linux/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-list.txt
Robert Richter 75bc5ca898 perf list: Update documentation about raw event setup
It was missing that only certain bit fields are passed to the config
value which confused users. Updating it.

Signed-off-by: Robert Richter <robert.richter@amd.com>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1344361396-7237-6-git-send-email-robert.richter@amd.com
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com>
2012-08-08 12:41:53 -03:00

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perf-list(1)
============
NAME
----
perf-list - List all symbolic event types
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'perf list' [hw|sw|cache|tracepoint|event_glob]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
This command displays the symbolic event types which can be selected in the
various perf commands with the -e option.
[[EVENT_MODIFIERS]]
EVENT MODIFIERS
---------------
Events can optionally have a modifer by appending a colon and one or
more modifiers. Modifiers allow the user to restrict when events are
counted with 'u' for user-space, 'k' for kernel, 'h' for hypervisor.
Additional modifiers are 'G' for guest counting (in KVM guests) and 'H'
for host counting (not in KVM guests).
The 'p' modifier can be used for specifying how precise the instruction
address should be. The 'p' modifier is currently only implemented for
Intel PEBS and can be specified multiple times:
0 - SAMPLE_IP can have arbitrary skid
1 - SAMPLE_IP must have constant skid
2 - SAMPLE_IP requested to have 0 skid
3 - SAMPLE_IP must have 0 skid
The PEBS implementation now supports up to 2.
RAW HARDWARE EVENT DESCRIPTOR
-----------------------------
Even when an event is not available in a symbolic form within perf right now,
it can be encoded in a per processor specific way.
For instance For x86 CPUs NNN represents the raw register encoding with the
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
of IA32_PERFEVTSELx MSRs) or AMD's PerfEvtSeln (see [AMD64 Architecture Programmers Manual Volume 2: System Programming], Page 344,
Figure 13-7 Performance Event-Select Register (PerfEvtSeln)).
Note: Only the following bit fields can be set in x86 counter
registers: event, umask, edge, inv, cmask. Esp. guest/host only and
OS/user mode flags must be setup using <<EVENT_MODIFIERS, EVENT
MODIFIERS>>.
Example:
If the Intel docs for a QM720 Core i7 describe an event as:
Event Umask Event Mask
Num. Value Mnemonic Description Comment
A8H 01H LSD.UOPS Counts the number of micro-ops Use cmask=1 and
delivered by loop stream detector invert to count
cycles
raw encoding of 0x1A8 can be used:
perf stat -e r1a8 -a sleep 1
perf record -e r1a8 ...
You should refer to the processor specific documentation for getting these
details. Some of them are referenced in the SEE ALSO section below.
OPTIONS
-------
Without options all known events will be listed.
To limit the list use:
. 'hw' or 'hardware' to list hardware events such as cache-misses, etc.
. 'sw' or 'software' to list software events such as context switches, etc.
. 'cache' or 'hwcache' to list hardware cache events such as L1-dcache-loads, etc.
. 'tracepoint' to list all tracepoint events, alternatively use
'subsys_glob:event_glob' to filter by tracepoint subsystems such as sched,
block, etc.
. If none of the above is matched, it will apply the supplied glob to all
events, printing the ones that match.
One or more types can be used at the same time, listing the events for the
types specified.
SEE ALSO
--------
linkperf:perf-stat[1], linkperf:perf-top[1],
linkperf:perf-record[1],
http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/manual/253669.pdf[Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual Volume 3B: System Programming Guide],
http://support.amd.com/us/Processor_TechDocs/24593.pdf[AMD64 Architecture Programmers Manual Volume 2: System Programming]