perf: Add generic taken branch sampling support
This patch adds the ability to sample taken branches to the
perf_event interface.
The ability to capture taken branches is very useful for all
sorts of analysis. For instance, basic block profiling, call
counts, statistical call graph.
This new capability requires hardware assist and as such may
not be available on all HW platforms. On Intel x86 it is
implemented on top of the Last Branch Record (LBR) facility.
To enable taken branches sampling, the PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_STACK
bit must be set in attr->sample_type.
Sampled taken branches may be filtered by type and/or priv
levels.
The patch adds a new field, called branch_sample_type, to the
perf_event_attr structure. It contains a bitmask of filters
to apply to the sampled taken branches.
Filters may be implemented in HW. If the HW filter does not exist
or is not good enough, some arch may also implement a SW filter.
The following generic filters are currently defined:
- PERF_SAMPLE_USER
only branches whose targets are at the user level
- PERF_SAMPLE_KERNEL
only branches whose targets are at the kernel level
- PERF_SAMPLE_HV
only branches whose targets are at the hypervisor level
- PERF_SAMPLE_ANY
any type of branches (subject to priv levels filters)
- PERF_SAMPLE_ANY_CALL
any call branches (may incl. syscall on some arch)
- PERF_SAMPLE_ANY_RET
any return branches (may incl. syscall returns on some arch)
- PERF_SAMPLE_IND_CALL
indirect call branches
Obviously filter may be combined. The priv level bits are optional.
If not provided, the priv level of the associated event are used. It
is possible to collect branches at a priv level different from the
associated event. Use of kernel, hv priv levels is subject to permissions
and availability (hv).
The number of taken branch records present in each sample may vary based
on HW, the type of sampled branches, the executed code. Therefore
each sample contains the number of taken branches it contains.
Signed-off-by: Stephane Eranian <eranian@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1328826068-11713-2-git-send-email-eranian@google.com
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
3 files changed