perf-list.txt 9.0 KB

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  1. perf-list(1)
  2. ============
  3. NAME
  4. ----
  5. perf-list - List all symbolic event types
  6. SYNOPSIS
  7. --------
  8. [verse]
  9. 'perf list' [--no-desc] [--long-desc] [hw|sw|cache|tracepoint|pmu|sdt|event_glob]
  10. DESCRIPTION
  11. -----------
  12. This command displays the symbolic event types which can be selected in the
  13. various perf commands with the -e option.
  14. OPTIONS
  15. -------
  16. --no-desc::
  17. Don't print descriptions.
  18. -v::
  19. --long-desc::
  20. Print longer event descriptions.
  21. --details::
  22. Print how named events are resolved internally into perf events, and also
  23. any extra expressions computed by perf stat.
  24. [[EVENT_MODIFIERS]]
  25. EVENT MODIFIERS
  26. ---------------
  27. Events can optionally have a modifier by appending a colon and one or
  28. more modifiers. Modifiers allow the user to restrict the events to be
  29. counted. The following modifiers exist:
  30. u - user-space counting
  31. k - kernel counting
  32. h - hypervisor counting
  33. I - non idle counting
  34. G - guest counting (in KVM guests)
  35. H - host counting (not in KVM guests)
  36. p - precise level
  37. P - use maximum detected precise level
  38. S - read sample value (PERF_SAMPLE_READ)
  39. D - pin the event to the PMU
  40. The 'p' modifier can be used for specifying how precise the instruction
  41. address should be. The 'p' modifier can be specified multiple times:
  42. 0 - SAMPLE_IP can have arbitrary skid
  43. 1 - SAMPLE_IP must have constant skid
  44. 2 - SAMPLE_IP requested to have 0 skid
  45. 3 - SAMPLE_IP must have 0 skid, or uses randomization to avoid
  46. sample shadowing effects.
  47. For Intel systems precise event sampling is implemented with PEBS
  48. which supports up to precise-level 2, and precise level 3 for
  49. some special cases
  50. On AMD systems it is implemented using IBS (up to precise-level 2).
  51. The precise modifier works with event types 0x76 (cpu-cycles, CPU
  52. clocks not halted) and 0xC1 (micro-ops retired). Both events map to
  53. IBS execution sampling (IBS op) with the IBS Op Counter Control bit
  54. (IbsOpCntCtl) set respectively (see AMD64 Architecture Programmer’s
  55. Manual Volume 2: System Programming, 13.3 Instruction-Based
  56. Sampling). Examples to use IBS:
  57. perf record -a -e cpu-cycles:p ... # use ibs op counting cycles
  58. perf record -a -e r076:p ... # same as -e cpu-cycles:p
  59. perf record -a -e r0C1:p ... # use ibs op counting micro-ops
  60. RAW HARDWARE EVENT DESCRIPTOR
  61. -----------------------------
  62. Even when an event is not available in a symbolic form within perf right now,
  63. it can be encoded in a per processor specific way.
  64. For instance For x86 CPUs NNN represents the raw register encoding with the
  65. layout of IA32_PERFEVTSELx MSRs (see [Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual Volume 3B: System Programming Guide] Figure 30-1 Layout
  66. of IA32_PERFEVTSELx MSRs) or AMD's PerfEvtSeln (see [AMD64 Architecture Programmer’s Manual Volume 2: System Programming], Page 344,
  67. Figure 13-7 Performance Event-Select Register (PerfEvtSeln)).
  68. Note: Only the following bit fields can be set in x86 counter
  69. registers: event, umask, edge, inv, cmask. Esp. guest/host only and
  70. OS/user mode flags must be setup using <<EVENT_MODIFIERS, EVENT
  71. MODIFIERS>>.
  72. Example:
  73. If the Intel docs for a QM720 Core i7 describe an event as:
  74. Event Umask Event Mask
  75. Num. Value Mnemonic Description Comment
  76. A8H 01H LSD.UOPS Counts the number of micro-ops Use cmask=1 and
  77. delivered by loop stream detector invert to count
  78. cycles
  79. raw encoding of 0x1A8 can be used:
  80. perf stat -e r1a8 -a sleep 1
  81. perf record -e r1a8 ...
  82. You should refer to the processor specific documentation for getting these
  83. details. Some of them are referenced in the SEE ALSO section below.
  84. ARBITRARY PMUS
  85. --------------
  86. perf also supports an extended syntax for specifying raw parameters
  87. to PMUs. Using this typically requires looking up the specific event
  88. in the CPU vendor specific documentation.
  89. The available PMUs and their raw parameters can be listed with
  90. ls /sys/devices/*/format
  91. For example the raw event "LSD.UOPS" core pmu event above could
  92. be specified as
  93. perf stat -e cpu/event=0xa8,umask=0x1,name=LSD.UOPS_CYCLES,cmask=1/ ...
  94. PER SOCKET PMUS
  95. ---------------
  96. Some PMUs are not associated with a core, but with a whole CPU socket.
  97. Events on these PMUs generally cannot be sampled, but only counted globally
  98. with perf stat -a. They can be bound to one logical CPU, but will measure
  99. all the CPUs in the same socket.
  100. This example measures memory bandwidth every second
  101. on the first memory controller on socket 0 of a Intel Xeon system
  102. perf stat -C 0 -a uncore_imc_0/cas_count_read/,uncore_imc_0/cas_count_write/ -I 1000 ...
  103. Each memory controller has its own PMU. Measuring the complete system
  104. bandwidth would require specifying all imc PMUs (see perf list output),
  105. and adding the values together.
  106. This example measures the combined core power every second
  107. perf stat -I 1000 -e power/energy-cores/ -a
  108. ACCESS RESTRICTIONS
  109. -------------------
  110. For non root users generally only context switched PMU events are available.
  111. This is normally only the events in the cpu PMU, the predefined events
  112. like cycles and instructions and some software events.
  113. Other PMUs and global measurements are normally root only.
  114. Some event qualifiers, such as "any", are also root only.
  115. This can be overriden by setting the kernel.perf_event_paranoid
  116. sysctl to -1, which allows non root to use these events.
  117. For accessing trace point events perf needs to have read access to
  118. /sys/kernel/debug/tracing, even when perf_event_paranoid is in a relaxed
  119. setting.
  120. TRACING
  121. -------
  122. Some PMUs control advanced hardware tracing capabilities, such as Intel PT,
  123. that allows low overhead execution tracing. These are described in a separate
  124. intel-pt.txt document.
  125. PARAMETERIZED EVENTS
  126. --------------------
  127. Some pmu events listed by 'perf-list' will be displayed with '?' in them. For
  128. example:
  129. hv_gpci/dtbp_ptitc,phys_processor_idx=?/
  130. This means that when provided as an event, a value for '?' must
  131. also be supplied. For example:
  132. perf stat -C 0 -e 'hv_gpci/dtbp_ptitc,phys_processor_idx=0x2/' ...
  133. EVENT GROUPS
  134. ------------
  135. Perf supports time based multiplexing of events, when the number of events
  136. active exceeds the number of hardware performance counters. Multiplexing
  137. can cause measurement errors when the workload changes its execution
  138. profile.
  139. When metrics are computed using formulas from event counts, it is useful to
  140. ensure some events are always measured together as a group to minimize multiplexing
  141. errors. Event groups can be specified using { }.
  142. perf stat -e '{instructions,cycles}' ...
  143. The number of available performance counters depend on the CPU. A group
  144. cannot contain more events than available counters.
  145. For example Intel Core CPUs typically have four generic performance counters
  146. for the core, plus three fixed counters for instructions, cycles and
  147. ref-cycles. Some special events have restrictions on which counter they
  148. can schedule, and may not support multiple instances in a single group.
  149. When too many events are specified in the group none of them will not
  150. be measured.
  151. Globally pinned events can limit the number of counters available for
  152. other groups. On x86 systems, the NMI watchdog pins a counter by default.
  153. The nmi watchdog can be disabled as root with
  154. echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog
  155. Events from multiple different PMUs cannot be mixed in a group, with
  156. some exceptions for software events.
  157. LEADER SAMPLING
  158. ---------------
  159. perf also supports group leader sampling using the :S specifier.
  160. perf record -e '{cycles,instructions}:S' ...
  161. perf report --group
  162. Normally all events in a event group sample, but with :S only
  163. the first event (the leader) samples, and it only reads the values of the
  164. other events in the group.
  165. OPTIONS
  166. -------
  167. Without options all known events will be listed.
  168. To limit the list use:
  169. . 'hw' or 'hardware' to list hardware events such as cache-misses, etc.
  170. . 'sw' or 'software' to list software events such as context switches, etc.
  171. . 'cache' or 'hwcache' to list hardware cache events such as L1-dcache-loads, etc.
  172. . 'tracepoint' to list all tracepoint events, alternatively use
  173. 'subsys_glob:event_glob' to filter by tracepoint subsystems such as sched,
  174. block, etc.
  175. . 'pmu' to print the kernel supplied PMU events.
  176. . 'sdt' to list all Statically Defined Tracepoint events.
  177. . If none of the above is matched, it will apply the supplied glob to all
  178. events, printing the ones that match.
  179. . As a last resort, it will do a substring search in all event names.
  180. One or more types can be used at the same time, listing the events for the
  181. types specified.
  182. Support raw format:
  183. . '--raw-dump', shows the raw-dump of all the events.
  184. . '--raw-dump [hw|sw|cache|tracepoint|pmu|event_glob]', shows the raw-dump of
  185. a certain kind of events.
  186. SEE ALSO
  187. --------
  188. linkperf:perf-stat[1], linkperf:perf-top[1],
  189. linkperf:perf-record[1],
  190. http://www.intel.com/sdm/[Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual Volume 3B: System Programming Guide],
  191. http://support.amd.com/us/Processor_TechDocs/24593_APM_v2.pdf[AMD64 Architecture Programmer’s Manual Volume 2: System Programming]