[PATCH v2] perf test: Fix perf stat --bpf-counters on hybrid machines

From: Ian Rogers

Date: Wed Mar 25 2026 - 13:25:27 EST


Events on hardware PMUs may open on >1 hardware PMU on hybrid
machines. Unfortunately multiplexing introduces a scaling issue as
reported in:
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250716223924.825772-1-irogers@xxxxxxxxxx/

Switch to using task-clock which as a software event runs on all CPUs
and has a single PMU.

For when hybrid event scaling is fixed, incorporate support for
combining hybrid counts as posted by Namhyung Kim in:
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260319064513.9269-1-namhyung@xxxxxxxxxx/

Signed-off-by: Ian Rogers <irogers@xxxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260323202409.194123-1-irogers@xxxxxxxxxx/
---
tools/perf/tests/shell/stat_bpf_counters.sh | 55 ++++++++++++++-------
1 file changed, 38 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/shell/stat_bpf_counters.sh b/tools/perf/tests/shell/stat_bpf_counters.sh
index f43e28a136d3..f8c24ccc7830 100755
--- a/tools/perf/tests/shell/stat_bpf_counters.sh
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/shell/stat_bpf_counters.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,24 @@
set -e

workload="perf test -w sqrtloop"
+event=task-clock
+
+extract_count()
+{
+ local target_event="$1"
+
+ awk -v target="$target_event" -v i=0 -v c=0 '
+ $0 ~ target {
+ i++;
+ c += $1
+ }
+ END {
+ if (i > 0)
+ printf "%.0f\n", c;
+ else
+ print "<not counted>"
+ }'
+}

# check whether $2 is within +/- 20% of $1
compare_number()
@@ -25,15 +43,15 @@ compare_number()

check_counts()
{
- base_instructions=$1
- bpf_instructions=$2
+ base_count=$1
+ bpf_count=$2

- if [ "$base_instructions" = "<not" ]; then
- echo "Skipping: instructions event not counted"
+ if [ "$base_count" = "<not counted>" ]; then
+ echo "Skipping: $event event not counted"
exit 2
fi
- if [ "$bpf_instructions" = "<not" ]; then
- echo "Failed: instructions not counted with --bpf-counters"
+ if [ "$bpf_count" = "<not counted>" ]; then
+ echo "Failed: $event not counted with --bpf-counters"
exit 1
fi
}
@@ -41,29 +59,32 @@ check_counts()
test_bpf_counters()
{
printf "Testing --bpf-counters "
- base_instructions=$(perf stat --no-big-num -e instructions -- $workload 2>&1 | awk '/instructions/ {print $1}')
- bpf_instructions=$(perf stat --no-big-num --bpf-counters -e instructions -- $workload 2>&1 | awk '/instructions/ {print $1}')
- check_counts $base_instructions $bpf_instructions
- compare_number $base_instructions $bpf_instructions
+ base_count=$(perf stat --no-big-num -e "$event" -- $workload 2>&1 \
+ | extract_count "$event")
+ bpf_count=$(perf stat --no-big-num --bpf-counters -e "$event" -- $workload 2>&1 \
+ | extract_count "$event")
+ check_counts "$base_count" "$bpf_count"
+ compare_number "$base_count" "$bpf_count"
echo "[Success]"
}

test_bpf_modifier()
{
printf "Testing bpf event modifier "
- stat_output=$(perf stat --no-big-num -e instructions/name=base_instructions/,instructions/name=bpf_instructions/b -- $workload 2>&1)
- base_instructions=$(echo "$stat_output"| awk '/base_instructions/ {print $1}')
- bpf_instructions=$(echo "$stat_output"| awk '/bpf_instructions/ {print $1}')
- check_counts $base_instructions $bpf_instructions
- compare_number $base_instructions $bpf_instructions
+ stat_output=$(perf stat --no-big-num \
+ -e "$event/name=base_$event/,$event/name=bpf_$event/b" -- $workload 2>&1)
+ base_count=$(echo "$stat_output" | extract_count "base_$event")
+ bpf_count=$(echo "$stat_output"| extract_count "bpf_$event")
+ check_counts "$base_count" "$bpf_count"
+ compare_number "$base_count" "$bpf_count"
echo "[Success]"
}

# skip if --bpf-counters is not supported
-if ! perf stat -e instructions --bpf-counters true > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+if ! perf stat -e "$event" --bpf-counters true > /dev/null 2>&1; then
if [ "$1" = "-v" ]; then
echo "Skipping: --bpf-counters not supported"
- perf --no-pager stat -e instructions --bpf-counters true || true
+ perf --no-pager stat -e "$event" --bpf-counters true || true
fi
exit 2
fi
--
2.53.0.1018.g2bb0e51243-goog