Re: [PATCH] perf script: Fix LBR skid dump problems in brstackinsn

From: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo
Date: Thu Dec 06 2018 - 12:01:48 EST


Em Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 09:06:17PM -0800, Andi Kleen escreveu:
> From: Andi Kleen <ak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> This is a fix for another instance of the skid problem Milian
> recently found [1]

Milian, have you tested this?

Adrian, can I have your Reviewed-by or Acked-by?

Thanks,

- Arnaldo

> The LBRs don't freeze at the exact same time as the PMI is triggered.
> The perf script brstackinsn code that dumps LBR assembler
> assumes that the last branch in the LBR leads to the sample point.
> But with skid it's possible that the CPU executes one or more branches
> before the sample, but which do not appear in the LBR.
>
> What happens then is either that the sample point is before
> the last LBR branch. In this case the dumper sees a negative
> length and ignores it. Or it the sample point is long after
> the last branch. Then the dumper sees a very long block and dumps
> it upto its block limit (16k bytes), which is noise in the output.
>
> On typical sample session this can happen regularly.
>
> This patch tries to detect and handle the situation. On the last
> block that is dumped by the LBR dumper we always stop on the first
> branch. If the block length is negative just scan forward to the
> first branch. Otherwise scan until a branch is found.
>
> The PT decoder already has a function that uses the instruction
> decoder to detect branches, so we can just reuse it here.
>
> Then when a terminating branch is found print an indication
> and stop dumping. This might miss a few instructions, but at least
> shows no runaway blocks.
>
> Cc: milian.wolff@xxxxxxxx
> Cc: adrian.hunter@xxxxxxxxx
> Signed-off-by: Andi Kleen <ak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> tools/perf/builtin-script.c | 18 +++++++++++++++++-
> tools/perf/util/dump-insn.c | 8 ++++++++
> tools/perf/util/dump-insn.h | 2 ++
> .../intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-insn-decoder.c | 8 ++++++++
> 4 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-script.c b/tools/perf/builtin-script.c
> index 4da5e32b9e03..11868bf39e66 100644
> --- a/tools/perf/builtin-script.c
> +++ b/tools/perf/builtin-script.c
> @@ -1049,9 +1049,18 @@ static int perf_sample__fprintf_brstackinsn(struct perf_sample *sample,
>
> /*
> * Print final block upto sample
> + *
> + * Due to pipeline delays the LBRs might be missing a branch
> + * or two, which can result in very large or negative blocks
> + * between final branch and sample. When this happens just
> + * continue walking after the last TO until we hit a branch.
> */
> start = br->entries[0].to;
> end = sample->ip;
> + if (end < start) {
> + /* Missing jump. Scan 128 bytes for the next branch */
> + end = start + 128;
> + }
> len = grab_bb(buffer, start, end, machine, thread, &x.is64bit, &x.cpumode, true);
> printed += ip__fprintf_sym(start, thread, x.cpumode, x.cpu, &lastsym, attr, fp);
> if (len <= 0) {
> @@ -1060,7 +1069,6 @@ static int perf_sample__fprintf_brstackinsn(struct perf_sample *sample,
> machine, thread, &x.is64bit, &x.cpumode, false);
> if (len <= 0)
> goto out;
> -
> printed += fprintf(fp, "\t%016" PRIx64 "\t%s\n", sample->ip,
> dump_insn(&x, sample->ip, buffer, len, NULL));
> goto out;
> @@ -1070,6 +1078,14 @@ static int perf_sample__fprintf_brstackinsn(struct perf_sample *sample,
> dump_insn(&x, start + off, buffer + off, len - off, &ilen));
> if (ilen == 0)
> break;
> + if (arch_is_branch(buffer + off, len - off, x.is64bit) &&
> + start + off != sample->ip) {
> + /*
> + * Hit a missing branch. Just stop.
> + */
> + printed += fprintf(fp, "\t... not reaching sample ...\n");
> + break;
> + }
> }
> out:
> return printed;
> diff --git a/tools/perf/util/dump-insn.c b/tools/perf/util/dump-insn.c
> index 10988d3de7ce..2bd8585db93c 100644
> --- a/tools/perf/util/dump-insn.c
> +++ b/tools/perf/util/dump-insn.c
> @@ -13,3 +13,11 @@ const char *dump_insn(struct perf_insn *x __maybe_unused,
> *lenp = 0;
> return "?";
> }
> +
> +__weak
> +int arch_is_branch(const unsigned char *buf __maybe_unused,
> + size_t len __maybe_unused,
> + int x86_64 __maybe_unused)
> +{
> + return 0;
> +}
> diff --git a/tools/perf/util/dump-insn.h b/tools/perf/util/dump-insn.h
> index 0e06280a8860..650125061530 100644
> --- a/tools/perf/util/dump-insn.h
> +++ b/tools/perf/util/dump-insn.h
> @@ -20,4 +20,6 @@ struct perf_insn {
>
> const char *dump_insn(struct perf_insn *x, u64 ip,
> u8 *inbuf, int inlen, int *lenp);
> +int arch_is_branch(const unsigned char *buf, size_t len, int x86_64);
> +
> #endif
> diff --git a/tools/perf/util/intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-insn-decoder.c b/tools/perf/util/intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-insn-decoder.c
> index 54818828023b..1c0e289f01e6 100644
> --- a/tools/perf/util/intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-insn-decoder.c
> +++ b/tools/perf/util/intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-insn-decoder.c
> @@ -180,6 +180,14 @@ int intel_pt_get_insn(const unsigned char *buf, size_t len, int x86_64,
> return 0;
> }
>
> +int arch_is_branch(const unsigned char *buf, size_t len, int x86_64)
> +{
> + struct intel_pt_insn in;
> + if (intel_pt_get_insn(buf, len, x86_64, &in) < 0)
> + return -1;
> + return in.branch != INTEL_PT_BR_NO_BRANCH;
> +}
> +
> const char *dump_insn(struct perf_insn *x, uint64_t ip __maybe_unused,
> u8 *inbuf, int inlen, int *lenp)
> {
> --
> 2.17.2

--

- Arnaldo