perf tools: Enable LBR call stack support
Currently, there are two call chain recording options, fp and dwarf.
Haswell has a new feature that utilizes the existing LBR facility to
record call chains. Kernel side LBR support code provides this as a
third option to record call chains. This patch enables the lbr call
stack support on the tooling side.
LBR call stack has some limitations:
- It reuses current LBR facility, so LBR call stack and branch record
can not be enabled at the same time.
- It is only available for user-space callchains.
However, it also offers some advantages:
- LBR call stack can work on user apps which don't have frame-pointers
or dwarf debug info compiled. It is a good alternative when nothing
else works.
Tested-by: Jiri Olsa <jolsa@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Kan Liang <kan.liang@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Adrian Hunter <adrian.hunter@intel.com>
Cc: Anshuman Khandual <khandual@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@kernel.org>
Cc: Cody P Schafer <cody@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc: David Ahern <dsahern@gmail.com>
Cc: Don Zickus <dzickus@redhat.com>
Cc: Jacob Shin <jacob.w.shin@gmail.com>
Cc: Jiri Olsa <jolsa@redhat.com>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Masanari Iida <standby24x7@gmail.com>
Cc: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@kernel.org>
Cc: Paul Mackerras <paulus@samba.org>
Cc: Rodrigo Campos <rodrigo@sdfg.com.ar>
Cc: Stephane Eranian <eranian@google.com>
Cc: Sukadev Bhattiprolu <sukadev@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1420482185-29830-2-git-send-email-kan.liang@intel.com
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt
index 31e9774..1c7e50f 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt
+++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt
@@ -115,13 +115,19 @@
implies -g.
Allows specifying "fp" (frame pointer) or "dwarf"
- (DWARF's CFI - Call Frame Information) as the method to collect
+ (DWARF's CFI - Call Frame Information) or "lbr"
+ (Hardware Last Branch Record facility) as the method to collect
the information used to show the call graphs.
In some systems, where binaries are build with gcc
--fomit-frame-pointer, using the "fp" method will produce bogus
call graphs, using "dwarf", if available (perf tools linked to
the libunwind library) should be used instead.
+ Using the "lbr" method doesn't require any compiler options. It
+ will produce call graphs from the hardware LBR registers. The
+ main limition is that it is only available on new Intel
+ platforms, such as Haswell. It can only get user call chain. It
+ doesn't work with branch stack sampling at the same time.
-q::
--quiet::