1perf-intel-pt(1)
2================
3
4NAME
5----
6perf-intel-pt - Support for Intel Processor Trace within perf tools
7
8SYNOPSIS
9--------
10[verse]
11'perf record' -e intel_pt//
12
13DESCRIPTION
14-----------
15
16Intel Processor Trace (Intel PT) is an extension of Intel Architecture that
17collects information about software execution such as control flow, execution
18modes and timings and formats it into highly compressed binary packets.
19Technical details are documented in the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures
20Software Developer Manuals, Chapter 36 Intel Processor Trace.
21
22Intel PT is first supported in Intel Core M and 5th generation Intel Core
23processors that are based on the Intel micro-architecture code name Broadwell.
24
25Trace data is collected by 'perf record' and stored within the perf.data file.
26See below for options to 'perf record'.
27
28Trace data must be 'decoded' which involves walking the object code and matching
29the trace data packets. For example a TNT packet only tells whether a
30conditional branch was taken or not taken, so to make use of that packet the
31decoder must know precisely which instruction was being executed.
32
33Decoding is done on-the-fly.  The decoder outputs samples in the same format as
34samples output by perf hardware events, for example as though the "instructions"
35or "branches" events had been recorded.  Presently 3 tools support this:
36'perf script', 'perf report' and 'perf inject'.  See below for more information
37on using those tools.
38
39The main distinguishing feature of Intel PT is that the decoder can determine
40the exact flow of software execution.  Intel PT can be used to understand why
41and how did software get to a certain point, or behave a certain way.  The
42software does not have to be recompiled, so Intel PT works with debug or release
43builds, however the executed images are needed - which makes use in JIT-compiled
44environments, or with self-modified code, a challenge.  Also symbols need to be
45provided to make sense of addresses.
46
47A limitation of Intel PT is that it produces huge amounts of trace data
48(hundreds of megabytes per second per core) which takes a long time to decode,
49for example two or three orders of magnitude longer than it took to collect.
50Another limitation is the performance impact of tracing, something that will
51vary depending on the use-case and architecture.
52
53
54Quickstart
55----------
56
57It is important to start small.  That is because it is easy to capture vastly
58more data than can possibly be processed.
59
60The simplest thing to do with Intel PT is userspace profiling of small programs.
61Data is captured with 'perf record' e.g. to trace 'ls' userspace-only:
62
63	perf record -e intel_pt//u ls
64
65And profiled with 'perf report' e.g.
66
67	perf report
68
69To also trace kernel space presents a problem, namely kernel self-modifying
70code.  A fairly good kernel image is available in /proc/kcore but to get an
71accurate image a copy of /proc/kcore needs to be made under the same conditions
72as the data capture. 'perf record' can make a copy of /proc/kcore if the option
73--kcore is used, but access to /proc/kcore is restricted e.g.
74
75	sudo perf record -o pt_ls --kcore -e intel_pt// -- ls
76
77which will create a directory named 'pt_ls' and put the perf.data file (named
78simply 'data') and copies of /proc/kcore, /proc/kallsyms and /proc/modules into
79it.  The other tools understand the directory format, so to use 'perf report'
80becomes:
81
82	sudo perf report -i pt_ls
83
84Because samples are synthesized after-the-fact, the sampling period can be
85selected for reporting. e.g. sample every microsecond
86
87	sudo perf report pt_ls --itrace=i1usge
88
89See the sections below for more information about the --itrace option.
90
91Beware the smaller the period, the more samples that are produced, and the
92longer it takes to process them.
93
94Also note that the coarseness of Intel PT timing information will start to
95distort the statistical value of the sampling as the sampling period becomes
96smaller.
97
98To represent software control flow, "branches" samples are produced.  By default
99a branch sample is synthesized for every single branch.  To get an idea what
100data is available you can use the 'perf script' tool with all itrace sampling
101options, which will list all the samples.
102
103	perf record -e intel_pt//u ls
104	perf script --itrace=ibxwpe
105
106An interesting field that is not printed by default is 'flags' which can be
107displayed as follows:
108
109	perf script --itrace=ibxwpe -F+flags
110
111The flags are "bcrosyiABExghDt" which stand for branch, call, return, conditional,
112system, asynchronous, interrupt, transaction abort, trace begin, trace end,
113in transaction, VM-entry, VM-exit, interrupt disabled, and interrupt disable
114toggle respectively.
115
116perf script also supports higher level ways to dump instruction traces:
117
118	perf script --insn-trace --xed
119
120Dump all instructions. This requires installing the xed tool (see XED below)
121Dumping all instructions in a long trace can be fairly slow. It is usually better
122to start with higher level decoding, like
123
124	perf script --call-trace
125
126or
127
128	perf script --call-ret-trace
129
130and then select a time range of interest. The time range can then be examined
131in detail with
132
133	perf script --time starttime,stoptime --insn-trace --xed
134
135While examining the trace it's also useful to filter on specific CPUs using
136the -C option
137
138	perf script --time starttime,stoptime --insn-trace --xed -C 1
139
140Dump all instructions in time range on CPU 1.
141
142Another interesting field that is not printed by default is 'ipc' which can be
143displayed as follows:
144
145	perf script --itrace=be -F+ipc
146
147There are two ways that instructions-per-cycle (IPC) can be calculated depending
148on the recording.
149
150If the 'cyc' config term (see config terms section below) was used, then IPC is
151calculated using the cycle count from CYC packets, otherwise MTC packets are
152used - refer to the 'mtc' config term.  When MTC is used, however, the values
153are less accurate because the timing is less accurate.
154
155Because Intel PT does not update the cycle count on every branch or instruction,
156the values will often be zero.  When there are values, they will be the number
157of instructions and number of cycles since the last update, and thus represent
158the average IPC since the last IPC for that event type.  Note IPC for "branches"
159events is calculated separately from IPC for "instructions" events.
160
161Even with the 'cyc' config term, it is possible to produce IPC information for
162every change of timestamp, but at the expense of accuracy.  That is selected by
163specifying the itrace 'A' option.  Due to the granularity of timestamps, the
164actual number of cycles increases even though the cycles reported does not.
165The number of instructions is known, but if IPC is reported, cycles can be too
166low and so IPC is too high.  Note that inaccuracy decreases as the period of
167sampling increases i.e. if the number of cycles is too low by a small amount,
168that becomes less significant if the number of cycles is large.  It may also be
169useful to use the 'A' option in conjunction with dlfilter-show-cycles.so to
170provide higher granularity cycle information.
171
172Also note that the IPC instruction count may or may not include the current
173instruction.  If the cycle count is associated with an asynchronous branch
174(e.g. page fault or interrupt), then the instruction count does not include the
175current instruction, otherwise it does.  That is consistent with whether or not
176that instruction has retired when the cycle count is updated.
177
178Another note, in the case of "branches" events, non-taken branches are not
179presently sampled, so IPC values for them do not appear e.g. a CYC packet with a
180TNT packet that starts with a non-taken branch.  To see every possible IPC
181value, "instructions" events can be used e.g. --itrace=i0ns
182
183While it is possible to create scripts to analyze the data, an alternative
184approach is available to export the data to a sqlite or postgresql database.
185Refer to script export-to-sqlite.py or export-to-postgresql.py for more details,
186and to script exported-sql-viewer.py for an example of using the database.
187
188There is also script intel-pt-events.py which provides an example of how to
189unpack the raw data for power events and PTWRITE. The script also displays
190branches, and supports 2 additional modes selected by option:
191
192 --insn-trace - instruction trace
193 --src-trace - source trace
194
195As mentioned above, it is easy to capture too much data.  One way to limit the
196data captured is to use 'snapshot' mode which is explained further below.
197Refer to 'new snapshot option' and 'Intel PT modes of operation' further below.
198
199Another problem that will be experienced is decoder errors.  They can be caused
200by inability to access the executed image, self-modified or JIT-ed code, or the
201inability to match side-band information (such as context switches and mmaps)
202which results in the decoder not knowing what code was executed.
203
204There is also the problem of perf not being able to copy the data fast enough,
205resulting in data lost because the buffer was full.  See 'Buffer handling' below
206for more details.
207
208
209perf record
210-----------
211
212new event
213~~~~~~~~~
214
215The Intel PT kernel driver creates a new PMU for Intel PT.  PMU events are
216selected by providing the PMU name followed by the "config" separated by slashes.
217An enhancement has been made to allow default "config" e.g. the option
218
219	-e intel_pt//
220
221will use a default config value.  Currently that is the same as
222
223	-e intel_pt/tsc,noretcomp=0/
224
225which is the same as
226
227	-e intel_pt/tsc=1,noretcomp=0/
228
229Note there are now new config terms - see section 'config terms' further below.
230
231The config terms are listed in /sys/devices/intel_pt/format.  They are bit
232fields within the config member of the struct perf_event_attr which is
233passed to the kernel by the perf_event_open system call.  They correspond to bit
234fields in the IA32_RTIT_CTL MSR.  Here is a list of them and their definitions:
235
236	$ grep -H . /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/*
237	/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/cyc:config:1
238	/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/cyc_thresh:config:19-22
239	/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/mtc:config:9
240	/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/mtc_period:config:14-17
241	/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/noretcomp:config:11
242	/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/psb_period:config:24-27
243	/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/tsc:config:10
244
245Note that the default config must be overridden for each term i.e.
246
247	-e intel_pt/noretcomp=0/
248
249is the same as:
250
251	-e intel_pt/tsc=1,noretcomp=0/
252
253So, to disable TSC packets use:
254
255	-e intel_pt/tsc=0/
256
257It is also possible to specify the config value explicitly:
258
259	-e intel_pt/config=0x400/
260
261Note that, as with all events, the event is suffixed with event modifiers:
262
263	u	userspace
264	k	kernel
265	h	hypervisor
266	G	guest
267	H	host
268	p	precise ip
269
270'h', 'G' and 'H' are for virtualization which are not used by Intel PT.
271'p' is also not relevant to Intel PT.  So only options 'u' and 'k' are
272meaningful for Intel PT.
273
274perf_event_attr is displayed if the -vv option is used e.g.
275
276	------------------------------------------------------------
277	perf_event_attr:
278	type                             6
279	size                             112
280	config                           0x400
281	{ sample_period, sample_freq }   1
282	sample_type                      IP|TID|TIME|CPU|IDENTIFIER
283	read_format                      ID
284	disabled                         1
285	inherit                          1
286	exclude_kernel                   1
287	exclude_hv                       1
288	enable_on_exec                   1
289	sample_id_all                    1
290	------------------------------------------------------------
291	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 0  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
292	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 1  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
293	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 2  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
294	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 3  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
295	------------------------------------------------------------
296
297
298config terms
299~~~~~~~~~~~~
300
301The June 2015 version of Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer
302Manuals, Chapter 36 Intel Processor Trace, defined new Intel PT features.
303Some of the features are reflect in new config terms.  All the config terms are
304described below.
305
306tsc		Always supported.  Produces TSC timestamp packets to provide
307		timing information.  In some cases it is possible to decode
308		without timing information, for example a per-thread context
309		that does not overlap executable memory maps.
310
311		The default config selects tsc (i.e. tsc=1).
312
313noretcomp	Always supported.  Disables "return compression" so a TIP packet
314		is produced when a function returns.  Causes more packets to be
315		produced but might make decoding more reliable.
316
317		The default config does not select noretcomp (i.e. noretcomp=0).
318
319psb_period	Allows the frequency of PSB packets to be specified.
320
321		The PSB packet is a synchronization packet that provides a
322		starting point for decoding or recovery from errors.
323
324		Support for psb_period is indicated by:
325
326			/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_cyc
327
328		which contains "1" if the feature is supported and "0"
329		otherwise.
330
331		Valid values are given by:
332
333			/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_periods
334
335		which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
336		valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.
337
338		The psb_period value is converted to the approximate number of
339		trace bytes between PSB packets as:
340
341			2 ^ (value + 11)
342
343		e.g. value 3 means 16KiB bytes between PSBs
344
345		If an invalid value is entered, the error message
346		will give a list of valid values e.g.
347
348			$ perf record -e intel_pt/psb_period=15/u uname
349			Invalid psb_period for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0-5
350
351		If MTC packets are selected, the default config selects a value
352		of 3 (i.e. psb_period=3) or the nearest lower value that is
353		supported (0 is always supported).  Otherwise the default is 0.
354
355		If decoding is expected to be reliable and the buffer is large
356		then a large PSB period can be used.
357
358		Because a TSC packet is produced with PSB, the PSB period can
359		also affect the granularity to timing information in the absence
360		of MTC or CYC.
361
362mtc		Produces MTC timing packets.
363
364		MTC packets provide finer grain timestamp information than TSC
365		packets.  MTC packets record time using the hardware crystal
366		clock (CTC) which is related to TSC packets using a TMA packet.
367
368		Support for this feature is indicated by:
369
370			/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/mtc
371
372		which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
373		"0" otherwise.
374
375		The frequency of MTC packets can also be specified - see
376		mtc_period below.
377
378mtc_period	Specifies how frequently MTC packets are produced - see mtc
379		above for how to determine if MTC packets are supported.
380
381		Valid values are given by:
382
383			/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/mtc_periods
384
385		which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
386		valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.
387
388		The mtc_period value is converted to the MTC frequency as:
389
390			CTC-frequency / (2 ^ value)
391
392		e.g. value 3 means one eighth of CTC-frequency
393
394		Where CTC is the hardware crystal clock, the frequency of which
395		can be related to TSC via values provided in cpuid leaf 0x15.
396
397		If an invalid value is entered, the error message
398		will give a list of valid values e.g.
399
400			$ perf record -e intel_pt/mtc_period=15/u uname
401			Invalid mtc_period for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0,3,6,9
402
403		The default value is 3 or the nearest lower value
404		that is supported (0 is always supported).
405
406cyc		Produces CYC timing packets.
407
408		CYC packets provide even finer grain timestamp information than
409		MTC and TSC packets.  A CYC packet contains the number of CPU
410		cycles since the last CYC packet. Unlike MTC and TSC packets,
411		CYC packets are only sent when another packet is also sent.
412
413		Support for this feature is indicated by:
414
415			/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_cyc
416
417		which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
418		"0" otherwise.
419
420		The number of CYC packets produced can be reduced by specifying
421		a threshold - see cyc_thresh below.
422
423cyc_thresh	Specifies how frequently CYC packets are produced - see cyc
424		above for how to determine if CYC packets are supported.
425
426		Valid cyc_thresh values are given by:
427
428			/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/cycle_thresholds
429
430		which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
431		valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.
432
433		The cyc_thresh value represents the minimum number of CPU cycles
434		that must have passed before a CYC packet can be sent.  The
435		number of CPU cycles is:
436
437			2 ^ (value - 1)
438
439		e.g. value 4 means 8 CPU cycles must pass before a CYC packet
440		can be sent.  Note a CYC packet is still only sent when another
441		packet is sent, not at, e.g. every 8 CPU cycles.
442
443		If an invalid value is entered, the error message
444		will give a list of valid values e.g.
445
446			$ perf record -e intel_pt/cyc,cyc_thresh=15/u uname
447			Invalid cyc_thresh for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0-12
448
449		CYC packets are not requested by default.
450
451pt		Specifies pass-through which enables the 'branch' config term.
452
453		The default config selects 'pt' if it is available, so a user will
454		never need to specify this term.
455
456branch		Enable branch tracing.  Branch tracing is enabled by default so to
457		disable branch tracing use 'branch=0'.
458
459		The default config selects 'branch' if it is available.
460
461ptw		Enable PTWRITE packets which are produced when a ptwrite instruction
462		is executed.
463
464		Support for this feature is indicated by:
465
466			/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/ptwrite
467
468		which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
469		"0" otherwise.
470
471		As an alternative, refer to "Emulated PTWRITE" further below.
472
473fup_on_ptw	Enable a FUP packet to follow the PTWRITE packet.  The FUP packet
474		provides the address of the ptwrite instruction.  In the absence of
475		fup_on_ptw, the decoder will use the address of the previous branch
476		if branch tracing is enabled, otherwise the address will be zero.
477		Note that fup_on_ptw will work even when branch tracing is disabled.
478
479pwr_evt		Enable power events.  The power events provide information about
480		changes to the CPU C-state.
481
482		Support for this feature is indicated by:
483
484			/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/power_event_trace
485
486		which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
487		"0" otherwise.
488
489event		Enable Event Trace.  The events provide information about asynchronous
490		events.
491
492		Support for this feature is indicated by:
493
494			/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/event_trace
495
496		which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
497		"0" otherwise.
498
499notnt		Disable TNT packets.  Without TNT packets, it is not possible to walk
500		executable code to reconstruct control flow, however FUP, TIP, TIP.PGE
501		and TIP.PGD packets still indicate asynchronous control flow, and (if
502		return compression is disabled - see noretcomp) return statements.
503		The advantage of eliminating TNT packets is reducing the size of the
504		trace and corresponding tracing overhead.
505
506		Support for this feature is indicated by:
507
508			/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/tnt_disable
509
510		which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
511		"0" otherwise.
512
513
514AUX area sampling option
515~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
516
517To select Intel PT "sampling" the AUX area sampling option can be used:
518
519	--aux-sample
520
521Optionally it can be followed by the sample size in bytes e.g.
522
523	--aux-sample=8192
524
525In addition, the Intel PT event to sample must be defined e.g.
526
527	-e intel_pt//u
528
529Samples on other events will be created containing Intel PT data e.g. the
530following will create Intel PT samples on the branch-misses event, note the
531events must be grouped using {}:
532
533	perf record --aux-sample -e '{intel_pt//u,branch-misses:u}'
534
535An alternative to '--aux-sample' is to add the config term 'aux-sample-size' to
536events.  In this case, the grouping is implied e.g.
537
538	perf record -e intel_pt//u -e branch-misses/aux-sample-size=8192/u
539
540is the same as:
541
542	perf record -e '{intel_pt//u,branch-misses/aux-sample-size=8192/u}'
543
544but allows for also using an address filter e.g.:
545
546	perf record -e intel_pt//u --filter 'filter * @/bin/ls' -e branch-misses/aux-sample-size=8192/u -- ls
547
548It is important to select a sample size that is big enough to contain at least
549one PSB packet.  If not a warning will be displayed:
550
551	Intel PT sample size (%zu) may be too small for PSB period (%zu)
552
553The calculation used for that is: if sample_size <= psb_period + 256 display the
554warning.  When sampling is used, psb_period defaults to 0 (2KiB).
555
556The default sample size is 4KiB.
557
558The sample size is passed in aux_sample_size in struct perf_event_attr.  The
559sample size is limited by the maximum event size which is 64KiB.  It is
560difficult to know how big the event might be without the trace sample attached,
561but the tool validates that the sample size is not greater than 60KiB.
562
563
564new snapshot option
565~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
566
567The difference between full trace and snapshot from the kernel's perspective is
568that in full trace we don't overwrite trace data that the user hasn't collected
569yet (and indicated that by advancing aux_tail), whereas in snapshot mode we let
570the trace run and overwrite older data in the buffer so that whenever something
571interesting happens, we can stop it and grab a snapshot of what was going on
572around that interesting moment.
573
574To select snapshot mode a new option has been added:
575
576	-S
577
578Optionally it can be followed by the snapshot size e.g.
579
580	-S0x100000
581
582The default snapshot size is the auxtrace mmap size.  If neither auxtrace mmap size
583nor snapshot size is specified, then the default is 4MiB for privileged users
584(or if /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid < 0), 128KiB for unprivileged users.
585If an unprivileged user does not specify mmap pages, the mmap pages will be
586reduced as described in the 'new auxtrace mmap size option' section below.
587
588The snapshot size is displayed if the option -vv is used e.g.
589
590	Intel PT snapshot size: %zu
591
592
593new auxtrace mmap size option
594~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
595
596Intel PT buffer size is specified by an addition to the -m option e.g.
597
598	-m,16
599
600selects a buffer size of 16 pages i.e. 64KiB.
601
602Note that the existing functionality of -m is unchanged.  The auxtrace mmap size
603is specified by the optional addition of a comma and the value.
604
605The default auxtrace mmap size for Intel PT is 4MiB/page_size for privileged users
606(or if /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid < 0), 128KiB for unprivileged users.
607If an unprivileged user does not specify mmap pages, the mmap pages will be
608reduced from the default 512KiB/page_size to 256KiB/page_size, otherwise the
609user is likely to get an error as they exceed their mlock limit (Max locked
610memory as shown in /proc/self/limits).  Note that perf does not count the first
611512KiB (actually /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_mlock_kb minus 1 page) per cpu
612against the mlock limit so an unprivileged user is allowed 512KiB per cpu plus
613their mlock limit (which defaults to 64KiB but is not multiplied by the number
614of cpus).
615
616In full-trace mode, powers of two are allowed for buffer size, with a minimum
617size of 2 pages.  In snapshot mode or sampling mode, it is the same but the
618minimum size is 1 page.
619
620The mmap size and auxtrace mmap size are displayed if the -vv option is used e.g.
621
622	mmap length 528384
623	auxtrace mmap length 4198400
624
625
626Intel PT modes of operation
627~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
628
629Intel PT can be used in 3 modes:
630	full-trace mode
631	sample mode
632	snapshot mode
633
634Full-trace mode traces continuously e.g.
635
636	perf record -e intel_pt//u uname
637
638Sample mode attaches a Intel PT sample to other events e.g.
639
640	perf record --aux-sample -e intel_pt//u -e branch-misses:u
641
642Snapshot mode captures the available data when a signal is sent or "snapshot"
643control command is issued. e.g. using a signal
644
645	perf record -v -e intel_pt//u -S ./loopy 1000000000 &
646	[1] 11435
647	kill -USR2 11435
648	Recording AUX area tracing snapshot
649
650Note that the signal sent is SIGUSR2.
651Note that "Recording AUX area tracing snapshot" is displayed because the -v
652option is used.
653
654The advantage of using "snapshot" control command is that the access is
655controlled by access to a FIFO e.g.
656
657	$ mkfifo perf.control
658	$ mkfifo perf.ack
659	$ cat perf.ack &
660	[1] 15235
661	$ sudo ~/bin/perf record --control fifo:perf.control,perf.ack -S -e intel_pt//u -- sleep 60 &
662	[2] 15243
663	$ ps -e | grep perf
664	15244 pts/1    00:00:00 perf
665	$ kill -USR2 15244
666	bash: kill: (15244) - Operation not permitted
667	$ echo snapshot > perf.control
668	ack
669
670The 3 Intel PT modes of operation cannot be used together.
671
672
673Buffer handling
674~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
675
676There may be buffer limitations (i.e. single ToPa entry) which means that actual
677buffer sizes are limited to powers of 2 up to 4MiB (MAX_ORDER).  In order to
678provide other sizes, and in particular an arbitrarily large size, multiple
679buffers are logically concatenated.  However an interrupt must be used to switch
680between buffers.  That has two potential problems:
681	a) the interrupt may not be handled in time so that the current buffer
682	becomes full and some trace data is lost.
683	b) the interrupts may slow the system and affect the performance
684	results.
685
686If trace data is lost, the driver sets 'truncated' in the PERF_RECORD_AUX event
687which the tools report as an error.
688
689In full-trace mode, the driver waits for data to be copied out before allowing
690the (logical) buffer to wrap-around.  If data is not copied out quickly enough,
691again 'truncated' is set in the PERF_RECORD_AUX event.  If the driver has to
692wait, the intel_pt event gets disabled.  Because it is difficult to know when
693that happens, perf tools always re-enable the intel_pt event after copying out
694data.
695
696
697Intel PT and build ids
698~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
699
700By default "perf record" post-processes the event stream to find all build ids
701for executables for all addresses sampled.  Deliberately, Intel PT is not
702decoded for that purpose (it would take too long).  Instead the build ids for
703all executables encountered (due to mmap, comm or task events) are included
704in the perf.data file.
705
706To see buildids included in the perf.data file use the command:
707
708	perf buildid-list
709
710If the perf.data file contains Intel PT data, that is the same as:
711
712	perf buildid-list --with-hits
713
714
715Snapshot mode and event disabling
716~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
717
718In order to make a snapshot, the intel_pt event is disabled using an IOCTL,
719namely PERF_EVENT_IOC_DISABLE.  However doing that can also disable the
720collection of side-band information.  In order to prevent that,  a dummy
721software event has been introduced that permits tracking events (like mmaps) to
722continue to be recorded while intel_pt is disabled.  That is important to ensure
723there is complete side-band information to allow the decoding of subsequent
724snapshots.
725
726A test has been created for that.  To find the test:
727
728	perf test list
729	...
730	23: Test using a dummy software event to keep tracking
731
732To run the test:
733
734	perf test 23
735	23: Test using a dummy software event to keep tracking     : Ok
736
737
738perf record modes (nothing new here)
739~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
740
741perf record essentially operates in one of three modes:
742	per thread
743	per cpu
744	workload only
745
746"per thread" mode is selected by -t or by --per-thread (with -p or -u or just a
747workload).
748"per cpu" is selected by -C or -a.
749"workload only" mode is selected by not using the other options but providing a
750command to run (i.e. the workload).
751
752In per-thread mode an exact list of threads is traced.  There is no inheritance.
753Each thread has its own event buffer.
754
755In per-cpu mode all processes (or processes from the selected cgroup i.e. -G
756option, or processes selected with -p or -u) are traced.  Each cpu has its own
757buffer. Inheritance is allowed.
758
759In workload-only mode, the workload is traced but with per-cpu buffers.
760Inheritance is allowed.  Note that you can now trace a workload in per-thread
761mode by using the --per-thread option.
762
763
764Privileged vs non-privileged users
765~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
766
767Unless /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid is set to -1, unprivileged users
768have memory limits imposed upon them.  That affects what buffer sizes they can
769have as outlined above.
770
771The v4.2 kernel introduced support for a context switch metadata event,
772PERF_RECORD_SWITCH, which allows unprivileged users to see when their processes
773are scheduled out and in, just not by whom, which is left for the
774PERF_RECORD_SWITCH_CPU_WIDE, that is only accessible in system wide context,
775which in turn requires CAP_PERFMON or CAP_SYS_ADMIN.
776
777Please see the 45ac1403f564 ("perf: Add PERF_RECORD_SWITCH to indicate context
778switches") commit, that introduces these metadata events for further info.
779
780When working with kernels < v4.2, the following considerations must be taken,
781as the sched:sched_switch tracepoints will be used to receive such information:
782
783Unless /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid is set to -1, unprivileged users are
784not permitted to use tracepoints which means there is insufficient side-band
785information to decode Intel PT in per-cpu mode, and potentially workload-only
786mode too if the workload creates new processes.
787
788Note also, that to use tracepoints, read-access to debugfs is required.  So if
789debugfs is not mounted or the user does not have read-access, it will again not
790be possible to decode Intel PT in per-cpu mode.
791
792
793sched_switch tracepoint
794~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
795
796The sched_switch tracepoint is used to provide side-band data for Intel PT
797decoding in kernels where the PERF_RECORD_SWITCH metadata event isn't
798available.
799
800The sched_switch events are automatically added. e.g. the second event shown
801below:
802
803	$ perf record -vv -e intel_pt//u uname
804	------------------------------------------------------------
805	perf_event_attr:
806	type                             6
807	size                             112
808	config                           0x400
809	{ sample_period, sample_freq }   1
810	sample_type                      IP|TID|TIME|CPU|IDENTIFIER
811	read_format                      ID
812	disabled                         1
813	inherit                          1
814	exclude_kernel                   1
815	exclude_hv                       1
816	enable_on_exec                   1
817	sample_id_all                    1
818	------------------------------------------------------------
819	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 0  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
820	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 1  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
821	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 2  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
822	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 3  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
823	------------------------------------------------------------
824	perf_event_attr:
825	type                             2
826	size                             112
827	config                           0x108
828	{ sample_period, sample_freq }   1
829	sample_type                      IP|TID|TIME|CPU|PERIOD|RAW|IDENTIFIER
830	read_format                      ID
831	inherit                          1
832	sample_id_all                    1
833	exclude_guest                    1
834	------------------------------------------------------------
835	sys_perf_event_open: pid -1  cpu 0  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
836	sys_perf_event_open: pid -1  cpu 1  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
837	sys_perf_event_open: pid -1  cpu 2  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
838	sys_perf_event_open: pid -1  cpu 3  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
839	------------------------------------------------------------
840	perf_event_attr:
841	type                             1
842	size                             112
843	config                           0x9
844	{ sample_period, sample_freq }   1
845	sample_type                      IP|TID|TIME|IDENTIFIER
846	read_format                      ID
847	disabled                         1
848	inherit                          1
849	exclude_kernel                   1
850	exclude_hv                       1
851	mmap                             1
852	comm                             1
853	enable_on_exec                   1
854	task                             1
855	sample_id_all                    1
856	mmap2                            1
857	comm_exec                        1
858	------------------------------------------------------------
859	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 0  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
860	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 1  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
861	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 2  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
862	sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 3  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
863	mmap size 528384B
864	AUX area mmap length 4194304
865	perf event ring buffer mmapped per cpu
866	Synthesizing auxtrace information
867	Linux
868	[ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
869	[ perf record: Captured and wrote 0.042 MB perf.data ]
870
871Note, the sched_switch event is only added if the user is permitted to use it
872and only in per-cpu mode.
873
874Note also, the sched_switch event is only added if TSC packets are requested.
875That is because, in the absence of timing information, the sched_switch events
876cannot be matched against the Intel PT trace.
877
878
879perf script
880-----------
881
882By default, perf script will decode trace data found in the perf.data file.
883This can be further controlled by new option --itrace.
884
885
886New --itrace option
887~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
888
889Having no option is the same as
890
891	--itrace
892
893which, in turn, is the same as
894
895	--itrace=cepwx
896
897The letters are:
898
899	i	synthesize "instructions" events
900	b	synthesize "branches" events
901	x	synthesize "transactions" events
902	w	synthesize "ptwrite" events
903	p	synthesize "power" events (incl. PSB events)
904	c	synthesize branches events (calls only)
905	r	synthesize branches events (returns only)
906	o	synthesize PEBS-via-PT events
907	I	synthesize Event Trace events
908	e	synthesize tracing error events
909	d	create a debug log
910	g	synthesize a call chain (use with i or x)
911	G	synthesize a call chain on existing event records
912	l	synthesize last branch entries (use with i or x)
913	L	synthesize last branch entries on existing event records
914	s	skip initial number of events
915	q	quicker (less detailed) decoding
916	A	approximate IPC
917	Z	prefer to ignore timestamps (so-called "timeless" decoding)
918
919"Instructions" events look like they were recorded by "perf record -e
920instructions".
921
922"Branches" events look like they were recorded by "perf record -e branches". "c"
923and "r" can be combined to get calls and returns.
924
925"Transactions" events correspond to the start or end of transactions. The
926'flags' field can be used in perf script to determine whether the event is a
927transaction start, commit or abort.
928
929Note that "instructions", "branches" and "transactions" events depend on code
930flow packets which can be disabled by using the config term "branch=0".  Refer
931to the config terms section above.
932
933"ptwrite" events record the payload of the ptwrite instruction and whether
934"fup_on_ptw" was used.  "ptwrite" events depend on PTWRITE packets which are
935recorded only if the "ptw" config term was used.  Refer to the config terms
936section above.  perf script "synth" field displays "ptwrite" information like
937this: "ip: 0 payload: 0x123456789abcdef0"  where "ip" is 1 if "fup_on_ptw" was
938used.
939
940"Power" events correspond to power event packets and CBR (core-to-bus ratio)
941packets.  While CBR packets are always recorded when tracing is enabled, power
942event packets are recorded only if the "pwr_evt" config term was used.  Refer to
943the config terms section above.  The power events record information about
944C-state changes, whereas CBR is indicative of CPU frequency.  perf script
945"event,synth" fields display information like this:
946
947	cbr:  cbr: 22 freq: 2189 MHz (200%)
948	mwait:  hints: 0x60 extensions: 0x1
949	pwre:  hw: 0 cstate: 2 sub-cstate: 0
950	exstop:  ip: 1
951	pwrx:  deepest cstate: 2 last cstate: 2 wake reason: 0x4
952
953Where:
954
955	"cbr" includes the frequency and the percentage of maximum non-turbo
956	"mwait" shows mwait hints and extensions
957	"pwre" shows C-state transitions (to a C-state deeper than C0) and
958	whether	initiated by hardware
959	"exstop" indicates execution stopped and whether the IP was recorded
960	exactly,
961	"pwrx" indicates return to C0
962
963For more details refer to the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software
964Developer Manuals.
965
966PSB events show when a PSB+ occurred and also the byte-offset in the trace.
967Emitting a PSB+ can cause a CPU a slight delay. When doing timing analysis
968of code with Intel PT, it is useful to know if a timing bubble was caused
969by Intel PT or not.
970
971Error events show where the decoder lost the trace.  Error events
972are quite important.  Users must know if what they are seeing is a complete
973picture or not. The "e" option may be followed by flags which affect what errors
974will or will not be reported.  Each flag must be preceded by either '+' or '-'.
975The flags supported by Intel PT are:
976
977		-o	Suppress overflow errors
978		-l	Suppress trace data lost errors
979
980For example, for errors but not overflow or data lost errors:
981
982	--itrace=e-o-l
983
984The "d" option will cause the creation of a file "intel_pt.log" containing all
985decoded packets and instructions.  Note that this option slows down the decoder
986and that the resulting file may be very large.  The "d" option may be followed
987by flags which affect what debug messages will or will not be logged. Each flag
988must be preceded by either '+' or '-'. The flags support by Intel PT are:
989
990		-a	Suppress logging of perf events
991		+a	Log all perf events
992		+e	Output only on decoding errors (size configurable)
993		+o	Output to stdout instead of "intel_pt.log"
994
995By default, logged perf events are filtered by any specified time ranges, but
996flag +a overrides that.  The +e flag can be useful for analyzing errors.  By
997default, the log size in that case is 16384 bytes, but can be altered by
998linkperf:perf-config[1] e.g. perf config itrace.debug-log-buffer-size=30000
999
1000In addition, the period of the "instructions" event can be specified. e.g.
1001
1002	--itrace=i10us
1003
1004sets the period to 10us i.e. one  instruction sample is synthesized for each 10
1005microseconds of trace.  Alternatives to "us" are "ms" (milliseconds),
1006"ns" (nanoseconds), "t" (TSC ticks) or "i" (instructions).
1007
1008"ms", "us" and "ns" are converted to TSC ticks.
1009
1010The timing information included with Intel PT does not give the time of every
1011instruction.  Consequently, for the purpose of sampling, the decoder estimates
1012the time since the last timing packet based on 1 tick per instruction.  The time
1013on the sample is *not* adjusted and reflects the last known value of TSC.
1014
1015For Intel PT, the default period is 100us.
1016
1017Setting it to a zero period means "as often as possible".
1018
1019In the case of Intel PT that is the same as a period of 1 and a unit of
1020'instructions' (i.e. --itrace=i1i).
1021
1022Also the call chain size (default 16, max. 1024) for instructions or
1023transactions events can be specified. e.g.
1024
1025	--itrace=ig32
1026	--itrace=xg32
1027
1028Also the number of last branch entries (default 64, max. 1024) for instructions or
1029transactions events can be specified. e.g.
1030
1031       --itrace=il10
1032       --itrace=xl10
1033
1034Note that last branch entries are cleared for each sample, so there is no overlap
1035from one sample to the next.
1036
1037The G and L options are designed in particular for sample mode, and work much
1038like g and l but add call chain and branch stack to the other selected events
1039instead of synthesized events. For example, to record branch-misses events for
1040'ls' and then add a call chain derived from the Intel PT trace:
1041
1042	perf record --aux-sample -e '{intel_pt//u,branch-misses:u}' -- ls
1043	perf report --itrace=Ge
1044
1045Although in fact G is a default for perf report, so that is the same as just:
1046
1047	perf report
1048
1049One caveat with the G and L options is that they work poorly with "Large PEBS".
1050Large PEBS means PEBS records will be accumulated by hardware and the written
1051into the event buffer in one go.  That reduces interrupts, but can give very
1052late timestamps.  Because the Intel PT trace is synchronized by timestamps,
1053the PEBS events do not match the trace.  Currently, Large PEBS is used only in
1054certain circumstances:
1055	- hardware supports it
1056	- PEBS is used
1057	- event period is specified, instead of frequency
1058	- the sample type is limited to the following flags:
1059		PERF_SAMPLE_IP | PERF_SAMPLE_TID | PERF_SAMPLE_ADDR |
1060		PERF_SAMPLE_ID | PERF_SAMPLE_CPU | PERF_SAMPLE_STREAM_ID |
1061		PERF_SAMPLE_DATA_SRC | PERF_SAMPLE_IDENTIFIER |
1062		PERF_SAMPLE_TRANSACTION | PERF_SAMPLE_PHYS_ADDR |
1063		PERF_SAMPLE_REGS_INTR | PERF_SAMPLE_REGS_USER |
1064		PERF_SAMPLE_PERIOD (and sometimes) | PERF_SAMPLE_TIME
1065Because Intel PT sample mode uses a different sample type to the list above,
1066Large PEBS is not used with Intel PT sample mode. To avoid Large PEBS in other
1067cases, avoid specifying the event period i.e. avoid the 'perf record' -c option,
1068--count option, or 'period' config term.
1069
1070To disable trace decoding entirely, use the option --no-itrace.
1071
1072It is also possible to skip events generated (instructions, branches, transactions)
1073at the beginning. This is useful to ignore initialization code.
1074
1075	--itrace=i0nss1000000
1076
1077skips the first million instructions.
1078
1079The q option changes the way the trace is decoded.  The decoding is much faster
1080but much less detailed.  Specifically, with the q option, the decoder does not
1081decode TNT packets, and does not walk object code, but gets the ip from FUP and
1082TIP packets.  The q option can be used with the b and i options but the period
1083is not used.  The q option decodes more quickly, but is useful only if the
1084control flow of interest is represented or indicated by FUP, TIP, TIP.PGE, or
1085TIP.PGD packets (refer below).  However the q option could be used to find time
1086ranges that could then be decoded fully using the --time option.
1087
1088What will *not* be decoded with the (single) q option:
1089
1090	- direct calls and jmps
1091	- conditional branches
1092	- non-branch instructions
1093
1094What *will* be decoded with the (single) q option:
1095
1096	- asynchronous branches such as interrupts
1097	- indirect branches
1098	- function return target address *if* the noretcomp config term (refer
1099	config terms section) was used
1100	- start of (control-flow) tracing
1101	- end of (control-flow) tracing, if it is not out of context
1102	- power events, ptwrite, transaction start and abort
1103	- instruction pointer associated with PSB packets
1104
1105Note the q option does not specify what events will be synthesized e.g. the p
1106option must be used also to show power events.
1107
1108Repeating the q option (double-q i.e. qq) results in even faster decoding and even
1109less detail.  The decoder decodes only extended PSB (PSB+) packets, getting the
1110instruction pointer if there is a FUP packet within PSB+ (i.e. between PSB and
1111PSBEND).  Note PSB packets occur regularly in the trace based on the psb_period
1112config term (refer config terms section).  There will be a FUP packet if the
1113PSB+ occurs while control flow is being traced.
1114
1115What will *not* be decoded with the qq option:
1116
1117	- everything except instruction pointer associated with PSB packets
1118
1119What *will* be decoded with the qq option:
1120
1121	- instruction pointer associated with PSB packets
1122
1123The Z option is equivalent to having recorded a trace without TSC
1124(i.e. config term tsc=0). It can be useful to avoid timestamp issues when
1125decoding a trace of a virtual machine.
1126
1127
1128dlfilter-show-cycles.so
1129~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1130
1131Cycles can be displayed using dlfilter-show-cycles.so in which case the itrace A
1132option can be useful to provide higher granularity cycle information:
1133
1134	perf script --itrace=A --call-trace --dlfilter dlfilter-show-cycles.so
1135
1136To see a list of dlfilters:
1137
1138	perf script -v --list-dlfilters
1139
1140See also linkperf:perf-dlfilters[1]
1141
1142
1143dump option
1144~~~~~~~~~~~
1145
1146perf script has an option (-D) to "dump" the events i.e. display the binary
1147data.
1148
1149When -D is used, Intel PT packets are displayed.  The packet decoder does not
1150pay attention to PSB packets, but just decodes the bytes - so the packets seen
1151by the actual decoder may not be identical in places where the data is corrupt.
1152One example of that would be when the buffer-switching interrupt has been too
1153slow, and the buffer has been filled completely.  In that case, the last packet
1154in the buffer might be truncated and immediately followed by a PSB as the trace
1155continues in the next buffer.
1156
1157To disable the display of Intel PT packets, combine the -D option with
1158--no-itrace.
1159
1160
1161perf report
1162-----------
1163
1164By default, perf report will decode trace data found in the perf.data file.
1165This can be further controlled by new option --itrace exactly the same as
1166perf script, with the exception that the default is --itrace=igxe.
1167
1168
1169perf inject
1170-----------
1171
1172perf inject also accepts the --itrace option in which case tracing data is
1173removed and replaced with the synthesized events. e.g.
1174
1175	perf inject --itrace -i perf.data -o perf.data.new
1176
1177Below is an example of using Intel PT with autofdo.  It requires autofdo
1178(https://github.com/google/autofdo) and gcc version 5.  The bubble
1179sort example is from the AutoFDO tutorial (https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/AutoFDO/Tutorial)
1180amended to take the number of elements as a parameter.
1181
1182	$ gcc-5 -O3 sort.c -o sort_optimized
1183	$ ./sort_optimized 30000
1184	Bubble sorting array of 30000 elements
1185	2254 ms
1186
1187	$ cat ~/.perfconfig
1188	[intel-pt]
1189		mispred-all = on
1190
1191	$ perf record -e intel_pt//u ./sort 3000
1192	Bubble sorting array of 3000 elements
1193	58 ms
1194	[ perf record: Woken up 2 times to write data ]
1195	[ perf record: Captured and wrote 3.939 MB perf.data ]
1196	$ perf inject -i perf.data -o inj --itrace=i100usle --strip
1197	$ ./create_gcov --binary=./sort --profile=inj --gcov=sort.gcov -gcov_version=1
1198	$ gcc-5 -O3 -fauto-profile=sort.gcov sort.c -o sort_autofdo
1199	$ ./sort_autofdo 30000
1200	Bubble sorting array of 30000 elements
1201	2155 ms
1202
1203Note there is currently no advantage to using Intel PT instead of LBR, but
1204that may change in the future if greater use is made of the data.
1205
1206
1207PEBS via Intel PT
1208-----------------
1209
1210Some hardware has the feature to redirect PEBS records to the Intel PT trace.
1211Recording is selected by using the aux-output config term e.g.
1212
1213	perf record -c 10000 -e '{intel_pt/branch=0/,cycles/aux-output/ppp}' uname
1214
1215Originally, software only supported redirecting at most one PEBS event because it
1216was not able to differentiate one event from another. To overcome that, more recent
1217kernels and perf tools add support for the PERF_RECORD_AUX_OUTPUT_HW_ID side-band event.
1218To check for the presence of that event in a PEBS-via-PT trace:
1219
1220	perf script -D --no-itrace | grep PERF_RECORD_AUX_OUTPUT_HW_ID
1221
1222To display PEBS events from the Intel PT trace, use the itrace 'o' option e.g.
1223
1224	perf script --itrace=oe
1225
1226XED
1227---
1228
1229include::build-xed.txt[]
1230
1231
1232Tracing Virtual Machines (kernel only)
1233--------------------------------------
1234
1235Currently, kernel tracing is supported with either "timeless" decoding
1236(i.e. no TSC timestamps) or VM Time Correlation. VM Time Correlation is an extra step
1237using 'perf inject' and requires unchanging VMX TSC Offset and no VMX TSC Scaling.
1238
1239Other limitations and caveats
1240
1241 VMX controls may suppress packets needed for decoding resulting in decoding errors
1242 VMX controls may block the perf NMI to the host potentially resulting in lost trace data
1243 Guest kernel self-modifying code (e.g. jump labels or JIT-compiled eBPF) will result in decoding errors
1244 Guest thread information is unknown
1245 Guest VCPU is unknown but may be able to be inferred from the host thread
1246 Callchains are not supported
1247
1248Example using "timeless" decoding
1249
1250Start VM
1251
1252 $ sudo virsh start kubuntu20.04
1253 Domain kubuntu20.04 started
1254
1255Mount the guest file system.  Note sshfs needs -o direct_io to enable reading of proc files.  root access is needed to read /proc/kcore.
1256
1257 $ mkdir vm0
1258 $ sshfs -o direct_io root@vm0:/ vm0
1259
1260Copy the guest /proc/kallsyms, /proc/modules and /proc/kcore
1261
1262 $ perf buildid-cache -v --kcore vm0/proc/kcore
1263 kcore added to build-id cache directory /home/user/.debug/[kernel.kcore]/9600f316a53a0f54278885e8d9710538ec5f6a08/2021021807494306
1264 $ KALLSYMS=/home/user/.debug/[kernel.kcore]/9600f316a53a0f54278885e8d9710538ec5f6a08/2021021807494306/kallsyms
1265
1266Find the VM process
1267
1268 $ ps -eLl | grep 'KVM\|PID'
1269 F S   UID     PID    PPID     LWP  C PRI  NI ADDR SZ WCHAN  TTY          TIME CMD
1270 3 S 64055    1430       1    1440  1  80   0 - 1921718 -    ?        00:02:47 CPU 0/KVM
1271 3 S 64055    1430       1    1441  1  80   0 - 1921718 -    ?        00:02:41 CPU 1/KVM
1272 3 S 64055    1430       1    1442  1  80   0 - 1921718 -    ?        00:02:38 CPU 2/KVM
1273 3 S 64055    1430       1    1443  2  80   0 - 1921718 -    ?        00:03:18 CPU 3/KVM
1274
1275Start an open-ended perf record, tracing the VM process, do something on the VM, and then ctrl-C to stop.
1276TSC is not supported and tsc=0 must be specified.  That means mtc is useless, so add mtc=0.
1277However, IPC can still be determined, hence cyc=1 can be added.
1278Only kernel decoding is supported, so 'k' must be specified.
1279Intel PT traces both the host and the guest so --guest and --host need to be specified.
1280Without timestamps, --per-thread must be specified to distinguish threads.
1281
1282 $ sudo perf kvm --guest --host --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS record --kcore -e intel_pt/tsc=0,mtc=0,cyc=1/k -p 1430 --per-thread
1283 ^C
1284 [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
1285 [ perf record: Captured and wrote 5.829 MB ]
1286
1287perf script can be used to provide an instruction trace
1288
1289 $ perf script --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS --insn-trace --xed -F+ipc | grep -C10 vmresume | head -21
1290       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133cdd __vmx_vcpu_run+0x3d ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x48(%rax), %r9
1291       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133ce1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x41 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x50(%rax), %r10
1292       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133ce5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x45 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x58(%rax), %r11
1293       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133ce9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x49 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x60(%rax), %r12
1294       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133ced __vmx_vcpu_run+0x4d ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x68(%rax), %r13
1295       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133cf1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x51 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x70(%rax), %r14
1296       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133cf5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x55 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x78(%rax), %r15
1297       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133cf9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x59 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  (%rax), %rax
1298       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133cfc __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5c ([kernel.kallsyms])                callq  0xffffffff82133c40
1299       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133c40 vmx_vmenter+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])            jz 0xffffffff82133c46
1300       CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133c42 vmx_vmenter+0x2 ([kernel.kallsyms])            vmresume         IPC: 0.11 (50/445)
1301           :1440  1440  ffffffffbb678b06 native_write_msr+0x6 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])                 nopl  %eax, (%rax,%rax,1)
1302           :1440  1440  ffffffffbb678b0b native_write_msr+0xb ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])                 retq     IPC: 0.04 (2/41)
1303           :1440  1440  ffffffffbb666646 lapic_next_deadline+0x26 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])             data16 nop
1304           :1440  1440  ffffffffbb666648 lapic_next_deadline+0x28 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])             xor %eax, %eax
1305           :1440  1440  ffffffffbb66664a lapic_next_deadline+0x2a ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])             popq  %rbp
1306           :1440  1440  ffffffffbb66664b lapic_next_deadline+0x2b ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])             retq     IPC: 0.16 (4/25)
1307           :1440  1440  ffffffffbb74607f clockevents_program_event+0x8f ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               test %eax, %eax
1308           :1440  1440  ffffffffbb746081 clockevents_program_event+0x91 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               jz 0xffffffffbb74603c    IPC: 0.06 (2/30)
1309           :1440  1440  ffffffffbb74603c clockevents_program_event+0x4c ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               popq  %rbx
1310           :1440  1440  ffffffffbb74603d clockevents_program_event+0x4d ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               popq  %r12
1311
1312Example using VM Time Correlation
1313
1314Start VM
1315
1316 $ sudo virsh start kubuntu20.04
1317 Domain kubuntu20.04 started
1318
1319Mount the guest file system.  Note sshfs needs -o direct_io to enable reading of proc files.  root access is needed to read /proc/kcore.
1320
1321 $ mkdir -p vm0
1322 $ sshfs -o direct_io root@vm0:/ vm0
1323
1324Copy the guest /proc/kallsyms, /proc/modules and /proc/kcore
1325
1326 $ perf buildid-cache -v --kcore vm0/proc/kcore
1327 same kcore found in /home/user/.debug/[kernel.kcore]/cc9c55a98c5e4ec0aeda69302554aabed5cd6491/2021021312450777
1328 $ KALLSYMS=/home/user/.debug/\[kernel.kcore\]/cc9c55a98c5e4ec0aeda69302554aabed5cd6491/2021021312450777/kallsyms
1329
1330Find the VM process
1331
1332 $ ps -eLl | grep 'KVM\|PID'
1333 F S   UID     PID    PPID     LWP  C PRI  NI ADDR SZ WCHAN  TTY          TIME CMD
1334 3 S 64055   16998       1   17005 13  80   0 - 1818189 -    ?        00:00:16 CPU 0/KVM
1335 3 S 64055   16998       1   17006  4  80   0 - 1818189 -    ?        00:00:05 CPU 1/KVM
1336 3 S 64055   16998       1   17007  3  80   0 - 1818189 -    ?        00:00:04 CPU 2/KVM
1337 3 S 64055   16998       1   17008  4  80   0 - 1818189 -    ?        00:00:05 CPU 3/KVM
1338
1339Start an open-ended perf record, tracing the VM process, do something on the VM, and then ctrl-C to stop.
1340IPC can be determined, hence cyc=1 can be added.
1341Only kernel decoding is supported, so 'k' must be specified.
1342Intel PT traces both the host and the guest so --guest and --host need to be specified.
1343
1344 $ sudo perf kvm --guest --host --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS record --kcore -e intel_pt/cyc=1/k -p 16998
1345 ^C[ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
1346 [ perf record: Captured and wrote 9.041 MB perf.data.kvm ]
1347
1348Now 'perf inject' can be used to determine the VMX TCS Offset. Note, Intel PT TSC packets are
1349only 7-bytes, so the TSC Offset might differ from the actual value in the 8th byte. That will
1350have no effect i.e. the resulting timestamps will be correct anyway.
1351
1352 $ perf inject -i perf.data.kvm --vm-time-correlation=dry-run
1353 ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1bff6a
1354 VMCS: 0x1bff6a  TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
1355 ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1cbc08
1356 VMCS: 0x1cbc08  TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
1357 ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1c3ce8
1358 VMCS: 0x1c3ce8  TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
1359 ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1cbce9
1360 VMCS: 0x1cbce9  TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
1361
1362Each virtual CPU has a different Virtual Machine Control Structure (VMCS)
1363shown above with the calculated TSC Offset. For an unchanging TSC Offset
1364they should all be the same for the same virtual machine.
1365
1366Now that the TSC Offset is known, it can be provided to 'perf inject'
1367
1368 $ perf inject -i perf.data.kvm --vm-time-correlation="dry-run 0xffffe42722c64c41"
1369
1370Note the options for 'perf inject' --vm-time-correlation are:
1371
1372 [ dry-run ] [ <TSC Offset> [ : <VMCS> [ , <VMCS> ]... ]  ]...
1373
1374So it is possible to specify different TSC Offsets for different VMCS.
1375The option "dry-run" will cause the file to be processed but without updating it.
1376Note it is also possible to get a intel_pt.log file by adding option --itrace=d
1377
1378There were no errors so, do it for real
1379
1380 $ perf inject -i perf.data.kvm --vm-time-correlation=0xffffe42722c64c41 --force
1381
1382'perf script' can be used to see if there are any decoder errors
1383
1384 $ perf script -i perf.data.kvm --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS --itrace=e-o
1385
1386There were none.
1387
1388'perf script' can be used to provide an instruction trace showing timestamps
1389
1390 $ perf script -i perf.data.kvm --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS --insn-trace --xed -F+ipc | grep -C10 vmresume | head -21
1391       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133cdd __vmx_vcpu_run+0x3d ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x48(%rax), %r9
1392       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133ce1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x41 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x50(%rax), %r10
1393       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133ce5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x45 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x58(%rax), %r11
1394       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133ce9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x49 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x60(%rax), %r12
1395       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133ced __vmx_vcpu_run+0x4d ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x68(%rax), %r13
1396       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133cf1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x51 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x70(%rax), %r14
1397       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133cf5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x55 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x78(%rax), %r15
1398       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133cf9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x59 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  (%rax), %rax
1399       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133cfc __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5c ([kernel.kallsyms])                 callq  0xffffffff82133c40
1400       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133c40 vmx_vmenter+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])             jz 0xffffffff82133c46
1401       CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262866075:  ffffffff82133c42 vmx_vmenter+0x2 ([kernel.kallsyms])             vmresume         IPC: 0.05 (40/769)
1402          :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82200cb0 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x0 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])           clac
1403          :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82200cb3 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x3 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])           pushq  $0xffffffffffffffff
1404          :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82200cb5 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x5 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])           callq  0xffffffff82201160
1405          :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82201160 error_entry+0x0 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               cld
1406          :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82201161 error_entry+0x1 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               pushq  %rsi
1407          :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82201162 error_entry+0x2 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               movq  0x8(%rsp), %rsi
1408          :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82201167 error_entry+0x7 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               movq  %rdi, 0x8(%rsp)
1409          :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff8220116c error_entry+0xc ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               pushq  %rdx
1410          :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff8220116d error_entry+0xd ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               pushq  %rcx
1411          :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff8220116e error_entry+0xe ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               pushq  %rax
1412
1413
1414Tracing Virtual Machines (including user space)
1415-----------------------------------------------
1416
1417It is possible to use perf record to record sideband events within a virtual machine, so that an Intel PT trace on the host can be decoded.
1418Sideband events from the guest perf.data file can be injected into the host perf.data file using perf inject.
1419
1420Here is an example of the steps needed:
1421
1422On the guest machine:
1423
1424Check that no-kvmclock kernel command line option was used to boot:
1425
1426Note, this is essential to enable time correlation between host and guest machines.
1427
1428 $ cat /proc/cmdline
1429 BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-16-amd64 root=UUID=cb49c910-e573-47e0-bce7-79e293df8e1d ro no-kvmclock
1430
1431There is no BPF support at present so, if possible, disable JIT compiling:
1432
1433 $ echo 0 | sudo tee /proc/sys/net/core/bpf_jit_enable
1434 0
1435
1436Start perf record to collect sideband events:
1437
1438 $ sudo perf record -o guest-sideband-testing-guest-perf.data --sample-identifier --buildid-all --switch-events --kcore -a -e dummy
1439
1440On the host machine:
1441
1442Start perf record to collect Intel PT trace:
1443
1444Note, the host trace will get very big, very fast, so the steps from starting to stopping the host trace really need to be done so that they happen in the shortest time possible.
1445
1446 $ sudo perf record -o guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data -m,64M --kcore -a -e intel_pt/cyc/
1447
1448On the guest machine:
1449
1450Run a small test case, just 'uname' in this example:
1451
1452 $ uname
1453 Linux
1454
1455On the host machine:
1456
1457Stop the Intel PT trace:
1458
1459 ^C
1460 [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
1461 [ perf record: Captured and wrote 76.122 MB guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data ]
1462
1463On the guest machine:
1464
1465Stop the Intel PT trace:
1466
1467 ^C
1468 [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
1469 [ perf record: Captured and wrote 1.247 MB guest-sideband-testing-guest-perf.data ]
1470
1471And then copy guest-sideband-testing-guest-perf.data to the host (not shown here).
1472
1473On the host machine:
1474
1475With the 2 perf.data recordings, and with their ownership changed to the user.
1476
1477Identify the TSC Offset:
1478
1479 $ perf inject -i guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data --vm-time-correlation=dry-run
1480 VMCS: 0x103fc6  TSC Offset 0xfffffa6ae070cb20
1481 VMCS: 0x103ff2  TSC Offset 0xfffffa6ae070cb20
1482 VMCS: 0x10fdaa  TSC Offset 0xfffffa6ae070cb20
1483 VMCS: 0x24d57c  TSC Offset 0xfffffa6ae070cb20
1484
1485Correct Intel PT TSC timestamps for the guest machine:
1486
1487 $ perf inject -i guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data --vm-time-correlation=0xfffffa6ae070cb20 --force
1488
1489Identify the guest machine PID:
1490
1491 $ perf script -i guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data --no-itrace --show-task-events | grep KVM
1492       CPU 0/KVM     0 [000]     0.000000: PERF_RECORD_COMM: CPU 0/KVM:13376/13381
1493       CPU 1/KVM     0 [000]     0.000000: PERF_RECORD_COMM: CPU 1/KVM:13376/13382
1494       CPU 2/KVM     0 [000]     0.000000: PERF_RECORD_COMM: CPU 2/KVM:13376/13383
1495       CPU 3/KVM     0 [000]     0.000000: PERF_RECORD_COMM: CPU 3/KVM:13376/13384
1496
1497Note, the QEMU option -name debug-threads=on is needed so that thread names
1498can be used to determine which thread is running which VCPU as above. libvirt seems to use this by default.
1499
1500Create a guestmount, assuming the guest machine is 'vm_to_test':
1501
1502 $ mkdir -p ~/guestmount/13376
1503 $ sshfs -o direct_io vm_to_test:/ ~/guestmount/13376
1504
1505Inject the guest perf.data file into the host perf.data file:
1506
1507Note, due to the guestmount option, guest object files and debug files will be copied into the build ID cache from the guest machine, with the notable exception of VDSO.
1508If needed, VDSO can be copied manually in a fashion similar to that used by the perf-archive script.
1509
1510 $ perf inject -i guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data -o inj --guestmount ~/guestmount --guest-data=guest-sideband-testing-guest-perf.data,13376,0xfffffa6ae070cb20
1511
1512Show an excerpt from the result.  In this case the CPU and time range have been to chosen to show interaction between guest and host when 'uname' is starting to run on the guest machine:
1513
1514Notes:
1515
1516	- the CPU displayed, [002] in this case, is always the host CPU
1517	- events happening in the virtual machine start with VM:13376 VCPU:003, which shows the hypervisor PID 13376 and the VCPU number
1518	- only calls and errors are displayed i.e. --itrace=ce
1519	- branches entering and exiting the virtual machine are split, and show as 2 branches to/from "0 [unknown] ([unknown])"
1520
1521 $ perf script -i inj --itrace=ce -F+machine_pid,+vcpu,+addr,+pid,+tid,-period --ns --time 7919.408803365,7919.408804631 -C 2
1522       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803365:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ebe0 vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0xc0 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8edc0 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1523       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803365:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8edd5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x15 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8eca0 vmx_update_host_rsp+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1524       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803365:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ee1b __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5b ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8ed60 vmx_vmenter+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1525       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803461:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ed62 vmx_vmenter+0x2 ([kernel.kallsyms]) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
1526 VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408803461:      branches:                 0 [unknown] ([unknown]) =>     7f851c9b5a5c init_cacheinfo+0x3ac (/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc-2.31.so)
1527 VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408803567:      branches:      7f851c9b5a5a init_cacheinfo+0x3aa (/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc-2.31.so) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
1528       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803567:      branches:                 0 [unknown] ([unknown]) => ffffffffc0f8ed80 vmx_vmexit+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1529       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803596:      branches:  ffffffffc0f6619a vmx_vcpu_run+0x26a ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2255c60 x86_virt_spec_ctrl+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1530       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803801:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66445 vmx_vcpu_run+0x515 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2290b30 native_write_msr+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1531       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803850:      branches:  ffffffffc0f661f8 vmx_vcpu_run+0x2c8 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc1092300 kvm_load_host_xsave_state+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1532       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803850:      branches:  ffffffffc1092327 kvm_load_host_xsave_state+0x27 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc1092220 kvm_load_host_xsave_state.part.0+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1533       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803862:      branches:  ffffffffc0f662cf vmx_vcpu_run+0x39f ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f63f90 vmx_recover_nmi_blocking+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1534       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803862:      branches:  ffffffffc0f662e9 vmx_vcpu_run+0x3b9 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f619a0 __vmx_complete_interrupts+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1535       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803872:      branches:  ffffffffc109cfb2 vcpu_enter_guest+0x752 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f5f570 vmx_handle_exit_irqoff+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1536       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803881:      branches:  ffffffffc109d028 vcpu_enter_guest+0x7c8 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb234f900 __srcu_read_lock+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1537       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803897:      branches:  ffffffffc109d06f vcpu_enter_guest+0x80f ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f72e30 vmx_handle_exit+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1538       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803897:      branches:  ffffffffc0f72e3d vmx_handle_exit+0xd ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f727c0 __vmx_handle_exit+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1539       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803897:      branches:  ffffffffc0f72b15 __vmx_handle_exit+0x355 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f60ae0 vmx_flush_pml_buffer+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1540       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803903:      branches:  ffffffffc0f72994 __vmx_handle_exit+0x1d4 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10b7090 kvm_emulate_cpuid+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1541       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803903:      branches:  ffffffffc10b70f1 kvm_emulate_cpuid+0x61 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10b6e10 kvm_cpuid+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1542       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803941:      branches:  ffffffffc10b7125 kvm_emulate_cpuid+0x95 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc1093110 kvm_skip_emulated_instruction+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1543       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803941:      branches:  ffffffffc109311f kvm_skip_emulated_instruction+0xf ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f5e180 vmx_get_rflags+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1544       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803951:      branches:  ffffffffc109312a kvm_skip_emulated_instruction+0x1a ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f5fd30 vmx_skip_emulated_instruction+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1545       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803951:      branches:  ffffffffc0f5fd79 vmx_skip_emulated_instruction+0x49 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f5fb50 skip_emulated_instruction+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1546       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803956:      branches:  ffffffffc0f5fc68 skip_emulated_instruction+0x118 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f6a940 vmx_cache_reg+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1547       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803964:      branches:  ffffffffc0f5fc11 skip_emulated_instruction+0xc1 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f5f9e0 vmx_set_interrupt_shadow+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1548       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803980:      branches:  ffffffffc109f8b1 vcpu_run+0x71 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10ad2f0 kvm_cpu_has_pending_timer+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1549       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803980:      branches:  ffffffffc10ad2fb kvm_cpu_has_pending_timer+0xb ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10b0490 apic_has_pending_timer+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1550       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803991:      branches:  ffffffffc109f899 vcpu_run+0x59 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc109c860 vcpu_enter_guest+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1551       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803993:      branches:  ffffffffc109cd4c vcpu_enter_guest+0x4ec ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f69140 vmx_prepare_switch_to_guest+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1552       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803996:      branches:  ffffffffc109cd7d vcpu_enter_guest+0x51d ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb234f930 __srcu_read_unlock+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1553       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803996:      branches:  ffffffffc109cd9c vcpu_enter_guest+0x53c ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f609b0 vmx_sync_pir_to_irr+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1554       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803996:      branches:  ffffffffc0f60a6d vmx_sync_pir_to_irr+0xbd ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10adc20 kvm_lapic_find_highest_irr+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1555       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804010:      branches:  ffffffffc0f60abd vmx_sync_pir_to_irr+0x10d ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f60820 vmx_set_rvi+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1556       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804019:      branches:  ffffffffc109ceca vcpu_enter_guest+0x66a ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2249840 fpregs_assert_state_consistent+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1557       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804021:      branches:  ffffffffc109cf10 vcpu_enter_guest+0x6b0 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f65f30 vmx_vcpu_run+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1558       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804024:      branches:  ffffffffc0f6603b vmx_vcpu_run+0x10b ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb229bed0 __get_current_cr3_fast+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1559       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804024:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66055 vmx_vcpu_run+0x125 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2253050 cr4_read_shadow+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1560       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804030:      branches:  ffffffffc0f6608d vmx_vcpu_run+0x15d ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10921e0 kvm_load_guest_xsave_state+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1561       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804030:      branches:  ffffffffc1092207 kvm_load_guest_xsave_state+0x27 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc1092110 kvm_load_guest_xsave_state.part.0+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1562       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804032:      branches:  ffffffffc0f660c6 vmx_vcpu_run+0x196 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb22061a0 perf_guest_get_msrs+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1563       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804032:      branches:  ffffffffb22061a9 perf_guest_get_msrs+0x9 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb220cda0 intel_guest_get_msrs+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1564       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804039:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66109 vmx_vcpu_run+0x1d9 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f652c0 clear_atomic_switch_msr+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1565       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804040:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66119 vmx_vcpu_run+0x1e9 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f73f60 intel_pmu_lbr_is_enabled+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1566       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804042:      branches:  ffffffffc0f73f81 intel_pmu_lbr_is_enabled+0x21 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10b68e0 kvm_find_cpuid_entry+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1567       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804045:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66454 vmx_vcpu_run+0x524 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f61ff0 vmx_update_hv_timer+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1568       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804057:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66142 vmx_vcpu_run+0x212 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10af100 kvm_wait_lapic_expire+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1569       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804057:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66156 vmx_vcpu_run+0x226 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2255c60 x86_virt_spec_ctrl+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1570       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804057:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66161 vmx_vcpu_run+0x231 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8eb20 vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1571       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804057:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8eb44 vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0x24 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2353e10 rcu_note_context_switch+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1572       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804057:      branches:  ffffffffb2353e1c rcu_note_context_switch+0xc ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2353db0 rcu_qs+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1573       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804066:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ebe0 vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0xc0 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8edc0 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1574       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804066:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8edd5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x15 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8eca0 vmx_update_host_rsp+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1575       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804066:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ee1b __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5b ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8ed60 vmx_vmenter+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1576       CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804162:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ed62 vmx_vmenter+0x2 ([kernel.kallsyms]) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
1577 VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408804162:      branches:                 0 [unknown] ([unknown]) =>     7f851c9b5a5c init_cacheinfo+0x3ac (/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc-2.31.so)
1578 VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408804273:      branches:      7f851cb7c0e4 _dl_init+0x74 (/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ld-2.31.so) =>     7f851cb7bf50 call_init.part.0+0x0 (/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ld-2.31.so)
1579 VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408804526:      branches:      55e0c00136f0 _start+0x0 (/usr/bin/uname) => ffffffff83200ac0 asm_exc_page_fault+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1580 VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408804526:      branches:  ffffffff83200ac3 asm_exc_page_fault+0x3 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffff83201290 error_entry+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1581 VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408804534:      branches:  ffffffff832012fa error_entry+0x6a ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffff830b59a0 sync_regs+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1582 VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408804631:      branches:  ffffffff83200ad9 asm_exc_page_fault+0x19 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffff830b8210 exc_page_fault+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1583 VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408804631:      branches:  ffffffff830b82a4 exc_page_fault+0x94 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffff830b80e0 __kvm_handle_async_pf+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1584 VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408804631:      branches:  ffffffff830b80ed __kvm_handle_async_pf+0xd ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffff830b80c0 kvm_read_and_reset_apf_flags+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
1585
1586
1587Tracing Virtual Machines - Guest Code
1588-------------------------------------
1589
1590A common case for KVM test programs is that the test program acts as the
1591hypervisor, creating, running and destroying the virtual machine, and
1592providing the guest object code from its own object code. In this case,
1593the VM is not running an OS, but only the functions loaded into it by the
1594hypervisor test program, and conveniently, loaded at the same virtual
1595addresses. To support that, option "--guest-code" has been added to perf script
1596and perf kvm report.
1597
1598Here is an example tracing a test program from the kernel's KVM selftests:
1599
1600 # perf record --kcore -e intel_pt/cyc/ -- tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test
1601 [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
1602 [ perf record: Captured and wrote 0.280 MB perf.data ]
1603 # perf script --guest-code --itrace=bep --ns -F-period,+addr,+flags
1604 [SNIP]
1605   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962087733:      branches:   call                   ffffffffc13b2ff5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x15 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f50 vmx_update_host_rsp+0x0 (vmlinux)
1606   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962087733:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b2f5d vmx_update_host_rsp+0xd (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2ffa __vmx_vcpu_run+0x1a (vmlinux)
1607   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962087733:      branches:   call                   ffffffffc13b303b __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5b (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f80 vmx_vmenter+0x0 (vmlinux)
1608   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962087836:      branches:   vmentry                ffffffffc13b2f82 vmx_vmenter+0x2 (vmlinux) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
1609   [guest/18436] 18436 [007] 10897.962087836:      branches:   vmentry                               0 [unknown] ([unknown]) =>           402c81 guest_code+0x131 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test)
1610   [guest/18436] 18436 [007] 10897.962087836:      branches:   call                             402c81 guest_code+0x131 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test) =>           40dba0 ucall+0x0 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test)
1611   [guest/18436] 18436 [007] 10897.962088248:      branches:   vmexit                           40dba0 ucall+0x0 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
1612   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962088248:      branches:   vmexit                                0 [unknown] ([unknown]) => ffffffffc13b2fa0 vmx_vmexit+0x0 (vmlinux)
1613   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962088248:      branches:   jmp                    ffffffffc13b2fa0 vmx_vmexit+0x0 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2fd2 vmx_vmexit+0x32 (vmlinux)
1614   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962088256:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b2fd2 vmx_vmexit+0x32 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b3040 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x60 (vmlinux)
1615   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962088270:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b30b6 __vmx_vcpu_run+0xd6 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f2e vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0x4e (vmlinux)
1616 [SNIP]
1617   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089321:      branches:   call                   ffffffffc13b2ff5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x15 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f50 vmx_update_host_rsp+0x0 (vmlinux)
1618   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089321:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b2f5d vmx_update_host_rsp+0xd (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2ffa __vmx_vcpu_run+0x1a (vmlinux)
1619   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089321:      branches:   call                   ffffffffc13b303b __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5b (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f80 vmx_vmenter+0x0 (vmlinux)
1620   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089424:      branches:   vmentry                ffffffffc13b2f82 vmx_vmenter+0x2 (vmlinux) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
1621   [guest/18436] 18436 [007] 10897.962089424:      branches:   vmentry                               0 [unknown] ([unknown]) =>           40dba0 ucall+0x0 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test)
1622   [guest/18436] 18436 [007] 10897.962089701:      branches:   jmp                              40dc1b ucall+0x7b (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test) =>           40dc39 ucall+0x99 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test)
1623   [guest/18436] 18436 [007] 10897.962089701:      branches:   jcc                              40dc3c ucall+0x9c (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test) =>           40dc20 ucall+0x80 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test)
1624   [guest/18436] 18436 [007] 10897.962089701:      branches:   jcc                              40dc3c ucall+0x9c (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test) =>           40dc20 ucall+0x80 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test)
1625   [guest/18436] 18436 [007] 10897.962089701:      branches:   jcc                              40dc37 ucall+0x97 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test) =>           40dc50 ucall+0xb0 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test)
1626   [guest/18436] 18436 [007] 10897.962089878:      branches:   vmexit                           40dc55 ucall+0xb5 (/home/user/git/work/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
1627   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089878:      branches:   vmexit                                0 [unknown] ([unknown]) => ffffffffc13b2fa0 vmx_vmexit+0x0 (vmlinux)
1628   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089878:      branches:   jmp                    ffffffffc13b2fa0 vmx_vmexit+0x0 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2fd2 vmx_vmexit+0x32 (vmlinux)
1629   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089887:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b2fd2 vmx_vmexit+0x32 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b3040 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x60 (vmlinux)
1630   tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089901:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b30b6 __vmx_vcpu_run+0xd6 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f2e vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0x4e (vmlinux)
1631 [SNIP]
1632
1633 # perf kvm --guest-code --guest --host report -i perf.data --stdio | head -20
1634
1635 # To display the perf.data header info, please use --header/--header-only options.
1636 #
1637 #
1638 # Total Lost Samples: 0
1639 #
1640 # Samples: 12  of event 'instructions'
1641 # Event count (approx.): 2274583
1642 #
1643 # Children      Self  Command        Shared Object         Symbol
1644 # ........  ........  .............  ....................  ...........................................
1645 #
1646    54.70%     0.00%  tsc_msrs_test  [kernel.vmlinux]      [k] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe
1647            |
1648            ---entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe
1649               do_syscall_64
1650               |
1651               |--29.44%--syscall_exit_to_user_mode
1652               |          exit_to_user_mode_prepare
1653               |          task_work_run
1654               |          __fput
1655
1656
1657Event Trace
1658-----------
1659
1660Event Trace records information about asynchronous events, for example interrupts,
1661faults, VM exits and entries.  The information is recorded in CFE and EVD packets,
1662and also the Interrupt Flag is recorded on the MODE.Exec packet.  The CFE packet
1663contains a type field to identify one of the following:
1664
1665	 1	INTR		interrupt, fault, exception, NMI
1666	 2	IRET		interrupt return
1667	 3	SMI		system management interrupt
1668	 4	RSM		resume from system management mode
1669	 5	SIPI		startup interprocessor interrupt
1670	 6	INIT		INIT signal
1671	 7	VMENTRY		VM-Entry
1672	 8	VMEXIT		VM-Entry
1673	 9	VMEXIT_INTR	VM-Exit due to interrupt
1674	10	SHUTDOWN	Shutdown
1675
1676For more details, refer to the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software
1677Developer Manuals (version 076 or later).
1678
1679The capability to do Event Trace is indicated by the
1680/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/event_trace file.
1681
1682Event trace is selected for recording using the "event" config term. e.g.
1683
1684	perf record -e intel_pt/event/u uname
1685
1686Event trace events are output using the --itrace I option. e.g.
1687
1688	perf script --itrace=Ie
1689
1690perf script displays events containing CFE type, vector and event data,
1691in the form:
1692
1693	  evt:   hw int            (t)  cfe: INTR IP: 1 vector: 3 PFA: 0x8877665544332211
1694
1695The IP flag indicates if the event binds to an IP, which includes any case where
1696flow control packet generation is enabled, as well as when CFE packet IP bit is
1697set.
1698
1699perf script displays events containing changes to the Interrupt Flag in the form:
1700
1701	iflag:   t                      IFLAG: 1->0 via branch
1702
1703where "via branch" indicates a branch (interrupt or return from interrupt) and
1704"non branch" indicates an instruction such as CFI, STI or POPF).
1705
1706In addition, the current state of the interrupt flag is indicated by the presence
1707or absence of the "D" (interrupt disabled) perf script flag.  If the interrupt
1708flag is changed, then the "t" flag is also included i.e.
1709
1710		no flag, interrupts enabled IF=1
1711	t	interrupts become disabled IF=1 -> IF=0
1712	D	interrupts are disabled IF=0
1713	Dt	interrupts become enabled  IF=0 -> IF=1
1714
1715The intel-pt-events.py script illustrates how to access Event Trace information
1716using a Python script.
1717
1718
1719TNT Disable
1720-----------
1721
1722TNT packets are disabled using the "notnt" config term. e.g.
1723
1724	perf record -e intel_pt/notnt/u uname
1725
1726In that case the --itrace q option is forced because walking executable code
1727to reconstruct the control flow is not possible.
1728
1729
1730Emulated PTWRITE
1731----------------
1732
1733Later perf tools support a method to emulate the ptwrite instruction, which
1734can be useful if hardware does not support the ptwrite instruction.
1735
1736Instead of using the ptwrite instruction, a function is used which produces
1737a trace that encodes the payload data into TNT packets.  Here is an example
1738of the function:
1739
1740 #include <stdint.h>
1741
1742 void perf_emulate_ptwrite(uint64_t x)
1743 __attribute__((externally_visible, noipa, no_instrument_function, naked));
1744
1745 #define PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS \
1746                 "1: shl %rax\n"     \
1747                 "   jc 1f\n"        \
1748                 "1: shl %rax\n"     \
1749                 "   jc 1f\n"        \
1750                 "1: shl %rax\n"     \
1751                 "   jc 1f\n"        \
1752                 "1: shl %rax\n"     \
1753                 "   jc 1f\n"        \
1754                 "1: shl %rax\n"     \
1755                 "   jc 1f\n"        \
1756                 "1: shl %rax\n"     \
1757                 "   jc 1f\n"        \
1758                 "1: shl %rax\n"     \
1759                 "   jc 1f\n"        \
1760                 "1: shl %rax\n"     \
1761                 "   jc 1f\n"
1762
1763 /* Undefined instruction */
1764 #define PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_UD2        ".byte 0x0f, 0x0b\n"
1765
1766 #define PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_MAGIC        PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_UD2 ".ascii \"perf,ptwrite  \"\n"
1767
1768 void perf_emulate_ptwrite(uint64_t x __attribute__ ((__unused__)))
1769 {
1770          /* Assumes SysV ABI : x passed in rdi */
1771         __asm__ volatile (
1772                 "jmp 1f\n"
1773                 PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_MAGIC
1774                 "1: mov %rdi, %rax\n"
1775                 PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
1776                 PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
1777                 PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
1778                 PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
1779                 PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
1780                 PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
1781                 PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
1782                 PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
1783                 "1: ret\n"
1784         );
1785 }
1786
1787For example, a test program with the function above:
1788
1789 #include <stdio.h>
1790 #include <stdint.h>
1791 #include <stdlib.h>
1792
1793 #include "perf_emulate_ptwrite.h"
1794
1795 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
1796 {
1797         uint64_t x = 0;
1798
1799         if (argc > 1)
1800                 x = strtoull(argv[1], NULL, 0);
1801         perf_emulate_ptwrite(x);
1802         return 0;
1803 }
1804
1805Can be compiled and traced:
1806
1807 $ gcc -Wall -Wextra -O3 -g -o eg_ptw eg_ptw.c
1808 $ perf record -e intel_pt//u ./eg_ptw 0x1234567890abcdef
1809 [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
1810 [ perf record: Captured and wrote 0.017 MB perf.data ]
1811 $ perf script --itrace=ew
1812           eg_ptw 19875 [007]  8061.235912:     ptwrite:  IP: 0 payload: 0x1234567890abcdef      55701249a196 perf_emulate_ptwrite+0x16 (/home/user/eg_ptw)
1813 $
1814
1815
1816EXAMPLE
1817-------
1818
1819Examples can be found on perf wiki page "Perf tools support for Intel® Processor Trace":
1820
1821https://perf.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Perf_tools_support_for_Intel%C2%AE_Processor_Trace
1822
1823
1824SEE ALSO
1825--------
1826
1827linkperf:perf-record[1], linkperf:perf-script[1], linkperf:perf-report[1],
1828linkperf:perf-inject[1]
1829