perf: Add generic taken branch sampling support

This patch adds the ability to sample taken branches to the
perf_event interface.

The ability to capture taken branches is very useful for all
sorts of analysis. For instance, basic block profiling, call
counts, statistical call graph.

This new capability requires hardware assist and as such may
not be available on all HW platforms. On Intel x86 it is
implemented on top of the Last Branch Record (LBR) facility.

To enable taken branches sampling, the PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_STACK
bit must be set in attr->sample_type.

Sampled taken branches may be filtered by type and/or priv
levels.

The patch adds a new field, called branch_sample_type, to the
perf_event_attr structure. It contains a bitmask of filters
to apply to the sampled taken branches.

Filters may be implemented in HW. If the HW filter does not exist
or is not good enough, some arch may also implement a SW filter.

The following generic filters are currently defined:
- PERF_SAMPLE_USER
  only branches whose targets are at the user level

- PERF_SAMPLE_KERNEL
  only branches whose targets are at the kernel level

- PERF_SAMPLE_HV
  only branches whose targets are at the hypervisor level

- PERF_SAMPLE_ANY
  any type of branches (subject to priv levels filters)

- PERF_SAMPLE_ANY_CALL
  any call branches (may incl. syscall on some arch)

- PERF_SAMPLE_ANY_RET
  any return branches (may incl. syscall returns on some arch)

- PERF_SAMPLE_IND_CALL
  indirect call branches

Obviously filter may be combined. The priv level bits are optional.
If not provided, the priv level of the associated event are used. It
is possible to collect branches at a priv level different from the
associated event. Use of kernel, hv priv levels is subject to permissions
and availability (hv).

The number of taken branch records present in each sample may vary based
on HW, the type of sampled branches, the executed code. Therefore
each sample contains the number of taken branches it contains.

Signed-off-by: Stephane Eranian <eranian@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1328826068-11713-2-git-send-email-eranian@google.com
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>

1 files changed, 67 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/include/linux/perf_event.h b/include/linux/perf_event.h
index 64426b71381f..5fc494f4a094 100644
--- a/include/linux/perf_event.h
+++ b/include/linux/perf_event.h
@@ -129,11 +129,40 @@ enum perf_event_sample_format {
 	PERF_SAMPLE_PERIOD			= 1U << 8,
 	PERF_SAMPLE_STREAM_ID			= 1U << 9,
 	PERF_SAMPLE_RAW				= 1U << 10,
+	PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_STACK		= 1U << 11,
 
-	PERF_SAMPLE_MAX = 1U << 11,		/* non-ABI */
+	PERF_SAMPLE_MAX = 1U << 12,		/* non-ABI */
 };
 
 /*
+ * values to program into branch_sample_type when PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH is set
+ *
+ * If the user does not pass priv level information via branch_sample_type,
+ * the kernel uses the event's priv level. Branch and event priv levels do
+ * not have to match. Branch priv level is checked for permissions.
+ *
+ * The branch types can be combined, however BRANCH_ANY covers all types
+ * of branches and therefore it supersedes all the other types.
+ */
+enum perf_branch_sample_type {
+	PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_USER		= 1U << 0, /* user branches */
+	PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_KERNEL	= 1U << 1, /* kernel branches */
+	PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_HV		= 1U << 2, /* hypervisor branches */
+
+	PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_ANY		= 1U << 3, /* any branch types */
+	PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_ANY_CALL	= 1U << 4, /* any call branch */
+	PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_ANY_RETURN	= 1U << 5, /* any return branch */
+	PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_IND_CALL	= 1U << 6, /* indirect calls */
+
+	PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_MAX		= 1U << 7, /* non-ABI */
+};
+
+#define PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_PLM_ALL \
+	(PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_USER|\
+	 PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_KERNEL|\
+	 PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_HV)
+
+/*
  * The format of the data returned by read() on a perf event fd,
  * as specified by attr.read_format:
  *
@@ -240,6 +269,7 @@ struct perf_event_attr {
 		__u64		bp_len;
 		__u64		config2; /* extension of config1 */
 	};
+	__u64	branch_sample_type; /* enum branch_sample_type */
 };
 
 /*
@@ -458,6 +488,8 @@ enum perf_event_type {
 	 *
 	 *	{ u32			size;
 	 *	  char                  data[size];}&& PERF_SAMPLE_RAW
+	 *
+	 *	{ u64 from, to, flags } lbr[nr];} && PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_STACK
 	 * };
 	 */
 	PERF_RECORD_SAMPLE			= 9,
@@ -530,12 +562,34 @@ struct perf_raw_record {
 	void				*data;
 };
 
+/*
+ * single taken branch record layout:
+ *
+ *      from: source instruction (may not always be a branch insn)
+ *        to: branch target
+ *   mispred: branch target was mispredicted
+ * predicted: branch target was predicted
+ *
+ * support for mispred, predicted is optional. In case it
+ * is not supported mispred = predicted = 0.
+ */
 struct perf_branch_entry {
-	__u64				from;
-	__u64				to;
-	__u64				flags;
+	__u64	from;
+	__u64	to;
+	__u64	mispred:1,  /* target mispredicted */
+		predicted:1,/* target predicted */
+		reserved:62;
 };
 
+/*
+ * branch stack layout:
+ *  nr: number of taken branches stored in entries[]
+ *
+ * Note that nr can vary from sample to sample
+ * branches (to, from) are stored from most recent
+ * to least recent, i.e., entries[0] contains the most
+ * recent branch.
+ */
 struct perf_branch_stack {
 	__u64				nr;
 	struct perf_branch_entry	entries[0];
@@ -566,7 +620,9 @@ struct hw_perf_event {
 			unsigned long	event_base;
 			int		idx;
 			int		last_cpu;
+
 			struct hw_perf_event_extra extra_reg;
+			struct hw_perf_event_extra branch_reg;
 		};
 		struct { /* software */
 			struct hrtimer	hrtimer;
@@ -1007,12 +1063,14 @@ struct perf_sample_data {
 	u64				period;
 	struct perf_callchain_entry	*callchain;
 	struct perf_raw_record		*raw;
+	struct perf_branch_stack	*br_stack;
 };
 
 static inline void perf_sample_data_init(struct perf_sample_data *data, u64 addr)
 {
 	data->addr = addr;
 	data->raw  = NULL;
+	data->br_stack = NULL;
 }
 
 extern void perf_output_sample(struct perf_output_handle *handle,
@@ -1151,6 +1209,11 @@ extern void perf_bp_event(struct perf_event *event, void *data);
 # define perf_instruction_pointer(regs)	instruction_pointer(regs)
 #endif
 
+static inline bool has_branch_stack(struct perf_event *event)
+{
+	return event->attr.sample_type & PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_STACK;
+}
+
 extern int perf_output_begin(struct perf_output_handle *handle,
 			     struct perf_event *event, unsigned int size);
 extern void perf_output_end(struct perf_output_handle *handle);