, with the following values supported:
> +       |
> +       | 0: Not-equal
> +       | 1: Equals
> +       | 2: Greater-than-or-equal
> +       | 3: Less-than
> +   * - threshold_count
> +     - If this is set, count by 1 after passing the threshold condition
> +       instead of the value of the event on this cycle.
> +
> +The threshold, threshold_compare and threshold_count values can be
> +provided per event, for example:
> +
> +.. code-block:: sh
> +
> +  perf stat -e stall_slot/threshold=2,threshold_compare=2/ \
> +            -e dtlb_walk/threshold=10,threshold_compare=3,threshold_count/
> +
> +In this example the stall_slot event will count by 2 or more on every
> +cycle where 2 or more stalls happen. And dtlb_walk will count by 1 on
> +every cycle where the number of dtlb walks were less than 10.
> +
> +The maximum supported threshold value can be read from the caps of each
> +PMU, for example:
> +
> +.. code-block:: sh
> +
> +  cat /sys/bus/event_source/devices/armv8_pmuv3/caps/threshold_max
> +
> +  0x000000ff
> +
> +If a value higher than this is given, then it will be silently clamped
> +to the maximum. The highest possible maximum is 4095, as the config
> +field for threshold is limited to 12 bits, and the Perf tool will refuse
> +to parse higher values.
> +
> +If the PMU doesn't support FEAT_PMUv3_TH, then threshold_max will read
> +0, and both threshold and threshold_compare will be silently ignored.
> +threshold_max will also read as 0 on aarch32 guests, even if the host
> +is running on hardware with the feature.