[v15,8/8] perf tools: Add --tail-synthesize option

When working with overwritable ring buffer there's a inconvenience
problem: if perf dumps data after a long period after it starts, non-sample
events may lost, which makes following 'perf report' unable to identify
proc name and mmap layout. For example:

 # perf record -m 4 -e raw_syscalls:* -g --overwrite --switch-output \
        dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/null

send SIGUSR2 after dd runs long enough. The resuling perf.data lost
correct comm and mmap events:

 # perf script -i perf.data.2016061522374354
 perf 24478 [004] 2581325.601789:  raw_syscalls:sys_exit: NR 0 = 512
 ^^^^
 Should be 'dd'
                   27b2e8 syscall_slow_exit_work+0xfe2000e3 (/lib/modules/4.6.0-rc3+/build/vmlinux)
                   203cc7 do_syscall_64+0xfe200117 (/lib/modules/4.6.0-rc3+/build/vmlinux)
                   b18d83 return_from_SYSCALL_64+0xfe200000 (/lib/modules/4.6.0-rc3+/build/vmlinux)
             7f47c417edf0 [unknown] ([unknown])
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^
             Fail to unwind

This patch provides a '--tail-synthesize' option, allows perf to collect
system status when finalizing output file. In resuling output file, the
non-sample events reflect system status when dumping data.

After this patch:
 # perf record -m 4 -e raw_syscalls:* -g --overwrite --switch-output --tail-synthesize \
        dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/null

 # perf script -i perf.data.2016061600544998
 dd 27364 [004] 2583244.994464: raw_syscalls:sys_enter: NR 1 (1, ...
 ^^
 Correct comm
                   203a18 syscall_trace_enter_phase2+0xfe2001a8 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                   203aa5 syscall_trace_enter+0xfe200055 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                   203caa do_syscall_64+0xfe2000fa ([kernel.kallsyms])
                   b18d83 return_from_SYSCALL_64+0xfe200000 ([kernel.kallsyms])
                    d8e50 __GI___libc_write+0xffff01d9639f4010 (/tmp/oxygen_root-w00229757/lib64/libc-2.18.so)
                    ^^^^^
                    Correct unwind

This option doesn't aim to solve this problem completely. If a process
terminates before SIGUSR2, we still lost its COMM and MMAP events. For
example, we can't unwind correctly from the final perf.data we get from
the previous example, because when perf collects the final output file
(when we press C-c), 'dd' has been terminated so its
'/proc/<pid>/mmap' becomes empty. However, this is a cheaper choice. To
completely solve this problem we need to continously output non-sample
events. To satisify the requirement of daemonization, we need to merge
them periodically. It is possible but requires much more code and cycles.

Automatically select --tail-synthesize when --overwrite is provided.

Signed-off-by: Wang Nan <wangnan0@huawei.com>

Cc: He Kuang <hekuang@huawei.com>
Cc: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com>
Cc: Jiri Olsa <jolsa@kernel.org>
Cc: Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@kernel.org>
Cc: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@kernel.org>
Cc: Zefan Li <lizefan@huawei.com>
Cc: Nilay Vaish <nilayvaish@gmail.com>
Cc: pi3orama@163.com
---
 tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt |  8 ++++++++
 tools/perf/builtin-record.c              | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++------
 tools/perf/perf.h                        |  1 +
 3 files changed, 34 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

-- 
1.8.3.4

[v15,8/8] perf tools: Add --tail-synthesize option

Commit Message

Patch