[BUG] perf: bogus correlation of kernel symbols

From: Stephane Eranian
Date: Thu May 12 2011 - 10:48:54 EST


Hi,

I think there is a serious problem with kernel symbol correlation
with the latest perf in 2.6.39-rc7-tip.

Here is a simple example with a stupid program that only
does open()/close on /dev/null:

$ perf record -e cycles:k openclose
$ perf report --stdio

# Events: 2K cycles
#
# Overhead Command Shared Object Symbol
# ........ ......... ................ ...............
#
99.76% openclose [binfmt_misc] [k] 0xffffffff81010fe6
0.13% openclose libc-2.12.1.so [.] __open_nocancel
0.09% openclose libc-2.12.1.so [.] __GI_close

The DSO (binfmt_misc) is bogus. That's not where time is spent.

But if I ran the same test as root:

$ sudo perf record -e cycles:k openclose
$ sudo perf report --stdio

# Events: 2K cycles
#
# Overhead Command Shared Object Symbol
# ........ ......... ................. .............................
#
17.13% openclose [kernel.kallsyms] [k] __lock_acquire
11.77% openclose [kernel.kallsyms] [k] native_sched_clock
7.36% openclose [kernel.kallsyms] [k] sched_clock_local
5.99% openclose [kernel.kallsyms] [k] lock_release
5.38% openclose [kernel.kallsyms] [k] local_clock
4.43% openclose [kernel.kallsyms] [k] lock_acquired
4.05% openclose [kernel.kallsyms] [k] lock_acquire
3.95% openclose [kernel.kallsyms] [k] lock_is_held
3.51% openclose [kernel.kallsyms] [k] sched_clock_cpu
3.24% openclose [kernel.kallsyms] [k] trace_hardirqs_off_caller

This is much more meaningful.

This is not related to the paranoid level (1 for me).

Looking at perf report -D, the same kernel address is associated to different
module based on my permission level.

first perf.data:
416749738927 0x4210 [0x28]: PERF_RECORD_SAMPLE(IP, 1): 4886/4886:
0xffffffff8107c1d8 period: 2262681
... thread: openclose:4886
...... dso: /lib/modules/2.6.39-rc7-tip/kernel/fs/binfmt_misc.ko

second perf.data:
436879910722 0xc950 [0x28]: PERF_RECORD_SAMPLE(IP, 1): 4894/4894:
0xffffffff8107c1d8 period: 2280253
... thread: openclose:4894
...... dso: vmlinux

Same address different mapping!

My path to vmlinux is all accessible to me.

If there were permission problems, I would expect perf record or perf report
to tell me and not fallback to some bogus mappings.
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/