1perf-record(1)
2==============
3
4NAME
5----
6perf-record - Run a command and record its profile into perf.data
7
8SYNOPSIS
9--------
10[verse]
11'perf record' [-e <EVENT> | --event=EVENT] [-a] <command>
12'perf record' [-e <EVENT> | --event=EVENT] [-a] \-- <command> [<options>]
13
14DESCRIPTION
15-----------
16This command runs a command and gathers a performance counter profile
17from it, into perf.data - without displaying anything.
18
19This file can then be inspected later on, using 'perf report'.
20
21
22OPTIONS
23-------
24<command>...::
25	Any command you can specify in a shell.
26
27-e::
28--event=::
29	Select the PMU event. Selection can be:
30
31        - a symbolic event name	(use 'perf list' to list all events)
32
33        - a raw PMU event in the form of rN where N is a hexadecimal value
34          that represents the raw register encoding with the layout of the
35          event control registers as described by entries in
36          /sys/bus/event_sources/devices/cpu/format/*.
37
38        - a symbolic or raw PMU event followed by an optional colon
39	  and a list of event modifiers, e.g., cpu-cycles:p.  See the
40	  linkperf:perf-list[1] man page for details on event modifiers.
41
42	- a symbolically formed PMU event like 'pmu/param1=0x3,param2/' where
43	  'param1', 'param2', etc are defined as formats for the PMU in
44	  /sys/bus/event_source/devices/<pmu>/format/*.
45
46	- a symbolically formed event like 'pmu/config=M,config1=N,config3=K/'
47
48          where M, N, K are numbers (in decimal, hex, octal format). Acceptable
49          values for each of 'config', 'config1' and 'config2' are defined by
50          corresponding entries in /sys/bus/event_source/devices/<pmu>/format/*
51          param1 and param2 are defined as formats for the PMU in:
52          /sys/bus/event_source/devices/<pmu>/format/*
53
54	  There are also some parameters which are not defined in .../<pmu>/format/*.
55	  These params can be used to overload default config values per event.
56	  Here are some common parameters:
57	  - 'period': Set event sampling period
58	  - 'freq': Set event sampling frequency
59	  - 'time': Disable/enable time stamping. Acceptable values are 1 for
60		    enabling time stamping. 0 for disabling time stamping.
61		    The default is 1.
62	  - 'call-graph': Disable/enable callgraph. Acceptable str are "fp" for
63			 FP mode, "dwarf" for DWARF mode, "lbr" for LBR mode and
64			 "no" for disable callgraph.
65	  - 'stack-size': user stack size for dwarf mode
66	  - 'name' : User defined event name. Single quotes (') may be used to
67		    escape symbols in the name from parsing by shell and tool
68		    like this: name=\'CPU_CLK_UNHALTED.THREAD:cmask=0x1\'.
69	  - 'aux-output': Generate AUX records instead of events. This requires
70			  that an AUX area event is also provided.
71	  - 'aux-sample-size': Set sample size for AUX area sampling. If the
72	  '--aux-sample' option has been used, set aux-sample-size=0 to disable
73	  AUX area sampling for the event.
74
75          See the linkperf:perf-list[1] man page for more parameters.
76
77	  Note: If user explicitly sets options which conflict with the params,
78	  the value set by the parameters will be overridden.
79
80	  Also not defined in .../<pmu>/format/* are PMU driver specific
81	  configuration parameters.  Any configuration parameter preceded by
82	  the letter '@' is not interpreted in user space and sent down directly
83	  to the PMU driver.  For example:
84
85	  perf record -e some_event/@cfg1,@cfg2=config/ ...
86
87	  will see 'cfg1' and 'cfg2=config' pushed to the PMU driver associated
88	  with the event for further processing.  There is no restriction on
89	  what the configuration parameters are, as long as their semantic is
90	  understood and supported by the PMU driver.
91
92        - a hardware breakpoint event in the form of '\mem:addr[/len][:access]'
93          where addr is the address in memory you want to break in.
94          Access is the memory access type (read, write, execute) it can
95          be passed as follows: '\mem:addr[:[r][w][x]]'. len is the range,
96          number of bytes from specified addr, which the breakpoint will cover.
97          If you want to profile read-write accesses in 0x1000, just set
98          'mem:0x1000:rw'.
99          If you want to profile write accesses in [0x1000~1008), just set
100          'mem:0x1000/8:w'.
101
102        - a BPF source file (ending in .c) or a precompiled object file (ending
103          in .o) selects one or more BPF events.
104          The BPF program can attach to various perf events based on the ELF section
105          names.
106
107          When processing a '.c' file, perf searches an installed LLVM to compile it
108          into an object file first. Optional clang options can be passed via the
109          '--clang-opt' command line option, e.g.:
110
111            perf record --clang-opt "-DLINUX_VERSION_CODE=0x50000" \
112                        -e tests/bpf-script-example.c
113
114          Note: '--clang-opt' must be placed before '--event/-e'.
115
116	- a group of events surrounded by a pair of brace ("{event1,event2,...}").
117	  Each event is separated by commas and the group should be quoted to
118	  prevent the shell interpretation.  You also need to use --group on
119	  "perf report" to view group events together.
120
121--filter=<filter>::
122        Event filter. This option should follow an event selector (-e) which
123	selects either tracepoint event(s) or a hardware trace PMU
124	(e.g. Intel PT or CoreSight).
125
126	- tracepoint filters
127
128	In the case of tracepoints, multiple '--filter' options are combined
129	using '&&'.
130
131	- address filters
132
133	A hardware trace PMU advertises its ability to accept a number of
134	address filters	by specifying a non-zero value in
135	/sys/bus/event_source/devices/<pmu>/nr_addr_filters.
136
137	Address filters have the format:
138
139	filter|start|stop|tracestop <start> [/ <size>] [@<file name>]
140
141	Where:
142	- 'filter': defines a region that will be traced.
143	- 'start': defines an address at which tracing will begin.
144	- 'stop': defines an address at which tracing will stop.
145	- 'tracestop': defines a region in which tracing will stop.
146
147	<file name> is the name of the object file, <start> is the offset to the
148	code to trace in that file, and <size> is the size of the region to
149	trace. 'start' and 'stop' filters need not specify a <size>.
150
151	If no object file is specified then the kernel is assumed, in which case
152	the start address must be a current kernel memory address.
153
154	<start> can also be specified by providing the name of a symbol. If the
155	symbol name is not unique, it can be disambiguated by inserting #n where
156	'n' selects the n'th symbol in address order. Alternately #0, #g or #G
157	select only a global symbol. <size> can also be specified by providing
158	the name of a symbol, in which case the size is calculated to the end
159	of that symbol. For 'filter' and 'tracestop' filters, if <size> is
160	omitted and <start> is a symbol, then the size is calculated to the end
161	of that symbol.
162
163	If <size> is omitted and <start> is '*', then the start and size will
164	be calculated from the first and last symbols, i.e. to trace the whole
165	file.
166
167	If symbol names (or '*') are provided, they must be surrounded by white
168	space.
169
170	The filter passed to the kernel is not necessarily the same as entered.
171	To see the filter that is passed, use the -v option.
172
173	The kernel may not be able to configure a trace region if it is not
174	within a single mapping.  MMAP events (or /proc/<pid>/maps) can be
175	examined to determine if that is a possibility.
176
177	Multiple filters can be separated with space or comma.
178
179--exclude-perf::
180	Don't record events issued by perf itself. This option should follow
181	an event selector (-e) which selects tracepoint event(s). It adds a
182	filter expression 'common_pid != $PERFPID' to filters. If other
183	'--filter' exists, the new filter expression will be combined with
184	them by '&&'.
185
186-a::
187--all-cpus::
188        System-wide collection from all CPUs (default if no target is specified).
189
190-p::
191--pid=::
192	Record events on existing process ID (comma separated list).
193
194-t::
195--tid=::
196        Record events on existing thread ID (comma separated list).
197        This option also disables inheritance by default.  Enable it by adding
198        --inherit.
199
200-u::
201--uid=::
202        Record events in threads owned by uid. Name or number.
203
204-r::
205--realtime=::
206	Collect data with this RT SCHED_FIFO priority.
207
208--no-buffering::
209	Collect data without buffering.
210
211-c::
212--count=::
213	Event period to sample.
214
215-o::
216--output=::
217	Output file name.
218
219-i::
220--no-inherit::
221	Child tasks do not inherit counters.
222
223-F::
224--freq=::
225	Profile at this frequency. Use 'max' to use the currently maximum
226	allowed frequency, i.e. the value in the kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate
227	sysctl. Will throttle down to the currently maximum allowed frequency.
228	See --strict-freq.
229
230--strict-freq::
231	Fail if the specified frequency can't be used.
232
233-m::
234--mmap-pages=::
235	Number of mmap data pages (must be a power of two) or size
236	specification with appended unit character - B/K/M/G. The
237	size is rounded up to have nearest pages power of two value.
238	Also, by adding a comma, the number of mmap pages for AUX
239	area tracing can be specified.
240
241--group::
242	Put all events in a single event group.  This precedes the --event
243	option and remains only for backward compatibility.  See --event.
244
245-g::
246	Enables call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording for both
247	kernel space and user space.
248
249--call-graph::
250	Setup and enable call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording,
251	implies -g.  Default is "fp" (for user space).
252
253	The unwinding method used for kernel space is dependent on the
254	unwinder used by the active kernel configuration, i.e
255	CONFIG_UNWINDER_FRAME_POINTER (fp) or CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC (orc)
256
257	Any option specified here controls the method used for user space.
258
259	Valid options are "fp" (frame pointer), "dwarf" (DWARF's CFI -
260	Call Frame Information) or "lbr" (Hardware Last Branch Record
261	facility).
262
263	In some systems, where binaries are build with gcc
264	--fomit-frame-pointer, using the "fp" method will produce bogus
265	call graphs, using "dwarf", if available (perf tools linked to
266	the libunwind or libdw library) should be used instead.
267	Using the "lbr" method doesn't require any compiler options. It
268	will produce call graphs from the hardware LBR registers. The
269	main limitation is that it is only available on new Intel
270	platforms, such as Haswell. It can only get user call chain. It
271	doesn't work with branch stack sampling at the same time.
272
273	When "dwarf" recording is used, perf also records (user) stack dump
274	when sampled.  Default size of the stack dump is 8192 (bytes).
275	User can change the size by passing the size after comma like
276	"--call-graph dwarf,4096".
277
278-q::
279--quiet::
280	Don't print any message, useful for scripting.
281
282-v::
283--verbose::
284	Be more verbose (show counter open errors, etc).
285
286-s::
287--stat::
288	Record per-thread event counts.  Use it with 'perf report -T' to see
289	the values.
290
291-d::
292--data::
293	Record the sample virtual addresses.
294
295--phys-data::
296	Record the sample physical addresses.
297
298--data-page-size::
299	Record the sampled data address data page size.
300
301--code-page-size::
302	Record the sampled code address (ip) page size
303
304-T::
305--timestamp::
306	Record the sample timestamps. Use it with 'perf report -D' to see the
307	timestamps, for instance.
308
309-P::
310--period::
311	Record the sample period.
312
313--sample-cpu::
314	Record the sample cpu.
315
316-n::
317--no-samples::
318	Don't sample.
319
320-R::
321--raw-samples::
322Collect raw sample records from all opened counters (default for tracepoint counters).
323
324-C::
325--cpu::
326Collect samples only on the list of CPUs provided. Multiple CPUs can be provided as a
327comma-separated list with no space: 0,1. Ranges of CPUs are specified with -: 0-2.
328In per-thread mode with inheritance mode on (default), samples are captured only when
329the thread executes on the designated CPUs. Default is to monitor all CPUs.
330
331-B::
332--no-buildid::
333Do not save the build ids of binaries in the perf.data files. This skips
334post processing after recording, which sometimes makes the final step in
335the recording process to take a long time, as it needs to process all
336events looking for mmap records. The downside is that it can misresolve
337symbols if the workload binaries used when recording get locally rebuilt
338or upgraded, because the only key available in this case is the
339pathname. You can also set the "record.build-id" config variable to
340'skip to have this behaviour permanently.
341
342-N::
343--no-buildid-cache::
344Do not update the buildid cache. This saves some overhead in situations
345where the information in the perf.data file (which includes buildids)
346is sufficient.  You can also set the "record.build-id" config variable to
347'no-cache' to have the same effect.
348
349-G name,...::
350--cgroup name,...::
351monitor only in the container (cgroup) called "name". This option is available only
352in per-cpu mode. The cgroup filesystem must be mounted. All threads belonging to
353container "name" are monitored when they run on the monitored CPUs. Multiple cgroups
354can be provided. Each cgroup is applied to the corresponding event, i.e., first cgroup
355to first event, second cgroup to second event and so on. It is possible to provide
356an empty cgroup (monitor all the time) using, e.g., -G foo,,bar. Cgroups must have
357corresponding events, i.e., they always refer to events defined earlier on the command
358line. If the user wants to track multiple events for a specific cgroup, the user can
359use '-e e1 -e e2 -G foo,foo' or just use '-e e1 -e e2 -G foo'.
360
361If wanting to monitor, say, 'cycles' for a cgroup and also for system wide, this
362command line can be used: 'perf stat -e cycles -G cgroup_name -a -e cycles'.
363
364-b::
365--branch-any::
366Enable taken branch stack sampling. Any type of taken branch may be sampled.
367This is a shortcut for --branch-filter any. See --branch-filter for more infos.
368
369-j::
370--branch-filter::
371Enable taken branch stack sampling. Each sample captures a series of consecutive
372taken branches. The number of branches captured with each sample depends on the
373underlying hardware, the type of branches of interest, and the executed code.
374It is possible to select the types of branches captured by enabling filters. The
375following filters are defined:
376
377        - any:  any type of branches
378        - any_call: any function call or system call
379        - any_ret: any function return or system call return
380        - ind_call: any indirect branch
381        - call: direct calls, including far (to/from kernel) calls
382        - u:  only when the branch target is at the user level
383        - k: only when the branch target is in the kernel
384        - hv: only when the target is at the hypervisor level
385	- in_tx: only when the target is in a hardware transaction
386	- no_tx: only when the target is not in a hardware transaction
387	- abort_tx: only when the target is a hardware transaction abort
388	- cond: conditional branches
389	- save_type: save branch type during sampling in case binary is not available later
390
391+
392The option requires at least one branch type among any, any_call, any_ret, ind_call, cond.
393The privilege levels may be omitted, in which case, the privilege levels of the associated
394event are applied to the branch filter. Both kernel (k) and hypervisor (hv) privilege
395levels are subject to permissions.  When sampling on multiple events, branch stack sampling
396is enabled for all the sampling events. The sampled branch type is the same for all events.
397The various filters must be specified as a comma separated list: --branch-filter any_ret,u,k
398Note that this feature may not be available on all processors.
399
400--weight::
401Enable weightened sampling. An additional weight is recorded per sample and can be
402displayed with the weight and local_weight sort keys.  This currently works for TSX
403abort events and some memory events in precise mode on modern Intel CPUs.
404
405--namespaces::
406Record events of type PERF_RECORD_NAMESPACES.  This enables 'cgroup_id' sort key.
407
408--all-cgroups::
409Record events of type PERF_RECORD_CGROUP.  This enables 'cgroup' sort key.
410
411--transaction::
412Record transaction flags for transaction related events.
413
414--per-thread::
415Use per-thread mmaps.  By default per-cpu mmaps are created.  This option
416overrides that and uses per-thread mmaps.  A side-effect of that is that
417inheritance is automatically disabled.  --per-thread is ignored with a warning
418if combined with -a or -C options.
419
420-D::
421--delay=::
422After starting the program, wait msecs before measuring (-1: start with events
423disabled). This is useful to filter out the startup phase of the program, which
424is often very different.
425
426-I::
427--intr-regs::
428Capture machine state (registers) at interrupt, i.e., on counter overflows for
429each sample. List of captured registers depends on the architecture. This option
430is off by default. It is possible to select the registers to sample using their
431symbolic names, e.g. on x86, ax, si. To list the available registers use
432--intr-regs=\?. To name registers, pass a comma separated list such as
433--intr-regs=ax,bx. The list of register is architecture dependent.
434
435--user-regs::
436Similar to -I, but capture user registers at sample time. To list the available
437user registers use --user-regs=\?.
438
439--running-time::
440Record running and enabled time for read events (:S)
441
442-k::
443--clockid::
444Sets the clock id to use for the various time fields in the perf_event_type
445records. See clock_gettime(). In particular CLOCK_MONOTONIC and
446CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW are supported, some events might also allow
447CLOCK_BOOTTIME, CLOCK_REALTIME and CLOCK_TAI.
448
449-S::
450--snapshot::
451Select AUX area tracing Snapshot Mode. This option is valid only with an
452AUX area tracing event. Optionally, certain snapshot capturing parameters
453can be specified in a string that follows this option:
454  'e': take one last snapshot on exit; guarantees that there is at least one
455       snapshot in the output file;
456  <size>: if the PMU supports this, specify the desired snapshot size.
457
458In Snapshot Mode trace data is captured only when signal SIGUSR2 is received
459and on exit if the above 'e' option is given.
460
461--aux-sample[=OPTIONS]::
462Select AUX area sampling. At least one of the events selected by the -e option
463must be an AUX area event. Samples on other events will be created containing
464data from the AUX area. Optionally sample size may be specified, otherwise it
465defaults to 4KiB.
466
467--proc-map-timeout::
468When processing pre-existing threads /proc/XXX/mmap, it may take a long time,
469because the file may be huge. A time out is needed in such cases.
470This option sets the time out limit. The default value is 500 ms.
471
472--switch-events::
473Record context switch events i.e. events of type PERF_RECORD_SWITCH or
474PERF_RECORD_SWITCH_CPU_WIDE. In some cases (e.g. Intel PT, CoreSight or Arm SPE)
475switch events will be enabled automatically, which can be suppressed by
476by the option --no-switch-events.
477
478--clang-path=PATH::
479Path to clang binary to use for compiling BPF scriptlets.
480(enabled when BPF support is on)
481
482--clang-opt=OPTIONS::
483Options passed to clang when compiling BPF scriptlets.
484(enabled when BPF support is on)
485
486--vmlinux=PATH::
487Specify vmlinux path which has debuginfo.
488(enabled when BPF prologue is on)
489
490--buildid-all::
491Record build-id of all DSOs regardless whether it's actually hit or not.
492
493--buildid-mmap::
494Record build ids in mmap2 events, disables build id cache (implies --no-buildid).
495
496--aio[=n]::
497Use <n> control blocks in asynchronous (Posix AIO) trace writing mode (default: 1, max: 4).
498Asynchronous mode is supported only when linking Perf tool with libc library
499providing implementation for Posix AIO API.
500
501--affinity=mode::
502Set affinity mask of trace reading thread according to the policy defined by 'mode' value:
503  node - thread affinity mask is set to NUMA node cpu mask of the processed mmap buffer
504  cpu  - thread affinity mask is set to cpu of the processed mmap buffer
505
506--mmap-flush=number::
507
508Specify minimal number of bytes that is extracted from mmap data pages and
509processed for output. One can specify the number using B/K/M/G suffixes.
510
511The maximal allowed value is a quarter of the size of mmaped data pages.
512
513The default option value is 1 byte which means that every time that the output
514writing thread finds some new data in the mmaped buffer the data is extracted,
515possibly compressed (-z) and written to the output, perf.data or pipe.
516
517Larger data chunks are compressed more effectively in comparison to smaller
518chunks so extraction of larger chunks from the mmap data pages is preferable
519from the perspective of output size reduction.
520
521Also at some cases executing less output write syscalls with bigger data size
522can take less time than executing more output write syscalls with smaller data
523size thus lowering runtime profiling overhead.
524
525-z::
526--compression-level[=n]::
527Produce compressed trace using specified level n (default: 1 - fastest compression,
52822 - smallest trace)
529
530--all-kernel::
531Configure all used events to run in kernel space.
532
533--all-user::
534Configure all used events to run in user space.
535
536--kernel-callchains::
537Collect callchains only from kernel space. I.e. this option sets
538perf_event_attr.exclude_callchain_user to 1.
539
540--user-callchains::
541Collect callchains only from user space. I.e. this option sets
542perf_event_attr.exclude_callchain_kernel to 1.
543
544Don't use both --kernel-callchains and --user-callchains at the same time or no
545callchains will be collected.
546
547--timestamp-filename
548Append timestamp to output file name.
549
550--timestamp-boundary::
551Record timestamp boundary (time of first/last samples).
552
553--switch-output[=mode]::
554Generate multiple perf.data files, timestamp prefixed, switching to a new one
555based on 'mode' value:
556  "signal" - when receiving a SIGUSR2 (default value) or
557  <size>   - when reaching the size threshold, size is expected to
558             be a number with appended unit character - B/K/M/G
559  <time>   - when reaching the time threshold, size is expected to
560             be a number with appended unit character - s/m/h/d
561
562             Note: the precision of  the size  threshold  hugely depends
563             on your configuration  - the number and size of  your  ring
564             buffers (-m). It is generally more precise for higher sizes
565             (like >5M), for lower values expect different sizes.
566
567A possible use case is to, given an external event, slice the perf.data file
568that gets then processed, possibly via a perf script, to decide if that
569particular perf.data snapshot should be kept or not.
570
571Implies --timestamp-filename, --no-buildid and --no-buildid-cache.
572The reason for the latter two is to reduce the data file switching
573overhead. You can still switch them on with:
574
575  --switch-output --no-no-buildid  --no-no-buildid-cache
576
577--switch-output-event::
578Events that will cause the switch of the perf.data file, auto-selecting
579--switch-output=signal, the results are similar as internally the side band
580thread will also send a SIGUSR2 to the main one.
581
582Uses the same syntax as --event, it will just not be recorded, serving only to
583switch the perf.data file as soon as the --switch-output event is processed by
584a separate sideband thread.
585
586This sideband thread is also used to other purposes, like processing the
587PERF_RECORD_BPF_EVENT records as they happen, asking the kernel for extra BPF
588information, etc.
589
590--switch-max-files=N::
591
592When rotating perf.data with --switch-output, only keep N files.
593
594--dry-run::
595Parse options then exit. --dry-run can be used to detect errors in cmdline
596options.
597
598'perf record --dry-run -e' can act as a BPF script compiler if llvm.dump-obj
599in config file is set to true.
600
601--synth=TYPE::
602Collect and synthesize given type of events (comma separated).  Note that
603this option controls the synthesis from the /proc filesystem which represent
604task status for pre-existing threads.
605
606Kernel (and some other) events are recorded regardless of the
607choice in this option.  For example, --synth=no would have MMAP events for
608kernel and modules.
609
610Available types are:
611  'task'    - synthesize FORK and COMM events for each task
612  'mmap'    - synthesize MMAP events for each process (implies 'task')
613  'cgroup'  - synthesize CGROUP events for each cgroup
614  'all'     - synthesize all events (default)
615  'no'      - do not synthesize any of the above events
616
617--tail-synthesize::
618Instead of collecting non-sample events (for example, fork, comm, mmap) at
619the beginning of record, collect them during finalizing an output file.
620The collected non-sample events reflects the status of the system when
621record is finished.
622
623--overwrite::
624Makes all events use an overwritable ring buffer. An overwritable ring
625buffer works like a flight recorder: when it gets full, the kernel will
626overwrite the oldest records, that thus will never make it to the
627perf.data file.
628
629When '--overwrite' and '--switch-output' are used perf records and drops
630events until it receives a signal, meaning that something unusual was
631detected that warrants taking a snapshot of the most current events,
632those fitting in the ring buffer at that moment.
633
634'overwrite' attribute can also be set or canceled for an event using
635config terms. For example: 'cycles/overwrite/' and 'instructions/no-overwrite/'.
636
637Implies --tail-synthesize.
638
639--kcore::
640Make a copy of /proc/kcore and place it into a directory with the perf data file.
641
642--max-size=<size>::
643Limit the sample data max size, <size> is expected to be a number with
644appended unit character - B/K/M/G
645
646--num-thread-synthesize::
647	The number of threads to run when synthesizing events for existing processes.
648	By default, the number of threads equals 1.
649
650ifdef::HAVE_LIBPFM[]
651--pfm-events events::
652Select a PMU event using libpfm4 syntax (see http://perfmon2.sf.net)
653including support for event filters. For example '--pfm-events
654inst_retired:any_p:u:c=1:i'. More than one event can be passed to the
655option using the comma separator. Hardware events and generic hardware
656events cannot be mixed together. The latter must be used with the -e
657option. The -e option and this one can be mixed and matched.  Events
658can be grouped using the {} notation.
659endif::HAVE_LIBPFM[]
660
661--control=fifo:ctl-fifo[,ack-fifo]::
662--control=fd:ctl-fd[,ack-fd]::
663ctl-fifo / ack-fifo are opened and used as ctl-fd / ack-fd as follows.
664Listen on ctl-fd descriptor for command to control measurement.
665
666Available commands:
667  'enable'           : enable events
668  'disable'          : disable events
669  'enable name'      : enable event 'name'
670  'disable name'     : disable event 'name'
671  'snapshot'         : AUX area tracing snapshot).
672  'stop'             : stop perf record
673  'ping'             : ping
674
675  'evlist [-v|-g|-F] : display all events
676                       -F  Show just the sample frequency used for each event.
677                       -v  Show all fields.
678                       -g  Show event group information.
679
680Measurements can be started with events disabled using --delay=-1 option. Optionally
681send control command completion ('ack\n') to ack-fd descriptor to synchronize with the
682controlling process.  Example of bash shell script to enable and disable events during
683measurements:
684
685 #!/bin/bash
686
687 ctl_dir=/tmp/
688
689 ctl_fifo=${ctl_dir}perf_ctl.fifo
690 test -p ${ctl_fifo} && unlink ${ctl_fifo}
691 mkfifo ${ctl_fifo}
692 exec {ctl_fd}<>${ctl_fifo}
693
694 ctl_ack_fifo=${ctl_dir}perf_ctl_ack.fifo
695 test -p ${ctl_ack_fifo} && unlink ${ctl_ack_fifo}
696 mkfifo ${ctl_ack_fifo}
697 exec {ctl_fd_ack}<>${ctl_ack_fifo}
698
699 perf record -D -1 -e cpu-cycles -a               \
700             --control fd:${ctl_fd},${ctl_fd_ack} \
701             -- sleep 30 &
702 perf_pid=$!
703
704 sleep 5  && echo 'enable' >&${ctl_fd} && read -u ${ctl_fd_ack} e1 && echo "enabled(${e1})"
705 sleep 10 && echo 'disable' >&${ctl_fd} && read -u ${ctl_fd_ack} d1 && echo "disabled(${d1})"
706
707 exec {ctl_fd_ack}>&-
708 unlink ${ctl_ack_fifo}
709
710 exec {ctl_fd}>&-
711 unlink ${ctl_fifo}
712
713 wait -n ${perf_pid}
714 exit $?
715
716--threads=<spec>::
717Write collected trace data into several data files using parallel threads.
718<spec> value can be user defined list of masks. Masks separated by colon
719define CPUs to be monitored by a thread and affinity mask of that thread
720is separated by slash:
721
722    <cpus mask 1>/<affinity mask 1>:<cpus mask 2>/<affinity mask 2>:...
723
724CPUs or affinity masks must not overlap with other corresponding masks.
725Invalid CPUs are ignored, but masks containing only invalid CPUs are not
726allowed.
727
728For example user specification like the following:
729
730    0,2-4/2-4:1,5-7/5-7
731
732specifies parallel threads layout that consists of two threads,
733the first thread monitors CPUs 0 and 2-4 with the affinity mask 2-4,
734the second monitors CPUs 1 and 5-7 with the affinity mask 5-7.
735
736<spec> value can also be a string meaning predefined parallel threads
737layout:
738
739    cpu    - create new data streaming thread for every monitored cpu
740    core   - create new thread to monitor CPUs grouped by a core
741    package - create new thread to monitor CPUs grouped by a package
742    numa   - create new threed to monitor CPUs grouped by a NUMA domain
743
744Predefined layouts can be used on systems with large number of CPUs in
745order not to spawn multiple per-cpu streaming threads but still avoid LOST
746events in data directory files. Option specified with no or empty value
747defaults to CPU layout. Masks defined or provided by the option value are
748filtered through the mask provided by -C option.
749
750include::intel-hybrid.txt[]
751
752--debuginfod[=URLs]::
753	Specify debuginfod URL to be used when cacheing perf.data binaries,
754	it follows the same syntax as the DEBUGINFOD_URLS variable, like:
755
756	  http://192.168.122.174:8002
757
758	If the URLs is not specified, the value of DEBUGINFOD_URLS
759	system environment variable is used.
760
761SEE ALSO
762--------
763linkperf:perf-stat[1], linkperf:perf-list[1], linkperf:perf-intel-pt[1]
764