cachegrind/docs/cg-tech-docs.xml

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<chapter id="cg-tech-docs" xreflabel="How Cachegrind works">

<title>How Cachegrind works</title>

<sect1 id="cg-tech-docs.profiling" xreflabel="Cache profiling">
<title>Cache profiling</title>

<para>[Note: this document is now very old, and a lot of its contents are out
of date, and misleading.]</para>

<para>Valgrind is a very nice platform for doing cache profiling
and other kinds of simulation, because it converts horrible x86
instructions into nice clean RISC-like UCode.  For example, for
cache profiling we are interested in instructions that read and
write memory; in UCode there are only four instructions that do
this: <computeroutput>LOAD</computeroutput>,
<computeroutput>STORE</computeroutput>,
<computeroutput>FPU_R</computeroutput> and
<computeroutput>FPU_W</computeroutput>.  By contrast, because of
the x86 addressing modes, almost every instruction can read or
write memory.</para>

<para>Most of the cache profiling machinery is in the file
<filename>vg_cachesim.c</filename>.</para>

<para>These notes are a somewhat haphazard guide to how
Valgrind's cache profiling works.</para>

</sect1>


<sect1 id="cg-tech-docs.costcentres" xreflabel="Cost centres">
<title>Cost centres</title>

<para>Valgrind gathers cache profiling about every instruction
executed, individually.  Each instruction has a <command>cost
centre</command> associated with it.  There are two kinds of cost
centre: one for instructions that don't reference memory
(<computeroutput>iCC</computeroutput>), and one for instructions
that do (<computeroutput>idCC</computeroutput>):</para>

<programlisting><![CDATA[
typedef struct _CC {
  ULong a;
  ULong m1;
  ULong m2;
} CC;

typedef struct _iCC {
  /* word 1 */
  UChar tag;
  UChar instr_size;

  /* words 2+ */
  Addr instr_addr;
  CC I;
} iCC;
   
typedef struct _idCC {
  /* word 1 */
  UChar tag;
  UChar instr_size;
  UChar data_size;

  /* words 2+ */
  Addr instr_addr;
  CC I; 
  CC D; 
} idCC; ]]></programlisting>

<para>Each <computeroutput>CC</computeroutput> has three fields
<computeroutput>a</computeroutput>,
<computeroutput>m1</computeroutput>,
<computeroutput>m2</computeroutput> for recording references,
level 1 misses and level 2 misses.  Each of these is a 64-bit
<computeroutput>ULong</computeroutput> -- the numbers can get
very large, ie. greater than 4.2 billion allowed by a 32-bit
unsigned int.</para>

<para>A <computeroutput>iCC</computeroutput> has one
<computeroutput>CC</computeroutput> for instruction cache
accesses.  A <computeroutput>idCC</computeroutput> has two, one
for instruction cache accesses, and one for data cache
accesses.</para>

<para>The <computeroutput>iCC</computeroutput> and
<computeroutput>dCC</computeroutput> structs also store
unchanging information about the instruction:</para>
<itemizedlist>
  <listitem>
    <para>An instruction-type identification tag (explained
    below)</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>Instruction size</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>Data reference size
    (<computeroutput>idCC</computeroutput> only)</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>Instruction address</para>
  </listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>Note that data address is not one of the fields for
<computeroutput>idCC</computeroutput>.  This is because for many
memory-referencing instructions the data address can change each
time it's executed (eg. if it uses register-offset addressing).
We have to give this item to the cache simulation in a different
way (see Instrumentation section below). Some memory-referencing
instructions do always reference the same address, but we don't
try to treat them specialy in order to keep things simple.</para>

<para>Also note that there is only room for recording info about
one data cache access in an
<computeroutput>idCC</computeroutput>.  So what about
instructions that do a read then a write, such as:</para>
<programlisting><![CDATA[
inc %(esi)]]></programlisting>

<para>In a write-allocate cache, as simulated by Valgrind, the
write cannot miss, since it immediately follows the read which
will drag the block into the cache if it's not already there.  So
the write access isn't really interesting, and Valgrind doesn't
record it.  This means that Valgrind doesn't measure memory
references, but rather memory references that could miss in the
cache.  This behaviour is the same as that used by the AMD Athlon
hardware counters.  It also has the benefit of simplifying the
implementation -- instructions that read and write memory can be
treated like instructions that read memory.</para>

</sect1>


<sect1 id="cg-tech-docs.ccstore" xreflabel="Storing cost-centres">
<title>Storing cost-centres</title>

<para>Cost centres are stored in a way that makes them very cheap
to lookup, which is important since one is looked up for every
original x86 instruction executed.</para>

<para>Valgrind does JIT translations at the basic block level,
and cost centres are also setup and stored at the basic block
level.  By doing things carefully, we store all the cost centres
for a basic block in a contiguous array, and lookup comes almost
for free.</para>

<para>Consider this part of a basic block (for exposition
purposes, pretend it's an entire basic block):</para>
<programlisting><![CDATA[
movl $0x0,%eax
movl $0x99, -4(%ebp)]]></programlisting>

<para>The translation to UCode looks like this:</para>
<programlisting><![CDATA[
MOVL      $0x0, t20
PUTL      t20, %EAX
INCEIPo   $5

LEA1L     -4(t4), t14
MOVL      $0x99, t18
STL       t18, (t14)
INCEIPo   $7]]></programlisting>

<para>The first step is to allocate the cost centres.  This
requires a preliminary pass to count how many x86 instructions
were in the basic block, and their types (and thus sizes).  UCode
translations for single x86 instructions are delimited by the
<computeroutput>INCEIPo</computeroutput> instruction, the
argument of which gives the byte size of the instruction (note
that lazy INCEIP updating is turned off to allow this).</para>

<para>We can tell if an x86 instruction references memory by
looking for <computeroutput>LDL</computeroutput> and
<computeroutput>STL</computeroutput> UCode instructions, and thus
what kind of cost centre is required.  From this we can determine
how many cost centres we need for the basic block, and their
sizes.  We can then allocate them in a single array.</para>

<para>Consider the example code above.  After the preliminary
pass, we know we need two cost centres, one
<computeroutput>iCC</computeroutput> and one
<computeroutput>dCC</computeroutput>.  So we allocate an array to
store these which looks like this:</para>

<programlisting><![CDATA[
|(uninit)|      tag         (1 byte)
|(uninit)|      instr_size  (1 bytes)
|(uninit)|      (padding)   (2 bytes)
|(uninit)|      instr_addr  (4 bytes)
|(uninit)|      I.a         (8 bytes)
|(uninit)|      I.m1        (8 bytes)
|(uninit)|      I.m2        (8 bytes)

|(uninit)|      tag         (1 byte)
|(uninit)|      instr_size  (1 byte)
|(uninit)|      data_size   (1 byte)
|(uninit)|      (padding)   (1 byte)
|(uninit)|      instr_addr  (4 bytes)
|(uninit)|      I.a         (8 bytes)
|(uninit)|      I.m1        (8 bytes)
|(uninit)|      I.m2        (8 bytes)
|(uninit)|      D.a         (8 bytes)
|(uninit)|      D.m1        (8 bytes)
|(uninit)|      D.m2        (8 bytes)]]></programlisting>

<para>(We can see now why we need tags to distinguish between the
two types of cost centres.)</para>

<para>We also record the size of the array.  We look up the debug
info of the first instruction in the basic block, and then stick
the array into a table indexed by filename and function name.
This makes it easy to dump the information quickly to file at the
end.</para>

</sect1>


<sect1 id="cg-tech-docs.instrum" xreflabel="Instrumentation">
<title>Instrumentation</title>

<para>The instrumentation pass has two main jobs:</para>

<orderedlist>
  <listitem>
    <para>Fill in the gaps in the allocated cost centres.</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>Add UCode to call the cache simulator for each
   instruction.</para>
  </listitem>
</orderedlist>

<para>The instrumentation pass steps through the UCode and the
cost centres in tandem.  As each original x86 instruction's UCode
is processed, the appropriate gaps in the instructions cost
centre are filled in, for example:</para>

<programlisting><![CDATA[
|INSTR_CC|      tag         (1 byte)
|5       |      instr_size  (1 bytes)
|(uninit)|      (padding)   (2 bytes)
|i_addr1 |      instr_addr  (4 bytes)
|0       |      I.a         (8 bytes)
|0       |      I.m1        (8 bytes)
|0       |      I.m2        (8 bytes)

|WRITE_CC|      tag         (1 byte)
|7       |      instr_size  (1 byte)
|4       |      data_size   (1 byte)
|(uninit)|      (padding)   (1 byte)
|i_addr2 |      instr_addr  (4 bytes)
|0       |      I.a         (8 bytes)
|0       |      I.m1        (8 bytes)
|0       |      I.m2        (8 bytes)
|0       |      D.a         (8 bytes)
|0       |      D.m1        (8 bytes)
|0       |      D.m2        (8 bytes)]]></programlisting>

<para>(Note that this step is not performed if a basic block is
re-translated; see <xref linkend="cg-tech-docs.retranslations"/> for
more information.)</para>

<para>GCC inserts padding before the
<computeroutput>instr_size</computeroutput> field so that it is
word aligned.</para>

<para>The instrumentation added to call the cache simulation
function looks like this (instrumentation is indented to
distinguish it from the original UCode):</para>

<programlisting><![CDATA[
MOVL      $0x0, t20
PUTL      t20, %EAX
  PUSHL     %eax
  PUSHL     %ecx
  PUSHL     %edx
  MOVL      $0x4091F8A4, t46  # address of 1st CC
  PUSHL     t46
  CALLMo    $0x12             # second cachesim function
  CLEARo    $0x4
  POPL      %edx
  POPL      %ecx
  POPL      %eax
INCEIPo   $5

LEA1L     -4(t4), t14
MOVL      $0x99, t18
  MOVL      t14, t42
STL       t18, (t14)
  PUSHL     %eax
  PUSHL     %ecx
  PUSHL     %edx
  PUSHL     t42
  MOVL      $0x4091F8C4, t44  # address of 2nd CC
  PUSHL     t44
  CALLMo    $0x13             # second cachesim function
  CLEARo    $0x8
  POPL      %edx
  POPL      %ecx
  POPL      %eax
INCEIPo   $7]]></programlisting>

<para>Consider the first instruction's UCode.  Each call is
surrounded by three <computeroutput>PUSHL</computeroutput> and
<computeroutput>POPL</computeroutput> instructions to save and
restore the caller-save registers.  Then the address of the
instruction's cost centre is pushed onto the stack, to be the
first argument to the cache simulation function.  The address is
known at this point because we are doing a simultaneous pass
through the cost centre array.  This means the cost centre lookup
for each instruction is almost free (just the cost of pushing an
argument for a function call).  Then the call to the cache
simulation function for non-memory-reference instructions is made
(note that the <computeroutput>CALLMo</computeroutput>
UInstruction takes an offset into a table of predefined
functions; it is not an absolute address), and the single
argument is <computeroutput>CLEAR</computeroutput>ed from the
stack.</para>

<para>The second instruction's UCode is similar.  The only
difference is that, as mentioned before, we have to pass the
address of the data item referenced to the cache simulation
function too.  This explains the <computeroutput>MOVL t14,
t42</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>PUSHL
t42</computeroutput> UInstructions.  (Note that the seemingly
redundant <computeroutput>MOV</computeroutput>ing will probably
be optimised away during register allocation.)</para>

<para>Note that instead of storing unchanging information about
each instruction (instruction size, data size, etc) in its cost
centre, we could have passed in these arguments to the simulation
function.  But this would slow the calls down (two or three extra
arguments pushed onto the stack).  Also it would bloat the UCode
instrumentation by amounts similar to the space required for them
in the cost centre; bloated UCode would also fill the translation
cache more quickly, requiring more translations for large
programs and slowing them down more.</para>

</sect1>


<sect1 id="cg-tech-docs.retranslations" 
         xreflabel="Handling basic block retranslations">
<title>Handling basic block retranslations</title>

<para>The above description ignores one complication.  Valgrind
has a limited size cache for basic block translations; if it
fills up, old translations are discarded.  If a discarded basic
block is executed again, it must be re-translated.</para>

<para>However, we can't use this approach for profiling -- we
can't throw away cost centres for instructions in the middle of
execution!  So when a basic block is translated, we first look
for its cost centre array in the hash table.  If there is no cost
centre array, it must be the first translation, so we proceed as
described above.  But if there is a cost centre array already, it
must be a retranslation.  In this case, we skip the cost centre
allocation and initialisation steps, but still do the UCode
instrumentation step.</para>

</sect1>



<sect1 id="cg-tech-docs.cachesim" xreflabel="The cache simulation">
<title>The cache simulation</title>

<para>The cache simulation is fairly straightforward.  It just
tracks which memory blocks are in the cache at the moment (it
doesn't track the contents, since that is irrelevant).</para>

<para>The interface to the simulation is quite clean.  The
functions called from the UCode contain calls to the simulation
functions in the files
<filename>vg_cachesim_{I1,D1,L2}.c</filename>; these calls are
inlined so that only one function call is done per simulated x86
instruction.  The file <filename>vg_cachesim.c</filename> simply
<computeroutput>#include</computeroutput>s the three files
containing the simulation, which makes plugging in new cache
simulations is very easy -- you just replace the three files and
recompile.</para>

</sect1>


<sect1 id="cg-tech-docs.output" xreflabel="Output">
<title>Output</title>

<para>Output is fairly straightforward, basically printing the
cost centre for every instruction, grouped by files and
functions.  Total counts (eg. total cache accesses, total L1
misses) are calculated when traversing this structure rather than
during execution, to save time; the cache simulation functions
are called so often that even one or two extra adds can make a
sizeable difference.</para>

<para>Input file has the following format:</para>
<programlisting><![CDATA[
file         ::= desc_line* cmd_line events_line data_line+ summary_line
desc_line    ::= "desc:" ws? non_nl_string
cmd_line     ::= "cmd:" ws? cmd
events_line  ::= "events:" ws? (event ws)+
data_line    ::= file_line | fn_line | count_line
file_line    ::= ("fl=" | "fi=" | "fe=") filename
fn_line      ::= "fn=" fn_name
count_line   ::= line_num ws? (count ws)+
summary_line ::= "summary:" ws? (count ws)+
count        ::= num | "."]]></programlisting>

<para>Where:</para>
<itemizedlist>
  <listitem>
    <para><computeroutput>non_nl_string</computeroutput> is any
    string not containing a newline.</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para><computeroutput>cmd</computeroutput> is a command line
    invocation.</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para><computeroutput>filename</computeroutput> and
    <computeroutput>fn_name</computeroutput> can be anything.</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para><computeroutput>num</computeroutput> and
    <computeroutput>line_num</computeroutput> are decimal
    numbers.</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para><computeroutput>ws</computeroutput> is whitespace.</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para><computeroutput>nl</computeroutput> is a newline.</para>
  </listitem>

</itemizedlist>

<para>The contents of the "desc:" lines is printed out at the top
of the summary.  This is a generic way of providing simulation
specific information, eg. for giving the cache configuration for
cache simulation.</para>

<para>Counts can be "." to represent "N/A", eg. the number of
write misses for an instruction that doesn't write to
memory.</para>

<para>The number of counts in each
<computeroutput>line</computeroutput> and the
<computeroutput>summary_line</computeroutput> should not exceed
the number of events in the
<computeroutput>event_line</computeroutput>.  If the number in
each <computeroutput>line</computeroutput> is less, cg_annotate
treats those missing as though they were a "." entry.</para>

<para>A <computeroutput>file_line</computeroutput> changes the
current file name.  A <computeroutput>fn_line</computeroutput>
changes the current function name.  A
<computeroutput>count_line</computeroutput> contains counts that
pertain to the current filename/fn_name.  A "fn="
<computeroutput>file_line</computeroutput> and a
<computeroutput>fn_line</computeroutput> must appear before any
<computeroutput>count_line</computeroutput>s to give the context
of the first <computeroutput>count_line</computeroutput>s.</para>

<para>Each <computeroutput>file_line</computeroutput> should be
immediately followed by a
<computeroutput>fn_line</computeroutput>.  "fi="
<computeroutput>file_lines</computeroutput> are used to switch
filenames for inlined functions; "fe="
<computeroutput>file_lines</computeroutput> are similar, but are
put at the end of a basic block in which the file name hasn't
been switched back to the original file name.  (fi and fe lines
behave the same, they are only distinguished to help
debugging.)</para>

</sect1>



<sect1 id="cg-tech-docs.summary" 
         xreflabel="Summary of performance features">
<title>Summary of performance features</title>

<para>Quite a lot of work has gone into making the profiling as
fast as possible.  This is a summary of the important
features:</para>

<itemizedlist>

  <listitem>
    <para>The basic block-level cost centre storage allows almost
    free cost centre lookup.</para>
  </listitem>
  
  <listitem>
    <para>Only one function call is made per instruction
    simulated; even this accounts for a sizeable percentage of
    execution time, but it seems unavoidable if we want
    flexibility in the cache simulator.</para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
    <para>Unchanging information about an instruction is stored
    in its cost centre, avoiding unnecessary argument pushing,
    and minimising UCode instrumentation bloat.</para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
    <para>Summary counts are calculated at the end, rather than
    during execution.</para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
    <para>The <computeroutput>cachegrind.out</computeroutput>
    output files can contain huge amounts of information; file
    format was carefully chosen to minimise file sizes.</para>
  </listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</sect1>



<sect1 id="cg-tech-docs.annotate" xreflabel="Annotation">
<title>Annotation</title>

<para>Annotation is done by cg_annotate.  It is a fairly
straightforward Perl script that slurps up all the cost centres,
and then runs through all the chosen source files, printing out
cost centres with them.  It too has been carefully optimised.</para>

</sect1>



<sect1 id="cg-tech-docs.extensions" xreflabel="Similar work, extensions">
<title>Similar work, extensions</title>

<para>It would be relatively straightforward to do other
simulations and obtain line-by-line information about interesting
events.  A good example would be branch prediction -- all
branches could be instrumented to interact with a branch
prediction simulator, using very similar techniques to those
described above.</para>

<para>In particular, cg_annotate would not need to change -- the
file format is such that it is not specific to the cache
simulation, but could be used for any kind of line-by-line
information.  The only part of cg_annotate that is specific to
the cache simulation is the name of the input file
(<computeroutput>cachegrind.out</computeroutput>), although it
would be very simple to add an option to control this.</para>

</sect1>

</chapter>