linux/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt
Kirill Smelkov acac03fa15 perf record: Add "nodelay" mode, disabled by default
Sometimes there is a need to use perf in "live-log" mode. The problem
is, for seldom events, actual info output is largely delayed because
perf-record reads sample data in whole pages.

So for such scenarious, add flag for perf-record to go in "nodelay"
mode. To track e.g. what's going on in icmp_rcv while ping is running
Use it with something like this:

(1) $ perf probe -L icmp_rcv | grep -U8 '^ *43\>'
                                    goto error;
                    }
         38         if (!pskb_pull(skb, sizeof(*icmph)))
                            goto error;
                    icmph = icmp_hdr(skb);

         43         ICMPMSGIN_INC_STATS_BH(net, icmph->type);
                    /*
                     *      18 is the highest 'known' ICMP type. Anything else is a mystery
                     *
                     *      RFC 1122: 3.2.2  Unknown ICMP messages types MUST be silently
                     *                discarded.
                     */
         50         if (icmph->type > NR_ICMP_TYPES)
                            goto error;

    $ perf probe icmp_rcv:43 'type=icmph->type'

(2) $ cat trace-icmp.py
    [...]
    def trace_begin():
            print "in trace_begin"

    def trace_end():
            print "in trace_end"

    def probe__icmp_rcv(event_name, context, common_cpu,
            common_secs, common_nsecs, common_pid, common_comm,
            __probe_ip, type):
                    print_header(event_name, common_cpu, common_secs, common_nsecs,
                            common_pid, common_comm)

                    print "__probe_ip=%u, type=%u\n" % \
                    (__probe_ip, type),
    [...]

(3) $ perf record -a -D -e probe:icmp_rcv -o - | \
      perf script -i - -s trace-icmp.py

Thanks to Peter Zijlstra for pointing how to do it.

Cc: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com>
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@gmail.com>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>, Mike Galbraith <efault@gmx.de>
Cc: Paul Mackerras <paulus@samba.org>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Stephane Eranian <eranian@google.com>
Cc: Tom Zanussi <tzanussi@gmail.com>
LKML-Reference: <20110112140613.GA11698@tugrik.mns.mnsspb.ru>
Signed-off-by: Kirill Smelkov <kirr@mns.spb.ru>
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com>
2011-01-13 11:38:44 -02:00

143 lines
3.0 KiB
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perf-record(1)
==============
NAME
----
perf-record - Run a command and record its profile into perf.data
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'perf record' [-e <EVENT> | --event=EVENT] [-l] [-a] <command>
'perf record' [-e <EVENT> | --event=EVENT] [-l] [-a] -- <command> [<options>]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
This command runs a command and gathers a performance counter profile
from it, into perf.data - without displaying anything.
This file can then be inspected later on, using 'perf report'.
OPTIONS
-------
<command>...::
Any command you can specify in a shell.
-e::
--event=::
Select the PMU event. Selection can be:
- a symbolic event name (use 'perf list' to list all events)
- a raw PMU event (eventsel+umask) in the form of rNNN where NNN is a
hexadecimal event descriptor.
- a hardware breakpoint event in the form of '\mem:addr[:access]'
where addr is the address in memory you want to break in.
Access is the memory access type (read, write, execute) it can
be passed as follows: '\mem:addr[:[r][w][x]]'.
If you want to profile read-write accesses in 0x1000, just set
'mem:0x1000:rw'.
--filter=<filter>::
Event filter.
-a::
--all-cpus::
System-wide collection from all CPUs.
-l::
Scale counter values.
-p::
--pid=::
Record events on existing process ID.
-t::
--tid=::
Record events on existing thread ID.
-r::
--realtime=::
Collect data with this RT SCHED_FIFO priority.
-D::
--no-delay::
Collect data without buffering.
-A::
--append::
Append to the output file to do incremental profiling.
-f::
--force::
Overwrite existing data file. (deprecated)
-c::
--count=::
Event period to sample.
-o::
--output=::
Output file name.
-i::
--no-inherit::
Child tasks do not inherit counters.
-F::
--freq=::
Profile at this frequency.
-m::
--mmap-pages=::
Number of mmap data pages.
-g::
--call-graph::
Do call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording.
-q::
--quiet::
Don't print any message, useful for scripting.
-v::
--verbose::
Be more verbose (show counter open errors, etc).
-s::
--stat::
Per thread counts.
-d::
--data::
Sample addresses.
-T::
--timestamp::
Sample timestamps. Use it with 'perf report -D' to see the timestamps,
for instance.
-n::
--no-samples::
Don't sample.
-R::
--raw-samples::
Collect raw sample records from all opened counters (default for tracepoint counters).
-C::
--cpu::
Collect samples only on the list of CPUs provided. Multiple CPUs can be provided as a
comma-separated list with no space: 0,1. Ranges of CPUs are specified with -: 0-2.
In per-thread mode with inheritance mode on (default), samples are captured only when
the thread executes on the designated CPUs. Default is to monitor all CPUs.
-N::
--no-buildid-cache::
Do not update the builid cache. This saves some overhead in situations
where the information in the perf.data file (which includes buildids)
is sufficient.
SEE ALSO
--------
linkperf:perf-stat[1], linkperf:perf-list[1]