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| author | Leo Yan <leo.yan@arm.com> | 2026-08-25 11:37:06 +0100 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> | 2026-09-02 09:18:00 +0200 |
| commit | 8a7f5b5e860b5c113ca99acd5b1e9074f5c5af3c (patch) | |
| tree | 2878bcc313b7e790d4d40636debf383ea0cb29a4 | |
| parent | cee9395acd8043be0644b25c34bfa86623f2b935 (diff) | |
| download | linux-stable-8a7f5b5e860b5c113ca99acd5b1e9074f5c5af3c.tar.gz linux-stable-8a7f5b5e860b5c113ca99acd5b1e9074f5c5af3c.zip | |
perf/core: Skip empty AUX records with only format flags
perf_aux_output_end() emits a PERF_RECORD_AUX when the recorded size is
nonzero or when any flag other than PERF_AUX_FLAG_OVERWRITE is set.
PMU format flags describe how an AUX payload is encoded. TRBE driver
sets PERF_AUX_FLAG_CORESIGHT_FORMAT_RAW for raw trace buffers, causing
an AUX record to be emitted even when no trace data.
This is noticeable when tracing a task with strace. Ptrace stops
repeatedly end empty AUX transactions, producing many zero-sized
PERF_RECORD_AUX records. For example:
perf record -e cs_etm//u -m,128M -- strace ls
perf script -D 2>&1 |
awk '/PERF_RECORD_AUX offset/ {
for (i = 1; i <= NF; i++)
if ($i == "size:" && $(i + 1) == "0")
count++
}
END { print count }'
165
This recording contains 165 zero-sized AUX records which provide no
useful information to userspace.
Ignore PERF_AUX_FLAG_PMU_FORMAT_TYPE_MASK, together with
PERF_AUX_FLAG_OVERWRITE, when deciding whether an empty AUX record is
useful. Zero-sized records carrying TRUNCATED, PARTIAL or COLLISION
are still emitted.
Fixes: 547b60988e63 ("perf: aux: Add flags for the buffer format")
Reported-by: Tamas Petz <tamas.petz@arm.com>
Signed-off-by: Leo Yan <leo.yan@arm.com>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260825-perf_core_fix_zero_aux_records-v1-1-23b95e8d5df3@arm.com
| -rw-r--r-- | kernel/events/ring_buffer.c | 9 |
1 files changed, 7 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/kernel/events/ring_buffer.c b/kernel/events/ring_buffer.c index 9fe921617..1b1ffe053 100644 --- a/kernel/events/ring_buffer.c +++ b/kernel/events/ring_buffer.c @@ -509,7 +509,10 @@ void perf_aux_output_end(struct perf_output_handle *handle, unsigned long size) /* * Only send RECORD_AUX if we have something useful to communicate * - * Note: the OVERWRITE records by themselves are not considered + * PMU_FORMAT bits identify the PMU type rather than an AUX event + * has occurred, so ignore them for zero-sized records. + * + * The OVERWRITE records by themselves are not considered * useful, as they don't communicate any *new* information, * aside from the short-lived offset, that becomes history at * the next event sched-in and therefore isn't useful. @@ -518,7 +521,9 @@ void perf_aux_output_end(struct perf_output_handle *handle, unsigned long size) * offset. So, from now on we don't output AUX records that * have *only* OVERWRITE flag set. */ - if (size || (handle->aux_flags & ~(u64)PERF_AUX_FLAG_OVERWRITE)) + if (size || + (handle->aux_flags & ~(u64)(PERF_AUX_FLAG_PMU_FORMAT_TYPE_MASK | + PERF_AUX_FLAG_OVERWRITE))) perf_event_aux_event(handle->event, aux_head, size, handle->aux_flags); |