perf-intel-pt(1) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | QUICKSTART | PERF RECORD | PERF SCRIPT | PERF REPORT | PERF INJECT | PEBS VIA INTEL PT | XED | TRACING VIRTUAL MACHINES (KERNEL ONLY) | TRACING VIRTUAL MACHINES (INCLUDING USER SPACE) | TRACING VIRTUAL MACHINES - GUEST CODE | EVENT TRACE | TNT DISABLE | EMULATED PTWRITE | PIPE MODE | EXAMPLE | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

PERF-INTEL-PT(1)               perf Manual              PERF-INTEL-PT(1)

NAME         top

       perf-intel-pt - Support for Intel Processor Trace within perf
       tools

SYNOPSIS         top

       perf record -e intel_pt//

DESCRIPTION         top

       Intel Processor Trace (Intel PT) is an extension of Intel
       Architecture that collects information about software execution
       such as control flow, execution modes and timings and formats it
       into highly compressed binary packets. Technical details are
       documented in the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software
       Developer Manuals, Chapter 36 Intel Processor Trace.

       Intel PT is first supported in Intel Core M and 5th generation
       Intel Core processors that are based on the Intel
       micro-architecture code name Broadwell.

       Trace data is collected by perf record and stored within the
       perf.data file. See below for options to perf record.

       Trace data must be decoded which involves walking the object code
       and matching the trace data packets. For example a TNT packet
       only tells whether a conditional branch was taken or not taken,
       so to make use of that packet the decoder must know precisely
       which instruction was being executed.

       Decoding is done on-the-fly. The decoder outputs samples in the
       same format as samples output by perf hardware events, for
       example as though the "instructions" or "branches" events had
       been recorded. Presently 3 tools support this: perf script, perf
       report and perf inject. See below for more information on using
       those tools.

       The main distinguishing feature of Intel PT is that the decoder
       can determine the exact flow of software execution. Intel PT can
       be used to understand why and how did software get to a certain
       point, or behave a certain way. The software does not have to be
       recompiled, so Intel PT works with debug or release builds,
       however the executed images are needed - which makes use in
       JIT-compiled environments, or with self-modified code, a
       challenge. Also symbols need to be provided to make sense of
       addresses.

       A limitation of Intel PT is that it produces huge amounts of
       trace data (hundreds of megabytes per second per core) which
       takes a long time to decode, for example two or three orders of
       magnitude longer than it took to collect. Another limitation is
       the performance impact of tracing, something that will vary
       depending on the use-case and architecture.

QUICKSTART         top

       It is important to start small. That is because it is easy to
       capture vastly more data than can possibly be processed.

       The simplest thing to do with Intel PT is userspace profiling of
       small programs. Data is captured with perf record e.g. to trace
       ls userspace-only:

           perf record -e intel_pt//u ls

       And profiled with perf report e.g.

           perf report

       To also trace kernel space presents a problem, namely kernel
       self-modifying code. A fairly good kernel image is available in
       /proc/kcore but to get an accurate image a copy of /proc/kcore
       needs to be made under the same conditions as the data capture.
       perf record can make a copy of /proc/kcore if the option --kcore
       is used, but access to /proc/kcore is restricted e.g.

           sudo perf record -o pt_ls --kcore -e intel_pt// -- ls

       which will create a directory named pt_ls and put the perf.data
       file (named simply data) and copies of /proc/kcore,
       /proc/kallsyms and /proc/modules into it. The other tools
       understand the directory format, so to use perf report becomes:

           sudo perf report -i pt_ls

       Because samples are synthesized after-the-fact, the sampling
       period can be selected for reporting. e.g. sample every
       microsecond

           sudo perf report pt_ls --itrace=i1usge

       See the sections below for more information about the --itrace
       option.

       Beware the smaller the period, the more samples that are
       produced, and the longer it takes to process them.

       Also note that the coarseness of Intel PT timing information will
       start to distort the statistical value of the sampling as the
       sampling period becomes smaller.

       To represent software control flow, "branches" samples are
       produced. By default a branch sample is synthesized for every
       single branch. To get an idea what data is available you can use
       the perf script tool with all itrace sampling options, which will
       list all the samples.

           perf record -e intel_pt//u ls
           perf script --itrace=iybxwpe

       An interesting field that is not printed by default is flags
       which can be displayed as follows:

           perf script --itrace=iybxwpe -F+flags

       The flags are "bcrosyiABExghDt" which stand for branch, call,
       return, conditional, system, asynchronous, interrupt, transaction
       abort, trace begin, trace end, in transaction, VM-entry, VM-exit,
       interrupt disabled, and interrupt disable toggle respectively.

       perf script also supports higher level ways to dump instruction
       traces:

           perf script --insn-trace=disasm

       or to use the xed disassembler, which requires installing the xed
       tool (see XED below):

           perf script --insn-trace --xed

       Dumping all instructions in a long trace can be fairly slow. It
       is usually better to start with higher level decoding, like

           perf script --call-trace

       or

           perf script --call-ret-trace

       and then select a time range of interest. The time range can then
       be examined in detail with

           perf script --time starttime,stoptime --insn-trace=disasm

       While examining the trace it’s also useful to filter on specific
       CPUs using the -C option

           perf script --time starttime,stoptime --insn-trace=disasm -C 1

       Dump all instructions in time range on CPU 1.

       Another interesting field that is not printed by default is ipc
       which can be displayed as follows:

           perf script --itrace=be -F+ipc

       There are two ways that instructions-per-cycle (IPC) can be
       calculated depending on the recording.

       If the cyc config term (see config terms section below) was used,
       then IPC and cycle events are calculated using the cycle count
       from CYC packets, otherwise MTC packets are used - refer to the
       mtc config term. When MTC is used, however, the values are less
       accurate because the timing is less accurate.

       Because Intel PT does not update the cycle count on every branch
       or instruction, the values will often be zero. When there are
       values, they will be the number of instructions and number of
       cycles since the last update, and thus represent the average IPC
       cycle count since the last IPC for that event type. Note IPC for
       "branches" events is calculated separately from IPC for
       "instructions" events.

       Even with the cyc config term, it is possible to produce IPC
       information for every change of timestamp, but at the expense of
       accuracy. That is selected by specifying the itrace A option. Due
       to the granularity of timestamps, the actual number of cycles
       increases even though the cycles reported does not. The number of
       instructions is known, but if IPC is reported, cycles can be too
       low and so IPC is too high. Note that inaccuracy decreases as the
       period of sampling increases i.e. if the number of cycles is too
       low by a small amount, that becomes less significant if the
       number of cycles is large. It may also be useful to use the A
       option in conjunction with dlfilter-show-cycles.so to provide
       higher granularity cycle information.

       Also note that the IPC instruction count may or may not include
       the current instruction. If the cycle count is associated with an
       asynchronous branch (e.g. page fault or interrupt), then the
       instruction count does not include the current instruction,
       otherwise it does. That is consistent with whether or not that
       instruction has retired when the cycle count is updated.

       Another note, in the case of "branches" events, non-taken
       branches are not presently sampled, so IPC values for them do not
       appear e.g. a CYC packet with a TNT packet that starts with a
       non-taken branch. To see every possible IPC value, "instructions"
       events can be used e.g. --itrace=i0ns

       While it is possible to create scripts to analyze the data, an
       alternative approach is available to export the data to a sqlite
       or postgresql database. Refer to script export-to-sqlite.py or
       export-to-postgresql.py for more details, and to script
       exported-sql-viewer.py for an example of using the database.

       There is also script intel-pt-events.py which provides an example
       of how to unpack the raw data for power events and PTWRITE. The
       script also displays branches, and supports 2 additional modes
       selected by option:

       •   --insn-trace - instruction trace

       •   --src-trace - source trace

       The intel-pt-events.py script also has options:

       •   --all-switch-events - display all switch events, not only the
           last consecutive.

       •   --interleave [<n>] - interleave sample output for the same
           timestamp so that no more than n samples for a CPU are
           displayed in a row.  n defaults to 4. Note this only affects
           the order of output, and only when the timestamp is the same.

       As mentioned above, it is easy to capture too much data. One way
       to limit the data captured is to use snapshot mode which is
       explained further below. Refer to new snapshot option and Intel
       PT modes of operation further below.

       Another problem that will be experienced is decoder errors. They
       can be caused by inability to access the executed image,
       self-modified or JIT-ed code, or the inability to match side-band
       information (such as context switches and mmaps) which results in
       the decoder not knowing what code was executed.

       There is also the problem of perf not being able to copy the data
       fast enough, resulting in data lost because the buffer was full.
       See Buffer handling below for more details.

PERF RECORD         top

   new event
       The Intel PT kernel driver creates a new PMU for Intel PT. PMU
       events are selected by providing the PMU name followed by the
       "config" separated by slashes. An enhancement has been made to
       allow default "config" e.g. the option

           -e intel_pt//

       will use a default config value. Currently that is the same as

           -e intel_pt/tsc,noretcomp=0/

       which is the same as

           -e intel_pt/tsc=1,noretcomp=0/

       Note there are now new config terms - see section config terms
       further below.

       The config terms are listed in /sys/devices/intel_pt/format. They
       are bit fields within the config member of the struct
       perf_event_attr which is passed to the kernel by the
       perf_event_open system call. They correspond to bit fields in the
       IA32_RTIT_CTL MSR. Here is a list of them and their definitions:

           $ grep -H . /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/*
           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/cyc:config:1
           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/cyc_thresh:config:19-22
           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/mtc:config:9
           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/mtc_period:config:14-17
           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/noretcomp:config:11
           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/psb_period:config:24-27
           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/tsc:config:10

       Note that the default config must be overridden for each term
       i.e.

           -e intel_pt/noretcomp=0/

       is the same as:

           -e intel_pt/tsc=1,noretcomp=0/

       So, to disable TSC packets use:

           -e intel_pt/tsc=0/

       It is also possible to specify the config value explicitly:

           -e intel_pt/config=0x400/

       Note that, as with all events, the event is suffixed with event
       modifiers:

           u       userspace
           k       kernel
           h       hypervisor
           G       guest
           H       host
           p       precise ip

       h, G and H are for virtualization which are not used by Intel PT.
       p is also not relevant to Intel PT. So only options u and k are
       meaningful for Intel PT.

       perf_event_attr is displayed if the -vv option is used e.g.

           ------------------------------------------------------------
           perf_event_attr:
           type                             6
           size                             112
           config                           0x400
           { sample_period, sample_freq }   1
           sample_type                      IP|TID|TIME|CPU|IDENTIFIER
           read_format                      ID
           disabled                         1
           inherit                          1
           exclude_kernel                   1
           exclude_hv                       1
           enable_on_exec                   1
           sample_id_all                    1
           ------------------------------------------------------------
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 0  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 1  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 2  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 3  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           ------------------------------------------------------------

   config terms
       The June 2015 version of Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures
       Software Developer Manuals, Chapter 36 Intel Processor Trace,
       defined new Intel PT features. Some of the features are reflect
       in new config terms. All the config terms are described below.

       tsc Always supported. Produces TSC timestamp packets to provide
       timing information. In some cases it is possible to decode
       without timing information, for example a per-thread context that
       does not overlap executable memory maps.

           The default config selects tsc (i.e. tsc=1).

       noretcomp Always supported. Disables "return compression" so a
       TIP packet is produced when a function returns. Causes more
       packets to be produced but might make decoding more reliable.

           The default config does not select noretcomp (i.e. noretcomp=0).

       psb_period Allows the frequency of PSB packets to be specified.

           The PSB packet is a synchronization packet that provides a
           starting point for decoding or recovery from errors.

           Support for psb_period is indicated by:

           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_cyc

           which contains "1" if the feature is supported and "0"
           otherwise.

           Valid values are given by:

           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_periods

           which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
           valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.

           The psb_period value is converted to the approximate number of
           trace bytes between PSB packets as:

           2 ^ (value + 11)

           e.g. value 3 means 16KiB bytes between PSBs

           If an invalid value is entered, the error message
           will give a list of valid values e.g.

           $ perf record -e intel_pt/psb_period=15/u uname
           Invalid psb_period for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0-5

           If MTC packets are selected, the default config selects a value
           of 3 (i.e. psb_period=3) or the nearest lower value that is
           supported (0 is always supported).  Otherwise the default is 0.

           If decoding is expected to be reliable and the buffer is large
           then a large PSB period can be used.

           Because a TSC packet is produced with PSB, the PSB period can
           also affect the granularity to timing information in the absence
           of MTC or CYC.

       mtc Produces MTC timing packets.

           MTC packets provide finer grain timestamp information than TSC
           packets.  MTC packets record time using the hardware crystal
           clock (CTC) which is related to TSC packets using a TMA packet.

           Support for this feature is indicated by:

           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/mtc

           which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
           "0" otherwise.

           The frequency of MTC packets can also be specified - see
           mtc_period below.

       mtc_period Specifies how frequently MTC packets are produced -
       see mtc above for how to determine if MTC packets are supported.

           Valid values are given by:

           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/mtc_periods

           which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
           valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.

           The mtc_period value is converted to the MTC frequency as:

           CTC-frequency / (2 ^ value)

           e.g. value 3 means one eighth of CTC-frequency

           Where CTC is the hardware crystal clock, the frequency of which
           can be related to TSC via values provided in cpuid leaf 0x15.

           If an invalid value is entered, the error message
           will give a list of valid values e.g.

           $ perf record -e intel_pt/mtc_period=15/u uname
           Invalid mtc_period for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0,3,6,9

           The default value is 3 or the nearest lower value
           that is supported (0 is always supported).

       cyc Produces CYC timing packets.

           CYC packets provide even finer grain timestamp information than
           MTC and TSC packets.  A CYC packet contains the number of CPU
           cycles since the last CYC packet. Unlike MTC and TSC packets,
           CYC packets are only sent when another packet is also sent.

           Support for this feature is indicated by:

           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_cyc

           which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
           "0" otherwise.

           The number of CYC packets produced can be reduced by specifying
           a threshold - see cyc_thresh below.

       cyc_thresh Specifies how frequently CYC packets are produced -
       see cyc above for how to determine if CYC packets are supported.

           Valid cyc_thresh values are given by:

           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/cycle_thresholds

           which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
           valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.

           The cyc_thresh value represents the minimum number of CPU cycles
           that must have passed before a CYC packet can be sent.  The
           number of CPU cycles is:

           2 ^ (value - 1)

           e.g. value 4 means 8 CPU cycles must pass before a CYC packet
           can be sent.  Note a CYC packet is still only sent when another
           packet is sent, not at, e.g. every 8 CPU cycles.

           If an invalid value is entered, the error message
           will give a list of valid values e.g.

           $ perf record -e intel_pt/cyc,cyc_thresh=15/u uname
           Invalid cyc_thresh for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0-12

           CYC packets are not requested by default.

       pt Specifies pass-through which enables the branch config term.

           The default config selects 'pt' if it is available, so a user will
           never need to specify this term.

       branch Enable branch tracing. Branch tracing is enabled by
       default so to disable branch tracing use branch=0.

           The default config selects 'branch' if it is available.

       ptw Enable PTWRITE packets which are produced when a ptwrite
       instruction is executed.

           Support for this feature is indicated by:

           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/ptwrite

           which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
           "0" otherwise.

           As an alternative, refer to "Emulated PTWRITE" further below.

       fup_on_ptw Enable a FUP packet to follow the PTWRITE packet. The
       FUP packet provides the address of the ptwrite instruction. In
       the absence of fup_on_ptw, the decoder will use the address of
       the previous branch if branch tracing is enabled, otherwise the
       address will be zero. Note that fup_on_ptw will work even when
       branch tracing is disabled.

       pwr_evt Enable power events. The power events provide information
       about changes to the CPU C-state.

           Support for this feature is indicated by:

           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/power_event_trace

           which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
           "0" otherwise.

       event Enable Event Trace. The events provide information about
       asynchronous events.

           Support for this feature is indicated by:

           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/event_trace

           which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
           "0" otherwise.

       notnt Disable TNT packets. Without TNT packets, it is not
       possible to walk executable code to reconstruct control flow,
       however FUP, TIP, TIP.PGE and TIP.PGD packets still indicate
       asynchronous control flow, and (if return compression is disabled
       - see noretcomp) return statements. The advantage of eliminating
       TNT packets is reducing the size of the trace and corresponding
       tracing overhead.

           Support for this feature is indicated by:

           /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/tnt_disable

           which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
           "0" otherwise.

   AUX area sampling option
       To select Intel PT "sampling" the AUX area sampling option can be
       used:

           --aux-sample

       Optionally it can be followed by the sample size in bytes e.g.

           --aux-sample=8192

       In addition, the Intel PT event to sample must be defined e.g.

           -e intel_pt//u

       Samples on other events will be created containing Intel PT data
       e.g. the following will create Intel PT samples on the
       branch-misses event, note the events must be grouped using {}:

           perf record --aux-sample -e '{intel_pt//u,branch-misses:u}'

       An alternative to --aux-sample is to add the config term
       aux-sample-size to events. In this case, the grouping is implied
       e.g.

           perf record -e intel_pt//u -e branch-misses/aux-sample-size=8192/u

       is the same as:

           perf record -e '{intel_pt//u,branch-misses/aux-sample-size=8192/u}'

       but allows for also using an address filter e.g.:

           perf record -e intel_pt//u --filter 'filter * @/bin/ls' -e branch-misses/aux-sample-size=8192/u -- ls

       It is important to select a sample size that is big enough to
       contain at least one PSB packet. If not a warning will be
       displayed:

           Intel PT sample size (%zu) may be too small for PSB period (%zu)

       The calculation used for that is: if sample_size ⟨ psb_period +
       256 display the warning. When sampling is used, psb_period
       defaults to 0 (2KiB).

       The default sample size is 4KiB.

       The sample size is passed in aux_sample_size in struct
       perf_event_attr. The sample size is limited by the maximum event
       size which is 64KiB. It is difficult to know how big the event
       might be without the trace sample attached, but the tool
       validates that the sample size is not greater than 60KiB.

   new snapshot option
       The difference between full trace and snapshot from the kernel’s
       perspective is that in full trace we don’t overwrite trace data
       that the user hasn’t collected yet (and indicated that by
       advancing aux_tail), whereas in snapshot mode we let the trace
       run and overwrite older data in the buffer so that whenever
       something interesting happens, we can stop it and grab a snapshot
       of what was going on around that interesting moment.

       To select snapshot mode a new option has been added:

           -S

       Optionally it can be followed by the snapshot size e.g.

           -S0x100000

       The default snapshot size is the auxtrace mmap size. If neither
       auxtrace mmap size nor snapshot size is specified, then the
       default is 4MiB for privileged users (or if
       /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid < 0), 128KiB for
       unprivileged users. If an unprivileged user does not specify mmap
       pages, the mmap pages will be reduced as described in the new
       auxtrace mmap size option section below.

       The snapshot size is displayed if the option -vv is used e.g.

           Intel PT snapshot size: %zu

   new auxtrace mmap size option
       Intel PT buffer size is specified by an addition to the -m option
       e.g.

           -m,16

       selects a buffer size of 16 pages i.e. 64KiB.

       Note that the existing functionality of -m is unchanged. The
       auxtrace mmap size is specified by the optional addition of a
       comma and the value.

       The default auxtrace mmap size for Intel PT is 4MiB/page_size for
       privileged users (or if /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid <
       0), 128KiB for unprivileged users. If an unprivileged user does
       not specify mmap pages, the mmap pages will be reduced from the
       default 512KiB/page_size to 256KiB/page_size, otherwise the user
       is likely to get an error as they exceed their mlock limit (Max
       locked memory as shown in /proc/self/limits). Note that perf does
       not count the first 512KiB (actually
       /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_mlock_kb minus 1 page) per cpu
       against the mlock limit so an unprivileged user is allowed 512KiB
       per cpu plus their mlock limit (which defaults to 64KiB but is
       not multiplied by the number of cpus).

       In full-trace mode, powers of two are allowed for buffer size,
       with a minimum size of 2 pages. In snapshot mode or sampling
       mode, it is the same but the minimum size is 1 page.

       The mmap size and auxtrace mmap size are displayed if the -vv
       option is used e.g.

           mmap length 528384
           auxtrace mmap length 4198400

   Intel PT modes of operation
       Intel PT can be used in 3 modes: full-trace mode sample mode
       snapshot mode

       Full-trace mode traces continuously e.g.

           perf record -e intel_pt//u uname

       Sample mode attaches a Intel PT sample to other events e.g.

           perf record --aux-sample -e intel_pt//u -e branch-misses:u

       Snapshot mode captures the available data when a signal is sent
       or "snapshot" control command is issued. e.g. using a signal

           perf record -v -e intel_pt//u -S ./loopy 1000000000 &
           [1] 11435
           kill -USR2 11435
           Recording AUX area tracing snapshot

       Note that the signal sent is SIGUSR2. Note that "Recording AUX
       area tracing snapshot" is displayed because the -v option is
       used.

       The advantage of using "snapshot" control command is that the
       access is controlled by access to a FIFO e.g.

           $ mkfifo perf.control
           $ mkfifo perf.ack
           $ cat perf.ack &
           [1] 15235
           $ sudo ~/bin/perf record --control fifo:perf.control,perf.ack -S -e intel_pt//u -- sleep 60 &
           [2] 15243
           $ ps -e | grep perf
           15244 pts/1    00:00:00 perf
           $ kill -USR2 15244
           bash: kill: (15244) - Operation not permitted
           $ echo snapshot > perf.control
           ack

       The 3 Intel PT modes of operation cannot be used together.

   Buffer handling
       There may be buffer limitations (i.e. single ToPa entry) which
       means that actual buffer sizes are limited to powers of 2 up to
       4MiB (MAX_PAGE_ORDER). In order to provide other sizes, and in
       particular an arbitrarily large size, multiple buffers are
       logically concatenated. However an interrupt must be used to
       switch between buffers. That has two potential problems: a) the
       interrupt may not be handled in time so that the current buffer
       becomes full and some trace data is lost. b) the interrupts may
       slow the system and affect the performance results.

       If trace data is lost, the driver sets truncated in the
       PERF_RECORD_AUX event which the tools report as an error.

       In full-trace mode, the driver waits for data to be copied out
       before allowing the (logical) buffer to wrap-around. If data is
       not copied out quickly enough, again truncated is set in the
       PERF_RECORD_AUX event. If the driver has to wait, the intel_pt
       event gets disabled. Because it is difficult to know when that
       happens, perf tools always re-enable the intel_pt event after
       copying out data.

   Intel PT and build ids
       By default "perf record" post-processes the event stream to find
       all build ids for executables for all addresses sampled.
       Deliberately, Intel PT is not decoded for that purpose (it would
       take too long). Instead the build ids for all executables
       encountered (due to mmap, comm or task events) are included in
       the perf.data file.

       To see buildids included in the perf.data file use the command:

           perf buildid-list

       If the perf.data file contains Intel PT data, that is the same
       as:

           perf buildid-list --with-hits

   Snapshot mode and event disabling
       In order to make a snapshot, the intel_pt event is disabled using
       an IOCTL, namely PERF_EVENT_IOC_DISABLE. However doing that can
       also disable the collection of side-band information. In order to
       prevent that, a dummy software event has been introduced that
       permits tracking events (like mmaps) to continue to be recorded
       while intel_pt is disabled. That is important to ensure there is
       complete side-band information to allow the decoding of
       subsequent snapshots.

       A test has been created for that. To find the test:

           perf test list
           ...
           23: Test using a dummy software event to keep tracking

       To run the test:

           perf test 23
           23: Test using a dummy software event to keep tracking     : Ok

   perf record modes (nothing new here)
       perf record essentially operates in one of three modes: per
       thread per cpu workload only

       "per thread" mode is selected by -t or by --per-thread (with -p
       or -u or just a workload). "per cpu" is selected by -C or -a.
       "workload only" mode is selected by not using the other options
       but providing a command to run (i.e. the workload).

       In per-thread mode an exact list of threads is traced. There is
       no inheritance. Each thread has its own event buffer.

       In per-cpu mode all processes (or processes from the selected
       cgroup i.e. -G option, or processes selected with -p or -u) are
       traced. Each cpu has its own buffer. Inheritance is allowed.

       In workload-only mode, the workload is traced but with per-cpu
       buffers. Inheritance is allowed. Note that you can now trace a
       workload in per-thread mode by using the --per-thread option.

   Privileged vs non-privileged users
       Unless /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid is set to -1,
       unprivileged users have memory limits imposed upon them. That
       affects what buffer sizes they can have as outlined above.

       The v4.2 kernel introduced support for a context switch metadata
       event, PERF_RECORD_SWITCH, which allows unprivileged users to see
       when their processes are scheduled out and in, just not by whom,
       which is left for the PERF_RECORD_SWITCH_CPU_WIDE, that is only
       accessible in system wide context, which in turn requires
       CAP_PERFMON or CAP_SYS_ADMIN.

       Please see the 45ac1403f564 ("perf: Add PERF_RECORD_SWITCH to
       indicate context switches") commit, that introduces these
       metadata events for further info.

       When working with kernels < v4.2, the following considerations
       must be taken, as the sched:sched_switch tracepoints will be used
       to receive such information:

       Unless /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid is set to -1,
       unprivileged users are not permitted to use tracepoints which
       means there is insufficient side-band information to decode Intel
       PT in per-cpu mode, and potentially workload-only mode too if the
       workload creates new processes.

       Note also, that to use tracepoints, read-access to debugfs is
       required. So if debugfs is not mounted or the user does not have
       read-access, it will again not be possible to decode Intel PT in
       per-cpu mode.

   sched_switch tracepoint
       The sched_switch tracepoint is used to provide side-band data for
       Intel PT decoding in kernels where the PERF_RECORD_SWITCH
       metadata event isn’t available.

       The sched_switch events are automatically added. e.g. the second
       event shown below:

           $ perf record -vv -e intel_pt//u uname
           ------------------------------------------------------------
           perf_event_attr:
           type                             6
           size                             112
           config                           0x400
           { sample_period, sample_freq }   1
           sample_type                      IP|TID|TIME|CPU|IDENTIFIER
           read_format                      ID
           disabled                         1
           inherit                          1
           exclude_kernel                   1
           exclude_hv                       1
           enable_on_exec                   1
           sample_id_all                    1
           ------------------------------------------------------------
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 0  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 1  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 2  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 3  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           ------------------------------------------------------------
           perf_event_attr:
           type                             2
           size                             112
           config                           0x108
           { sample_period, sample_freq }   1
           sample_type                      IP|TID|TIME|CPU|PERIOD|RAW|IDENTIFIER
           read_format                      ID
           inherit                          1
           sample_id_all                    1
           exclude_guest                    1
           ------------------------------------------------------------
           sys_perf_event_open: pid -1  cpu 0  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid -1  cpu 1  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid -1  cpu 2  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid -1  cpu 3  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           ------------------------------------------------------------
           perf_event_attr:
           type                             1
           size                             112
           config                           0x9
           { sample_period, sample_freq }   1
           sample_type                      IP|TID|TIME|IDENTIFIER
           read_format                      ID
           disabled                         1
           inherit                          1
           exclude_kernel                   1
           exclude_hv                       1
           mmap                             1
           comm                             1
           enable_on_exec                   1
           task                             1
           sample_id_all                    1
           mmap2                            1
           comm_exec                        1
           ------------------------------------------------------------
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 0  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 1  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 2  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104  cpu 3  group_fd -1  flags 0x8
           mmap size 528384B
           AUX area mmap length 4194304
           perf event ring buffer mmapped per cpu
           Synthesizing auxtrace information
           Linux
           [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
           [ perf record: Captured and wrote 0.042 MB perf.data ]

       Note, the sched_switch event is only added if the user is
       permitted to use it and only in per-cpu mode.

       Note also, the sched_switch event is only added if TSC packets
       are requested. That is because, in the absence of timing
       information, the sched_switch events cannot be matched against
       the Intel PT trace.

PERF SCRIPT         top

       By default, perf script will decode trace data found in the
       perf.data file. This can be further controlled by new option
       --itrace.

   New --itrace option
       Having no option is the same as

           --itrace

       which, in turn, is the same as

           --itrace=cepwxy

       The letters are:

           i       synthesize "instructions" events
           y       synthesize "cycles" events
           b       synthesize "branches" events
           x       synthesize "transactions" events
           w       synthesize "ptwrite" events
           p       synthesize "power" events (incl. PSB events)
           c       synthesize branches events (calls only)
           r       synthesize branches events (returns only)
           o       synthesize PEBS-via-PT events
           I       synthesize Event Trace events
           e       synthesize tracing error events
           d       create a debug log
           g       synthesize a call chain (use with i or x)
           G       synthesize a call chain on existing event records
           l       synthesize last branch entries (use with i or x)
           L       synthesize last branch entries on existing event records
           s       skip initial number of events
           q       quicker (less detailed) decoding
           A       approximate IPC
           Z       prefer to ignore timestamps (so-called "timeless" decoding)

       "Instructions" events look like they were recorded by "perf
       record -e instructions".

       "Cycles" events look like they were recorded by "perf record -e
       cycles" (ie., the default). Note that even with CYC packets
       enabled and no sampling, these are not fully accurate, since CYC
       packets are not emitted for each instruction, only when some
       other event (like an indirect branch, or a TNT packet
       representing multiple branches) happens causes a packet to be
       emitted. Thus, it is more effective for attributing cycles to
       functions (and possibly basic blocks) than to individual
       instructions, although it is not even perfect for functions
       (although it becomes better if the noretcomp option is active).

       "Branches" events look like they were recorded by "perf record -e
       branches". "c" and "r" can be combined to get calls and returns.

       "Transactions" events correspond to the start or end of
       transactions. The flags field can be used in perf script to
       determine whether the event is a transaction start, commit or
       abort.

       Note that "instructions", "cycles", "branches" and "transactions"
       events depend on code flow packets which can be disabled by using
       the config term "branch=0". Refer to the config terms section
       above.

       "ptwrite" events record the payload of the ptwrite instruction
       and whether "fup_on_ptw" was used. "ptwrite" events depend on
       PTWRITE packets which are recorded only if the "ptw" config term
       was used. Refer to the config terms section above. perf script
       "synth" field displays "ptwrite" information like this: "ip: 0
       payload: 0x123456789abcdef0" where "ip" is 1 if "fup_on_ptw" was
       used.

       "Power" events correspond to power event packets and CBR
       (core-to-bus ratio) packets. While CBR packets are always
       recorded when tracing is enabled, power event packets are
       recorded only if the "pwr_evt" config term was used. Refer to the
       config terms section above. The power events record information
       about C-state changes, whereas CBR is indicative of CPU
       frequency. perf script "event,synth" fields display information
       like this:

           cbr:  cbr: 22 freq: 2189 MHz (200%)
           mwait:  hints: 0x60 extensions: 0x1
           pwre:  hw: 0 cstate: 2 sub-cstate: 0
           exstop:  ip: 1
           pwrx:  deepest cstate: 2 last cstate: 2 wake reason: 0x4

       Where:

           "cbr" includes the frequency and the percentage of maximum non-turbo
           "mwait" shows mwait hints and extensions
           "pwre" shows C-state transitions (to a C-state deeper than C0) and
           whether initiated by hardware
           "exstop" indicates execution stopped and whether the IP was recorded
           exactly,
           "pwrx" indicates return to C0

       For more details refer to the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures
       Software Developer Manuals.

       PSB events show when a PSB+ occurred and also the byte-offset in
       the trace. Emitting a PSB+ can cause a CPU a slight delay. When
       doing timing analysis of code with Intel PT, it is useful to know
       if a timing bubble was caused by Intel PT or not.

       Error events show where the decoder lost the trace. Error events
       are quite important. Users must know if what they are seeing is a
       complete picture or not. The "e" option may be followed by flags
       which affect what errors will or will not be reported. Each flag
       must be preceded by either + or -. The flags supported by Intel
       PT are:

           -o      Suppress overflow errors
           -l      Suppress trace data lost errors

       For example, for errors but not overflow or data lost errors:

           --itrace=e-o-l

       The "d" option will cause the creation of a file "intel_pt.log"
       containing all decoded packets and instructions. Note that this
       option slows down the decoder and that the resulting file may be
       very large. The "d" option may be followed by flags which affect
       what debug messages will or will not be logged. Each flag must be
       preceded by either + or -. The flags support by Intel PT are:

           -a      Suppress logging of perf events
           +a      Log all perf events
           +e      Output only on decoding errors (size configurable)
           +o      Output to stdout instead of "intel_pt.log"

       By default, logged perf events are filtered by any specified time
       ranges, but flag +a overrides that. The +e flag can be useful for
       analyzing errors. By default, the log size in that case is 16384
       bytes, but can be altered by perf-config(1) e.g. perf config
       itrace.debug-log-buffer-size=30000

       In addition, the period of the "instructions" event can be
       specified. e.g.

           --itrace=i10us

       sets the period to 10us i.e. one instruction sample is
       synthesized for each 10 microseconds of trace. Alternatives to
       "us" are "ms" (milliseconds), "ns" (nanoseconds), "t" (TSC ticks)
       or "i" (instructions).

       "ms", "us" and "ns" are converted to TSC ticks.

       The timing information included with Intel PT does not give the
       time of every instruction. Consequently, for the purpose of
       sampling, the decoder estimates the time since the last timing
       packet based on 1 tick per instruction. The time on the sample is
       not adjusted and reflects the last known value of TSC.

       For Intel PT, the default period is 100us.

       Setting it to a zero period means "as often as possible".

       In the case of Intel PT that is the same as a period of 1 and a
       unit of instructions (i.e. --itrace=i1i).

       Also the call chain size (default 16, max. 1024) for instructions
       or transactions events can be specified. e.g.

           --itrace=ig32
           --itrace=xg32

       Also the number of last branch entries (default 64, max. 1024)
       for instructions or transactions events can be specified. e.g.

           --itrace=il10
           --itrace=xl10

       Note that last branch entries are cleared for each sample, so
       there is no overlap from one sample to the next.

       The G and L options are designed in particular for sample mode,
       and work much like g and l but add call chain and branch stack to
       the other selected events instead of synthesized events. For
       example, to record branch-misses events for ls and then add a
       call chain derived from the Intel PT trace:

           perf record --aux-sample -e '{intel_pt//u,branch-misses:u}' -- ls
           perf report --itrace=Ge

       Although in fact G is a default for perf report, so that is the
       same as just:

           perf report

       One caveat with the G and L options is that they work poorly with
       "Large PEBS". Large PEBS means PEBS records will be accumulated
       by hardware and the written into the event buffer in one go. That
       reduces interrupts, but can give very late timestamps. Because
       the Intel PT trace is synchronized by timestamps, the PEBS events
       do not match the trace. Currently, Large PEBS is used only in
       certain circumstances: - hardware supports it - PEBS is used -
       event period is specified, instead of frequency - the sample type
       is limited to the following flags: PERF_SAMPLE_IP |
       PERF_SAMPLE_TID | PERF_SAMPLE_ADDR | PERF_SAMPLE_ID |
       PERF_SAMPLE_CPU | PERF_SAMPLE_STREAM_ID | PERF_SAMPLE_DATA_SRC |
       PERF_SAMPLE_IDENTIFIER | PERF_SAMPLE_TRANSACTION |
       PERF_SAMPLE_PHYS_ADDR | PERF_SAMPLE_REGS_INTR |
       PERF_SAMPLE_REGS_USER | PERF_SAMPLE_PERIOD (and sometimes) |
       PERF_SAMPLE_TIME Because Intel PT sample mode uses a different
       sample type to the list above, Large PEBS is not used with Intel
       PT sample mode. To avoid Large PEBS in other cases, avoid
       specifying the event period i.e. avoid the perf record -c option,
       --count option, or period config term.

       To disable trace decoding entirely, use the option --no-itrace.

       It is also possible to skip events generated (instructions,
       branches, transactions) at the beginning. This is useful to
       ignore initialization code.

           --itrace=i0nss1000000

       skips the first million instructions.

       The q option changes the way the trace is decoded. The decoding
       is much faster but much less detailed. Specifically, with the q
       option, the decoder does not decode TNT packets, and does not
       walk object code, but gets the ip from FUP and TIP packets. The q
       option can be used with the b and i options but the period is not
       used. The q option decodes more quickly, but is useful only if
       the control flow of interest is represented or indicated by FUP,
       TIP, TIP.PGE, or TIP.PGD packets (refer below). However the q
       option could be used to find time ranges that could then be
       decoded fully using the --time option.

       What will not be decoded with the (single) q option:

       •   direct calls and jmps

       •   conditional branches

       •   non-branch instructions

       What will be decoded with the (single) q option:

       •   asynchronous branches such as interrupts

       •   indirect branches

       •   function return target address if the noretcomp config term
           (refer config terms section) was used

       •   start of (control-flow) tracing

       •   end of (control-flow) tracing, if it is not out of context

       •   power events, ptwrite, transaction start and abort

       •   instruction pointer associated with PSB packets

       Note the q option does not specify what events will be
       synthesized e.g. the p option must be used also to show power
       events.

       Repeating the q option (double-q i.e. qq) results in even faster
       decoding and even less detail. The decoder decodes only extended
       PSB (PSB+) packets, getting the instruction pointer if there is a
       FUP packet within PSB+ (i.e. between PSB and PSBEND). Note PSB
       packets occur regularly in the trace based on the psb_period
       config term (refer config terms section). There will be a FUP
       packet if the PSB+ occurs while control flow is being traced.

       What will not be decoded with the qq option:

       •   everything except instruction pointer associated with PSB
           packets

       What will be decoded with the qq option:

       •   instruction pointer associated with PSB packets

       The Z option is equivalent to having recorded a trace without TSC
       (i.e. config term tsc=0). It can be useful to avoid timestamp
       issues when decoding a trace of a virtual machine.

   dlfilter-show-cycles.so
       Cycles can be displayed using dlfilter-show-cycles.so in which
       case the itrace A option can be useful to provide higher
       granularity cycle information:

           perf script --itrace=A --call-trace --dlfilter dlfilter-show-cycles.so

       To see a list of dlfilters:

           perf script -v --list-dlfilters

       See also perf-dlfilters(1)

   dump option
       perf script has an option (-D) to "dump" the events i.e. display
       the binary data.

       When -D is used, Intel PT packets are displayed. The packet
       decoder does not pay attention to PSB packets, but just decodes
       the bytes - so the packets seen by the actual decoder may not be
       identical in places where the data is corrupt. One example of
       that would be when the buffer-switching interrupt has been too
       slow, and the buffer has been filled completely. In that case,
       the last packet in the buffer might be truncated and immediately
       followed by a PSB as the trace continues in the next buffer.

       To disable the display of Intel PT packets, combine the -D option
       with --no-itrace.

PERF REPORT         top

       By default, perf report will decode trace data found in the
       perf.data file. This can be further controlled by new option
       --itrace exactly the same as perf script, with the exception that
       the default is --itrace=igxe.

PERF INJECT         top

       perf inject also accepts the --itrace option in which case
       tracing data is removed and replaced with the synthesized events.
       e.g.

           perf inject --itrace -i perf.data -o perf.data.new

       Below is an example of using Intel PT with autofdo. It requires
       autofdo (https://github.com/google/autofdo ) and gcc version 5.
       The bubble sort example is from the AutoFDO tutorial
       (https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/AutoFDO/Tutorial ) amended to take the
       number of elements as a parameter.

           $ gcc-5 -O3 sort.c -o sort_optimized
           $ ./sort_optimized 30000
           Bubble sorting array of 30000 elements
           2254 ms

           $ cat ~/.perfconfig
           [intel-pt]
                   mispred-all = on

           $ perf record -e intel_pt//u ./sort 3000
           Bubble sorting array of 3000 elements
           58 ms
           [ perf record: Woken up 2 times to write data ]
           [ perf record: Captured and wrote 3.939 MB perf.data ]
           $ perf inject -i perf.data -o inj --itrace=i100usle --strip
           $ ./create_gcov --binary=./sort --profile=inj --gcov=sort.gcov -gcov_version=1
           $ gcc-5 -O3 -fauto-profile=sort.gcov sort.c -o sort_autofdo
           $ ./sort_autofdo 30000
           Bubble sorting array of 30000 elements
           2155 ms

       Note there is currently no advantage to using Intel PT instead of
       LBR, but that may change in the future if greater use is made of
       the data.

PEBS VIA INTEL PT         top

       Some hardware has the feature to redirect PEBS records to the
       Intel PT trace. Recording is selected by using the aux-output
       config term e.g.

           perf record -c 10000 -e '{intel_pt/branch=0/,cycles/aux-output/ppp}' uname

       Originally, software only supported redirecting at most one PEBS
       event because it was not able to differentiate one event from
       another. To overcome that, more recent kernels and perf tools add
       support for the PERF_RECORD_AUX_OUTPUT_HW_ID side-band event. To
       check for the presence of that event in a PEBS-via-PT trace:

           perf script -D --no-itrace | grep PERF_RECORD_AUX_OUTPUT_HW_ID

       To display PEBS events from the Intel PT trace, use the itrace o
       option e.g.

           perf script --itrace=oe

XED         top

       For --xed the xed tool is needed. Here is how to install it:

           $ git clone https://github.com/intelxed/mbuild.git mbuild
           $ git clone https://github.com/intelxed/xed
           $ cd xed
           $ ./mfile.py --share
           $ ./mfile.py examples
           $ sudo ./mfile.py --prefix=/usr/local install
           $ sudo ldconfig
           $ sudo cp obj/examples/xed /usr/local/bin

       Basic xed testing:

           $ xed | head -3
           ERROR: required argument(s) were missing
           Copyright (C) 2017, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
           XED version: [v10.0-328-g7d62c8c49b7b]
           $

TRACING VIRTUAL MACHINES (KERNEL ONLY)         top

       Currently, kernel tracing is supported with either "timeless"
       decoding (i.e. no TSC timestamps) or VM Time Correlation. VM Time
       Correlation is an extra step using perf inject and requires
       unchanging VMX TSC Offset and no VMX TSC Scaling.

       Other limitations and caveats

           VMX controls may suppress packets needed for decoding resulting in decoding errors
           VMX controls may block the perf NMI to the host potentially resulting in lost trace data
           Guest kernel self-modifying code (e.g. jump labels or JIT-compiled eBPF) will result in decoding errors
           Guest thread information is unknown
           Guest VCPU is unknown but may be able to be inferred from the host thread
           Callchains are not supported

       Example using "timeless" decoding

       Start VM

           $ sudo virsh start kubuntu20.04
           Domain kubuntu20.04 started

       Mount the guest file system. Note sshfs needs -o direct_io to
       enable reading of proc files. root access is needed to read
       /proc/kcore.

           $ mkdir vm0
           $ sshfs -o direct_io root@vm0:/ vm0

       Copy the guest /proc/kallsyms, /proc/modules and /proc/kcore

           $ perf buildid-cache -v --kcore vm0/proc/kcore
           kcore added to build-id cache directory /home/user/.debug/[kernel.kcore]/9600f316a53a0f54278885e8d9710538ec5f6a08/2021021807494306
           $ KALLSYMS=/home/user/.debug/[kernel.kcore]/9600f316a53a0f54278885e8d9710538ec5f6a08/2021021807494306/kallsyms

       Find the VM process

           $ ps -eLl | grep 'KVM\|PID'
           F S   UID     PID    PPID     LWP  C PRI  NI ADDR SZ WCHAN  TTY          TIME CMD
           3 S 64055    1430       1    1440  1  80   0 - 1921718 -    ?        00:02:47 CPU 0/KVM
           3 S 64055    1430       1    1441  1  80   0 - 1921718 -    ?        00:02:41 CPU 1/KVM
           3 S 64055    1430       1    1442  1  80   0 - 1921718 -    ?        00:02:38 CPU 2/KVM
           3 S 64055    1430       1    1443  2  80   0 - 1921718 -    ?        00:03:18 CPU 3/KVM

       Start an open-ended perf record, tracing the VM process, do
       something on the VM, and then ctrl-C to stop. TSC is not
       supported and tsc=0 must be specified. That means mtc is useless,
       so add mtc=0. However, IPC can still be determined, hence cyc=1
       can be added. Only kernel decoding is supported, so k must be
       specified. Intel PT traces both the host and the guest so --guest
       and --host need to be specified. Without timestamps, --per-thread
       must be specified to distinguish threads.

           $ sudo perf kvm --guest --host --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS record --kcore -e intel_pt/tsc=0,mtc=0,cyc=1/k -p 1430 --per-thread
           ^C
           [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
           [ perf record: Captured and wrote 5.829 MB ]

       perf script can be used to provide an instruction trace

           $ perf script --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS --insn-trace=disasm -F+ipc | grep -C10 vmresume | head -21
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133cdd __vmx_vcpu_run+0x3d ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x48(%rax), %r9
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133ce1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x41 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x50(%rax), %r10
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133ce5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x45 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x58(%rax), %r11
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133ce9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x49 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x60(%rax), %r12
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133ced __vmx_vcpu_run+0x4d ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x68(%rax), %r13
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133cf1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x51 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x70(%rax), %r14
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133cf5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x55 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  0x78(%rax), %r15
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133cf9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x59 ([kernel.kallsyms])                movq  (%rax), %rax
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133cfc __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5c ([kernel.kallsyms])                callq  0xffffffff82133c40
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133c40 vmx_vmenter+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])            jz 0xffffffff82133c46
                 CPU 0/KVM  1440  ffffffff82133c42 vmx_vmenter+0x2 ([kernel.kallsyms])            vmresume         IPC: 0.11 (50/445)
                     :1440  1440  ffffffffbb678b06 native_write_msr+0x6 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])                 nopl  %eax, (%rax,%rax,1)
                     :1440  1440  ffffffffbb678b0b native_write_msr+0xb ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])                 retq     IPC: 0.04 (2/41)
                     :1440  1440  ffffffffbb666646 lapic_next_deadline+0x26 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])             data16 nop
                     :1440  1440  ffffffffbb666648 lapic_next_deadline+0x28 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])             xor %eax, %eax
                     :1440  1440  ffffffffbb66664a lapic_next_deadline+0x2a ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])             popq  %rbp
                     :1440  1440  ffffffffbb66664b lapic_next_deadline+0x2b ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])             retq     IPC: 0.16 (4/25)
                     :1440  1440  ffffffffbb74607f clockevents_program_event+0x8f ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               test %eax, %eax
                     :1440  1440  ffffffffbb746081 clockevents_program_event+0x91 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               jz 0xffffffffbb74603c    IPC: 0.06 (2/30)
                     :1440  1440  ffffffffbb74603c clockevents_program_event+0x4c ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               popq  %rbx
                     :1440  1440  ffffffffbb74603d clockevents_program_event+0x4d ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               popq  %r12

       Example using VM Time Correlation

       Start VM

           $ sudo virsh start kubuntu20.04
           Domain kubuntu20.04 started

       Mount the guest file system. Note sshfs needs -o direct_io to
       enable reading of proc files. root access is needed to read
       /proc/kcore.

           $ mkdir -p vm0
           $ sshfs -o direct_io root@vm0:/ vm0

       Copy the guest /proc/kallsyms, /proc/modules and /proc/kcore

           $ perf buildid-cache -v --kcore vm0/proc/kcore
           same kcore found in /home/user/.debug/[kernel.kcore]/cc9c55a98c5e4ec0aeda69302554aabed5cd6491/2021021312450777
           $ KALLSYMS=/home/user/.debug/\[kernel.kcore\]/cc9c55a98c5e4ec0aeda69302554aabed5cd6491/2021021312450777/kallsyms

       Find the VM process

           $ ps -eLl | grep 'KVM\|PID'
           F S   UID     PID    PPID     LWP  C PRI  NI ADDR SZ WCHAN  TTY          TIME CMD
           3 S 64055   16998       1   17005 13  80   0 - 1818189 -    ?        00:00:16 CPU 0/KVM
           3 S 64055   16998       1   17006  4  80   0 - 1818189 -    ?        00:00:05 CPU 1/KVM
           3 S 64055   16998       1   17007  3  80   0 - 1818189 -    ?        00:00:04 CPU 2/KVM
           3 S 64055   16998       1   17008  4  80   0 - 1818189 -    ?        00:00:05 CPU 3/KVM

       Start an open-ended perf record, tracing the VM process, do
       something on the VM, and then ctrl-C to stop. IPC can be
       determined, hence cyc=1 can be added. Only kernel decoding is
       supported, so k must be specified. Intel PT traces both the host
       and the guest so --guest and --host need to be specified.

           $ sudo perf kvm --guest --host --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS record --kcore -e intel_pt/cyc=1/k -p 16998
           ^C[ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
           [ perf record: Captured and wrote 9.041 MB perf.data.kvm ]

       Now perf inject can be used to determine the VMX TCS Offset.
       Note, Intel PT TSC packets are only 7-bytes, so the TSC Offset
       might differ from the actual value in the 8th byte. That will
       have no effect i.e. the resulting timestamps will be correct
       anyway.

           $ perf inject -i perf.data.kvm --vm-time-correlation=dry-run
           ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1bff6a
           VMCS: 0x1bff6a  TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
           ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1cbc08
           VMCS: 0x1cbc08  TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
           ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1c3ce8
           VMCS: 0x1c3ce8  TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
           ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1cbce9
           VMCS: 0x1cbce9  TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41

       Each virtual CPU has a different Virtual Machine Control
       Structure (VMCS) shown above with the calculated TSC Offset. For
       an unchanging TSC Offset they should all be the same for the same
       virtual machine.

       Now that the TSC Offset is known, it can be provided to perf
       inject

           $ perf inject -i perf.data.kvm --vm-time-correlation="dry-run 0xffffe42722c64c41"

       Note the options for perf inject --vm-time-correlation are:

           [ dry-run ] [ <TSC Offset> [ : <VMCS> [ , <VMCS> ]... ]  ]...

       So it is possible to specify different TSC Offsets for different
       VMCS. The option "dry-run" will cause the file to be processed
       but without updating it. Note it is also possible to get a
       intel_pt.log file by adding option --itrace=d

       There were no errors so, do it for real

           $ perf inject -i perf.data.kvm --vm-time-correlation=0xffffe42722c64c41 --force

       perf script can be used to see if there are any decoder errors

           $ perf script -i perf.data.kvm --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS --itrace=e-o

       There were none.

       perf script can be used to provide an instruction trace showing
       timestamps

           $ perf script -i perf.data.kvm --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS --insn-trace=disasm -F+ipc | grep -C10 vmresume | head -21
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133cdd __vmx_vcpu_run+0x3d ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x48(%rax), %r9
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133ce1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x41 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x50(%rax), %r10
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133ce5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x45 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x58(%rax), %r11
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133ce9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x49 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x60(%rax), %r12
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133ced __vmx_vcpu_run+0x4d ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x68(%rax), %r13
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133cf1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x51 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x70(%rax), %r14
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133cf5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x55 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  0x78(%rax), %r15
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133cf9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x59 ([kernel.kallsyms])                 movq  (%rax), %rax
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133cfc __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5c ([kernel.kallsyms])                 callq  0xffffffff82133c40
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593:  ffffffff82133c40 vmx_vmenter+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])             jz 0xffffffff82133c46
                 CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262866075:  ffffffff82133c42 vmx_vmenter+0x2 ([kernel.kallsyms])             vmresume         IPC: 0.05 (40/769)
                    :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82200cb0 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x0 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])           clac
                    :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82200cb3 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x3 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])           pushq  $0xffffffffffffffff
                    :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82200cb5 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x5 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])           callq  0xffffffff82201160
                    :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82201160 error_entry+0x0 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               cld
                    :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82201161 error_entry+0x1 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               pushq  %rsi
                    :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82201162 error_entry+0x2 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               movq  0x8(%rsp), %rsi
                    :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff82201167 error_entry+0x7 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               movq  %rdi, 0x8(%rsp)
                    :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff8220116c error_entry+0xc ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               pushq  %rdx
                    :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff8220116d error_entry+0xd ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               pushq  %rcx
                    :17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216:  ffffffff8220116e error_entry+0xe ([guest.kernel.kallsyms])               pushq  %rax

TRACING VIRTUAL MACHINES (INCLUDING USER SPACE)         top

       It 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. Sideband events from the guest perf.data file can
       be injected into the host perf.data file using perf inject.

       Here is an example of the steps needed:

       On the guest machine:

       Check that no-kvmclock kernel command line option was used to
       boot:

       Note, this is essential to enable time correlation between host
       and guest machines.

           $ cat /proc/cmdline
           BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-16-amd64 root=UUID=cb49c910-e573-47e0-bce7-79e293df8e1d ro no-kvmclock

       There is no BPF support at present so, if possible, disable JIT
       compiling:

           $ echo 0 | sudo tee /proc/sys/net/core/bpf_jit_enable
           0

       Start perf record to collect sideband events:

           $ sudo perf record -o guest-sideband-testing-guest-perf.data --sample-identifier --buildid-all --switch-events --kcore -a -e dummy

       On the host machine:

       Start perf record to collect Intel PT trace:

       Note, 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.

           $ sudo perf record -o guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data -m,64M --kcore -a -e intel_pt/cyc/

       On the guest machine:

       Run a small test case, just uname in this example:

           $ uname
           Linux

       On the host machine:

       Stop the Intel PT trace:

           ^C
           [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
           [ perf record: Captured and wrote 76.122 MB guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data ]

       On the guest machine:

       Stop the Intel PT trace:

           ^C
           [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
           [ perf record: Captured and wrote 1.247 MB guest-sideband-testing-guest-perf.data ]

       And then copy guest-sideband-testing-guest-perf.data to the host
       (not shown here).

       On the host machine:

       With the 2 perf.data recordings, and with their ownership changed
       to the user.

       Identify the TSC Offset:

           $ perf inject -i guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data --vm-time-correlation=dry-run
           VMCS: 0x103fc6  TSC Offset 0xfffffa6ae070cb20
           VMCS: 0x103ff2  TSC Offset 0xfffffa6ae070cb20
           VMCS: 0x10fdaa  TSC Offset 0xfffffa6ae070cb20
           VMCS: 0x24d57c  TSC Offset 0xfffffa6ae070cb20

       Correct Intel PT TSC timestamps for the guest machine:

           $ perf inject -i guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data --vm-time-correlation=0xfffffa6ae070cb20 --force

       Identify the guest machine PID:

           $ perf script -i guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data --no-itrace --show-task-events | grep KVM
                 CPU 0/KVM     0 [000]     0.000000: PERF_RECORD_COMM: CPU 0/KVM:13376/13381
                 CPU 1/KVM     0 [000]     0.000000: PERF_RECORD_COMM: CPU 1/KVM:13376/13382
                 CPU 2/KVM     0 [000]     0.000000: PERF_RECORD_COMM: CPU 2/KVM:13376/13383
                 CPU 3/KVM     0 [000]     0.000000: PERF_RECORD_COMM: CPU 3/KVM:13376/13384

       Note, the QEMU option -name debug-threads=on is needed so that
       thread names can be used to determine which thread is running
       which VCPU as above. libvirt seems to use this by default.

       Create a guestmount, assuming the guest machine is vm_to_test:

           $ mkdir -p ~/guestmount/13376
           $ sshfs -o direct_io vm_to_test:/ ~/guestmount/13376

       Inject the guest perf.data file into the host perf.data file:

       Note, 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. If needed, VDSO can
       be copied manually in a fashion similar to that used by the
       perf-archive script.

           $ perf inject -i guest-sideband-testing-host-perf.data -o inj --guestmount ~/guestmount --guest-data=guest-sideband-testing-guest-perf.data,13376,0xfffffa6ae070cb20

       Show 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:

       Notes:

       •   the CPU displayed, [002] in this case, is always the host CPU

       •   events happening in the virtual machine start with VM:13376
           VCPU:003, which shows the hypervisor PID 13376 and the VCPU
           number

       •   only calls and errors are displayed i.e. --itrace=ce

       •   branches entering and exiting the virtual machine are split,
           and show as 2 branches to/from "0 [unknown] ([unknown])"

               $ perf script -i inj --itrace=ce -F+machine_pid,+vcpu,+addr,+pid,+tid,-period --ns --time 7919.408803365,7919.408804631 -C 2
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803365:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ebe0 vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0xc0 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8edc0 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803365:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8edd5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x15 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8eca0 vmx_update_host_rsp+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803365:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ee1b __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5b ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8ed60 vmx_vmenter+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803461:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ed62 vmx_vmenter+0x2 ([kernel.kallsyms]) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
               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)
               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])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803567:      branches:                 0 [unknown] ([unknown]) => ffffffffc0f8ed80 vmx_vmexit+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803596:      branches:  ffffffffc0f6619a vmx_vcpu_run+0x26a ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2255c60 x86_virt_spec_ctrl+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803801:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66445 vmx_vcpu_run+0x515 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2290b30 native_write_msr+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     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])
                     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])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803862:      branches:  ffffffffc0f662cf vmx_vcpu_run+0x39f ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f63f90 vmx_recover_nmi_blocking+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803862:      branches:  ffffffffc0f662e9 vmx_vcpu_run+0x3b9 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f619a0 __vmx_complete_interrupts+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803872:      branches:  ffffffffc109cfb2 vcpu_enter_guest+0x752 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f5f570 vmx_handle_exit_irqoff+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803881:      branches:  ffffffffc109d028 vcpu_enter_guest+0x7c8 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb234f900 __srcu_read_lock+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803897:      branches:  ffffffffc109d06f vcpu_enter_guest+0x80f ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f72e30 vmx_handle_exit+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803897:      branches:  ffffffffc0f72e3d vmx_handle_exit+0xd ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f727c0 __vmx_handle_exit+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803897:      branches:  ffffffffc0f72b15 __vmx_handle_exit+0x355 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f60ae0 vmx_flush_pml_buffer+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803903:      branches:  ffffffffc0f72994 __vmx_handle_exit+0x1d4 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10b7090 kvm_emulate_cpuid+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803903:      branches:  ffffffffc10b70f1 kvm_emulate_cpuid+0x61 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10b6e10 kvm_cpuid+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803941:      branches:  ffffffffc10b7125 kvm_emulate_cpuid+0x95 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc1093110 kvm_skip_emulated_instruction+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803941:      branches:  ffffffffc109311f kvm_skip_emulated_instruction+0xf ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f5e180 vmx_get_rflags+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     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])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803951:      branches:  ffffffffc0f5fd79 vmx_skip_emulated_instruction+0x49 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f5fb50 skip_emulated_instruction+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803956:      branches:  ffffffffc0f5fc68 skip_emulated_instruction+0x118 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f6a940 vmx_cache_reg+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803964:      branches:  ffffffffc0f5fc11 skip_emulated_instruction+0xc1 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f5f9e0 vmx_set_interrupt_shadow+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803980:      branches:  ffffffffc109f8b1 vcpu_run+0x71 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10ad2f0 kvm_cpu_has_pending_timer+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     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])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803991:      branches:  ffffffffc109f899 vcpu_run+0x59 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc109c860 vcpu_enter_guest+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     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])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408803996:      branches:  ffffffffc109cd7d vcpu_enter_guest+0x51d ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb234f930 __srcu_read_unlock+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     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])
                     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])
                     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])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804019:      branches:  ffffffffc109ceca vcpu_enter_guest+0x66a ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2249840 fpregs_assert_state_consistent+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804021:      branches:  ffffffffc109cf10 vcpu_enter_guest+0x6b0 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f65f30 vmx_vcpu_run+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804024:      branches:  ffffffffc0f6603b vmx_vcpu_run+0x10b ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb229bed0 __get_current_cr3_fast+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804024:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66055 vmx_vcpu_run+0x125 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2253050 cr4_read_shadow+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     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])
                     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])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804032:      branches:  ffffffffc0f660c6 vmx_vcpu_run+0x196 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb22061a0 perf_guest_get_msrs+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     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])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804039:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66109 vmx_vcpu_run+0x1d9 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f652c0 clear_atomic_switch_msr+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     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])
                     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])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804045:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66454 vmx_vcpu_run+0x524 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f61ff0 vmx_update_hv_timer+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804057:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66142 vmx_vcpu_run+0x212 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc10af100 kvm_wait_lapic_expire+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804057:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66156 vmx_vcpu_run+0x226 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2255c60 x86_virt_spec_ctrl+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804057:      branches:  ffffffffc0f66161 vmx_vcpu_run+0x231 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8eb20 vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     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])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804057:      branches:  ffffffffb2353e1c rcu_note_context_switch+0xc ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffb2353db0 rcu_qs+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804066:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ebe0 vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0xc0 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8edc0 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804066:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8edd5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x15 ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8eca0 vmx_update_host_rsp+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804066:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ee1b __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5b ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffffc0f8ed60 vmx_vmenter+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                     CPU 3/KVM 13376/13384 [002]  7919.408804162:      branches:  ffffffffc0f8ed62 vmx_vmenter+0x2 ([kernel.kallsyms]) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
               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)
               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)
               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])
               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])
               VM:13376 VCPU:003            uname  3404/3404  [002]  7919.408804534:      branches:  ffffffff832012fa error_entry+0x6a ([kernel.kallsyms]) => ffffffff830b59a0 sync_regs+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms])
               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])
               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])
               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])

TRACING VIRTUAL MACHINES - GUEST CODE         top

       A common case for KVM test programs is that the test program acts
       as the hypervisor, creating, running and destroying the virtual
       machine, and providing the guest object code from its own object
       code. In this case, the VM is not running an OS, but only the
       functions loaded into it by the hypervisor test program, and
       conveniently, loaded at the same virtual addresses. To support
       that, option "--guest-code" has been added to perf script and
       perf kvm report.

       Here is an example tracing a test program from the kernel’s KVM
       selftests:

           # perf record --kcore -e intel_pt/cyc/ -- tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install/kvm/tsc_msrs_test
           [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
           [ perf record: Captured and wrote 0.280 MB perf.data ]
           # perf script --guest-code --itrace=bep --ns -F-period,+addr,+flags
           [SNIP]
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962087733:      branches:   call                   ffffffffc13b2ff5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x15 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f50 vmx_update_host_rsp+0x0 (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962087733:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b2f5d vmx_update_host_rsp+0xd (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2ffa __vmx_vcpu_run+0x1a (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962087733:      branches:   call                   ffffffffc13b303b __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5b (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f80 vmx_vmenter+0x0 (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962087836:      branches:   vmentry                ffffffffc13b2f82 vmx_vmenter+0x2 (vmlinux) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
             [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)
             [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)
             [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])
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962088248:      branches:   vmexit                                0 [unknown] ([unknown]) => ffffffffc13b2fa0 vmx_vmexit+0x0 (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962088248:      branches:   jmp                    ffffffffc13b2fa0 vmx_vmexit+0x0 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2fd2 vmx_vmexit+0x32 (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962088256:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b2fd2 vmx_vmexit+0x32 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b3040 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x60 (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962088270:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b30b6 __vmx_vcpu_run+0xd6 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f2e vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0x4e (vmlinux)
           [SNIP]
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089321:      branches:   call                   ffffffffc13b2ff5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x15 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f50 vmx_update_host_rsp+0x0 (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089321:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b2f5d vmx_update_host_rsp+0xd (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2ffa __vmx_vcpu_run+0x1a (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089321:      branches:   call                   ffffffffc13b303b __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5b (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f80 vmx_vmenter+0x0 (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089424:      branches:   vmentry                ffffffffc13b2f82 vmx_vmenter+0x2 (vmlinux) =>                0 [unknown] ([unknown])
             [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)
             [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)
             [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)
             [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)
             [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)
             [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])
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089878:      branches:   vmexit                                0 [unknown] ([unknown]) => ffffffffc13b2fa0 vmx_vmexit+0x0 (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089878:      branches:   jmp                    ffffffffc13b2fa0 vmx_vmexit+0x0 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2fd2 vmx_vmexit+0x32 (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089887:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b2fd2 vmx_vmexit+0x32 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b3040 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x60 (vmlinux)
             tsc_msrs_test 18436 [007] 10897.962089901:      branches:   return                 ffffffffc13b30b6 __vmx_vcpu_run+0xd6 (vmlinux) => ffffffffc13b2f2e vmx_vcpu_enter_exit+0x4e (vmlinux)
           [SNIP]

           # perf kvm --guest-code --guest --host report -i perf.data --stdio | head -20

           # To display the perf.data header info, please use --header/--header-only options.
           #
           #
           # Total Lost Samples: 0
           #
           # Samples: 12  of event 'instructions'
           # Event count (approx.): 2274583
           #
           # Children      Self  Command        Shared Object         Symbol
           # ........  ........  .............  ....................  ...........................................
           #
              54.70%     0.00%  tsc_msrs_test  [kernel.vmlinux]      [k] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe
                      |
                      ---entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe
                         do_syscall_64
                         |
                         |--29.44%--syscall_exit_to_user_mode
                         |          exit_to_user_mode_prepare
                         |          task_work_run
                         |          __fput

EVENT TRACE         top

       Event Trace records information about asynchronous events, for
       example interrupts, faults, VM exits and entries. The information
       is recorded in CFE and EVD packets, and also the Interrupt Flag
       is recorded on the MODE.Exec packet. The CFE packet contains a
       type field to identify one of the following:

            1      INTR            interrupt, fault, exception, NMI
            2      IRET            interrupt return
            3      SMI             system management interrupt
            4      RSM             resume from system management mode
            5      SIPI            startup interprocessor interrupt
            6      INIT            INIT signal
            7      VMENTRY         VM-Entry
            8      VMEXIT          VM-Entry
            9      VMEXIT_INTR     VM-Exit due to interrupt
           10      SHUTDOWN        Shutdown

       For more details, refer to the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures
       Software Developer Manuals (version 076 or later).

       The capability to do Event Trace is indicated by the
       /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/event_trace file.

       Event trace is selected for recording using the "event" config
       term. e.g.

           perf record -e intel_pt/event/u uname

       Event trace events are output using the --itrace I option. e.g.

           perf script --itrace=Ie

       perf script displays events containing CFE type, vector and event
       data, in the form:

           evt:   hw int            (t)  cfe: INTR IP: 1 vector: 3 PFA: 0x8877665544332211

       The IP flag indicates if the event binds to an IP, which includes
       any case where flow control packet generation is enabled, as well
       as when CFE packet IP bit is set.

       perf script displays events containing changes to the Interrupt
       Flag in the form:

           iflag:   t                      IFLAG: 1->0 via branch

       where "via branch" indicates a branch (interrupt or return from
       interrupt) and "non branch" indicates an instruction such as CFI,
       STI or POPF).

       In addition, the current state of the interrupt flag is indicated
       by the presence or absence of the "D" (interrupt disabled) perf
       script flag. If the interrupt flag is changed, then the "t" flag
       is also included i.e.

                   no flag, interrupts enabled IF=1
           t       interrupts become disabled IF=1 -> IF=0
           D       interrupts are disabled IF=0
           Dt      interrupts become enabled  IF=0 -> IF=1

       The intel-pt-events.py script illustrates how to access Event
       Trace information using a Python script.

TNT DISABLE         top

       TNT packets are disabled using the "notnt" config term. e.g.

           perf record -e intel_pt/notnt/u uname

       In that case the --itrace q option is forced because walking
       executable code to reconstruct the control flow is not possible.

EMULATED PTWRITE         top

       Later perf tools support a method to emulate the ptwrite
       instruction, which can be useful if hardware does not support the
       ptwrite instruction.

       Instead of using the ptwrite instruction, a function is used
       which produces a trace that encodes the payload data into TNT
       packets. Here is an example of the function:

           #include <stdint.h>

           void perf_emulate_ptwrite(uint64_t x)
           __attribute__((externally_visible, noipa, no_instrument_function, naked));

           #define PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS \
                           "1: shl %rax\n"     \
                           "   jc 1f\n"        \
                           "1: shl %rax\n"     \
                           "   jc 1f\n"        \
                           "1: shl %rax\n"     \
                           "   jc 1f\n"        \
                           "1: shl %rax\n"     \
                           "   jc 1f\n"        \
                           "1: shl %rax\n"     \
                           "   jc 1f\n"        \
                           "1: shl %rax\n"     \
                           "   jc 1f\n"        \
                           "1: shl %rax\n"     \
                           "   jc 1f\n"        \
                           "1: shl %rax\n"     \
                           "   jc 1f\n"

           /* Undefined instruction */
           #define PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_UD2        ".byte 0x0f, 0x0b\n"

           #define PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_MAGIC        PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_UD2 ".ascii \"perf,ptwrite  \"\n"

           void perf_emulate_ptwrite(uint64_t x __attribute__ ((__unused__)))
           {
                    /* Assumes SysV ABI : x passed in rdi */
                   __asm__ volatile (
                           "jmp 1f\n"
                           PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_MAGIC
                           "1: mov %rdi, %rax\n"
                           PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
                           PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
                           PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
                           PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
                           PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
                           PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
                           PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
                           PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
                           "1: ret\n"
                   );
           }

       For example, a test program with the function above:

           #include <stdio.h>
           #include <stdint.h>
           #include <stdlib.h>

           #include "perf_emulate_ptwrite.h"

           int main(int argc, char *argv[])
           {
                   uint64_t x = 0;

                   if (argc > 1)
                           x = strtoull(argv[1], NULL, 0);
                   perf_emulate_ptwrite(x);
                   return 0;
           }

       Can be compiled and traced:

           $ gcc -Wall -Wextra -O3 -g -o eg_ptw eg_ptw.c
           $ perf record -e intel_pt//u ./eg_ptw 0x1234567890abcdef
           [ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
           [ perf record: Captured and wrote 0.017 MB perf.data ]
           $ perf script --itrace=ew
                     eg_ptw 19875 [007]  8061.235912:     ptwrite:  IP: 0 payload: 0x1234567890abcdef      55701249a196 perf_emulate_ptwrite+0x16 (/home/user/eg_ptw)
           $

PIPE MODE         top

       Pipe mode is a problem for Intel PT and possibly other auxtrace
       users. It’s not recommended to use a pipe as data output with
       Intel PT because of the following reason.

       Essentially the auxtrace buffers do not behave like the regular
       perf event buffers. That is because the head and tail are updated
       by software, but in the auxtrace case the data is written by
       hardware. So the head and tail do not get updated as data is
       written.

       In the Intel PT case, the head and tail are updated only when the
       trace is disabled by software, for example: - full-trace, system
       wide : when buffer passes watermark - full-trace, not system-wide
       : when buffer passes watermark or context switches - snapshot
       mode : as above but also when a snapshot is made - sample mode :
       as above but also when a sample is made

       That means finished-round ordering doesn’t work. An auxtrace
       buffer can turn up that has data that extends back in time,
       possibly to the very beginning of tracing.

       For a perf.data file, that problem is solved by going through the
       trace and queuing up the auxtrace buffers in advance.

       For pipe mode, the order of events and timestamps can presumably
       be messed up.

EXAMPLE         top

       Examples can be found on perf wiki page "Perf tools support for
       Intel® Processor Trace":

       https://perf.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Perf_tools_support_for_Intel%C2%AE_Processor_Trace 

SEE ALSO         top

       perf-record(1), perf-script(1), perf-report(1), perf-inject(1)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the perf (Performance analysis tools for
       Linux (in Linux source tree)) project.  Information about the
       project can be found at 
       ⟨https://perf.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page⟩.  If you have a
       bug report for this manual page, send it to
       linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org.  This page was obtained from the
       project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git⟩
       on 2024-06-14.  (At that time, the date of the most recent commit
       that was found in the repository was 2024-06-13.)  If you
       discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page,
       or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for
       the page, or you have corrections or improvements to the
       information in this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original
       manual page), send a mail to man-pages@man7.org

perf                           2024-02-20               PERF-INTEL-PT(1)

Pages that refer to this page: perf(1)perf-inject(1)perf-record(1)perf-report(1)perf-script(1)