Re: [PATCH v14 00/32] perf tools: Add evsel to perf_sample

[Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo]

On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 02:18:46PM -0700, Ian Rogers wrote:
> On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 2:15 PM Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo
> <acme@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 06:13:33PM -0300, Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo wrote:
> > > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 02:01:03PM -0700, Ian Rogers wrote:
> > > > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 1:55 PM Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo
> > > > <acme@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 05:51:36PM -0300, Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo wrote:
> > > > > > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 05:49:57PM -0300, Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo wrote:
> > > > > > > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 01:40:48PM -0700, Ian Rogers wrote:
> > > > > > > > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 12:46 PM Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo
> > > > > > > > <acme@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 04:15:30PM -0300, Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo wrote:
> > > > > > > > > > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 12:05:06PM -0700, Ian Rogers wrote:
> > > > > > > > > > > Nearly all perf code ends up passing an evsel with the perf_sample,
> > > > > > > > > > > which is problematic if you want to rewrite the evsel (such as with
> > > > > > > > > > > off-CPU processing) because all uses of the evsel need to be fixed
> > > > > > > > > > > up. Since the perf_sample now carries its own resolved evsel pointer,
> > > > > > > > > > > passing evsel separately is redundant and error-prone (allowing
> > > > > > > > > > > parameter divergence bugs).
> > > > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > > > This series cleans up the redundant evsel parameter across all perf
> > > > > > > > > > > tool subcommands and APIs, ensuring that tools uniformly retrieve
> > > > > > > > > > > event attributes directly from the sample itself. This simplifies
> > > > > > > > > > > function signatures and improves API consistency.
> > > > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > > > Additionally, this series incorporates subsequent memory safety
> > > > > > > > > > > improvements, robust bounds checking, and memory leak corrections
> > > > > > > > > > > prompted by address sanitizers and Sashiko code reviews.
> > > > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > > > The original combined RFC patch:
> > > > > > > > > > > https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260126071822.447368-1-irogers@xxxxxxxxxx/
> > > > > > > > > > > was split up per reviewer requests.
> > > > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > > > v14:
> > > > > > > > > > >  - Incorporate Acked-by tags from Namhyung Kim.
> > > > > > > > > > >  - Re-polish and expand commit descriptions to provide thorough explanations
> > > > > > > > > > >    of the changes and their rationale.
> > > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > > Thanks, tentatively applying it to perf-tools-next, for v7.2.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > Had to apply a minor fixup for a conflict with anoter patch series from
> > > > > > > > > you, the LBR one.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Sorry for that and thanks for dealing with the conflict! Any chance
> > > > > > > > you could push to tmp.perf-tools-next? I have some other series that
> > > > > > > > will conflict and it would be nice to rebase those changes there.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I just removed the last two patches, the ones for kwork, as:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > + make ARCH= CROSS_COMPILE= EXTRA_CFLAGS= NO_LIBELF=1 -C tools/perf O=/tmp/build/perf
> > > > > > > make: Entering directory '/git/perf-7.1.0-rc2/tools/perf'
> > > > > > >   BUILD:   Doing 'make -j32' parallel build
> > > > > > > Makefile.config:647: Warning: Disabled BPF skeletons as libelf is required by bpftool
> > > > > > > Makefile.config:745: Disabling post unwind, no support found.
> > > > > > > Makefile.config:856: Missing python setuptools, the python binding won't be built, please install python3-setuptools or equivalent
> > > > > > > Makefile.config:1045: No libbabeltrace found, disables 'perf data' CTF format support, please install libbabeltrace-dev[el]/libbabeltrace-ctf-dev
> > > > > > > Makefile.config:1110: libpfm4 not found, disables libpfm4 support. Please install libpfm-devel or libpfm4-dev
> > > > > > > Makefile.config:1135: Rust is not found. Test workloads with rust are disabled.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Auto-detecting system features:
> > > > > > > ...                                   libdw: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                                   glibc: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                                  libelf: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                                 libnuma: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                  numa_num_possible_cpus: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                               libpython: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                             libcapstone: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                               llvm-perf: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                                    zlib: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                                    lzma: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                                     bpf: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                                  libaio: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                                 libzstd: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                              libopenssl: [ on  ]
> > > > > > > ...                                    rust: [ OFF ]
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >   CC      /tmp/build/perf/dlfilters/dlfilter-test-api-v0.o
> > > > > > > <SNIP>
> > > > > > >   LINK    /tmp/build/perf/perf
> > > > > > > /usr/bin/ld: /tmp/build/perf/perf-in.o: in function `work_pop_atom':
> > > > > > > builtin-kwork.c:(.text+0x59c92): undefined reference to `work_exit'
> > > > > > > /usr/bin/ld: /tmp/build/perf/perf-in.o: in function `work_push_atom.constprop.0':
> > > > > > > builtin-kwork.c:(.text+0x5aba8): undefined reference to `work_exit'
> > > > > > > /usr/bin/ld: /tmp/build/perf/perf-in.o: in function `cmd_kwork':
> > > > > > > (.text+0x5bb4b): undefined reference to `work_exit'
> > > > > > > /usr/bin/ld: (.text+0x5bbae): undefined reference to `work_exit'
> > > > > > > /usr/bin/ld: (.text+0x5c3b2): undefined reference to `work_exit'
> > > > > > > collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
> > > > > > > make[2]: *** [Makefile.perf:586: /tmp/build/perf/perf] Error 1
> > > > > > > make[1]: *** [Makefile.perf:289: sub-make] Error 2
> > > > > > > make: *** [Makefile:76: all] Error 2
> > > > > > > make: Leaving directory '/git/perf-7.1.0-rc2/tools/perf'
> > > > > > > + exit 1
> > > > > > > toolsbuilder@five:~$
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I'm doing some more tests, just a moment and I'll push what I have to
> > > > > > > tmp.perf-tools-next.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Also:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > toolsbuilder@five:~$ cat dm.log/almalinux\:8
> > > > > > <SNIP>
> > > > > > OLLECT_GCC=gcc
> > > > > > COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/usr/libexec/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/8/lto-wrapper
> > > > > > OFFLOAD_TARGET_NAMES=nvptx-none
> > > > > > OFFLOAD_TARGET_DEFAULT=1
> > > > > > Target: x86_64-redhat-linux
> > > > > > Configured with: ../configure --enable-bootstrap --enable-languages=c,c++,fortran,lto --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --with-bugurl=http://bugs.almalinux.org/ --enable-shared --enable-threads=posix --enable-checking=release --enable-multilib --with-system-zlib --enable-__cxa_atexit --disable-libunwind-exceptions --enable-gnu-unique-object --enable-linker-build-id --with-gcc-major-version-only --with-linker-hash-style=gnu --enable-plugin --enable-initfini-array --with-isl --disable-libmpx --enable-offload-targets=nvptx-none --without-cuda-driver --enable-gnu-indirect-function --enable-cet --with-tune=generic --with-arch_32=x86-64 --build=x86_64-redhat-linux
> > > > > > Thread model: posix
> > > > > > gcc version 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-28) (GCC)
> > > > > > + make ARCH= CROSS_COMPILE= EXTRA_CFLAGS= -C tools/perf O=/tmp/build/perf
> > > > > > make: Entering directory '/git/perf-7.1.0-rc2/tools/perf'
> > > > > >   BUILD:   Doing 'make -j32' parallel build
> > > > > > Makefile.config:1045: No libbabeltrace found, disables 'perf data' CTF format support, please install libbabeltrace-dev[el]/libbabeltrace-ctf-dev
> > > > > > Makefile.config:1061: No libcapstone found, disables disasm engine support for 'perf script', please install libcapstone-dev/capstone-devel
> > > > > > Makefile.config:1110: libpfm4 not found, disables libpfm4 support. Please install libpfm-devel or libpfm4-dev
> > > > > > Makefile.config:1135: Rust is not found. Test workloads with rust are disabled.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Auto-detecting system features:
> > > > > > ...                                   libdw: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                                   glibc: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                                  libelf: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                                 libnuma: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                  numa_num_possible_cpus: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                               libpython: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                             libcapstone: [ OFF ]
> > > > > > ...                               llvm-perf: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                                    zlib: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                                    lzma: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                                     bpf: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                                  libaio: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                                 libzstd: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                              libopenssl: [ on  ]
> > > > > > ...                                    rust: [ OFF ]
> > > > > >
> > > > > >   CC      /tmp/build/perf/dlfilters/dlfilter-test-api-v0.o
> > > > > >   CC      /tmp/build/perf/dlfilters/dlfilter-test-api-v2.o
> > > > > > <SNIP>
> > > > > >   COPY    /tmp/build/perf/ <- pmu-events/arch/x86/westmereex/cache.json
> > > > > >   COPY    /tmp/build/perf/ <- pmu-events/arch/x86/westmereex/counter.json
> > > > > >   COPY    /tmp/build/perf/ <- pmu-events/arch/x86/westmereex/floating-point.json
> > > > > >   COPY    /tmp/build/perf/ <- pmu-events/arch/x86/westmereex/frontend.json
> > > > > >   COPY    /tmp/build/perf/ <- pmu-events/arch/x86/westmereex/memory.json
> > > > > >   COPY    /tmp/build/perf/ <- pmu-events/arch/x86/westmereex/other.json
> > > > > >   COPY    /tmp/build/perf/ <- pmu-events/arch/x86/westmereex/pipeline.json
> > > > > >   COPY    /tmp/build/perf/ <- pmu-events/arch/x86/westmereex/virtual-memory.json
> > > > > >   GEN     /tmp/build/perf/pmu-events/test-empty-pmu-events.c
> > > > > > Traceback (most recent call last):
> > > > > >   File "pmu-events/jevents.py", line 1524, in <module>
> > > > > >     main()
> > > > > >   File "pmu-events/jevents.py", line 1487, in main
> > > > > >     with concurrent.futures.ProcessPoolExecutor(initializer=_init_worker, initargs=(_arch_std_events,)) as executor:
> > > > > > TypeError: __init__() got an unexpected keyword argument 'initializer'
> > > > > > make[3]: *** [pmu-events/Build:176: /tmp/build/perf/pmu-events/test-empty-pmu-events.c] Error 1
> > > > > > make[3]: *** Deleting file '/tmp/build/perf/pmu-events/test-empty-pmu-events.c'
> > > > > > make[2]: *** [Makefile.perf:554: /tmp/build/perf/pmu-events/pmu-events-in.o] Error 2
> > > > > > make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
> > > > >
> > > > > But:
> > > > >
> > > > > toolsbuilder@five:~$ export BUILD_TARBALL=http://192.168.86.5/perf/perf-7.1.0-rc2.tar.xz
> > > > > toolsbuilder@five:~$ time dm
> > > > >    1     8.77 almalinux:8                   : FAIL gcc version 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-28) (GCC)
> > > > >    2    84.96 almalinux:9                   : Ok   gcc (GCC) 11.5.0 20240719 (Red Hat 11.5.0-11) , clang version 20.1.8 (AlmaLinux OS Foundation 20.1.8-3.el9) flex 2.6.4
> > > > >    3:  103.23 almalinux:9-i386              : Ok   gcc (GCC) 11.4.1 20231218 (Red Hat 11.4.1-3) , clang version 17.0.6 (AlmaLinux OS Foundation 17.0.6-5.el9) flex 2.6.4
> > > > >    4    90.91 almalinux:10                  : Ok   gcc (GCC) 14.3.1 20250617 (Red Hat 14.3.1-2) , clang version 20.1.8 (AlmaLinux OS Foundation 20.1.8-1.el10.alma.1) flex 2.6.4
> > > > >    5   118.21 alpine:3.16                   : Ok   gcc (Alpine 11.2.1_git20220219) 11.2.1 20220219 , Alpine clang version 13.0.1 flex 2.6.4
> > > > > ...
> > > >
> > > > You can drop the parallelize jevent.py changes and I'll follow up.
> > > > Sorry for the breakage.
> > >
> > > It was just that almalinux:8 so far, its an old system, so I'm keeping
> > > it to see what other systems fail, if any.
> > >
> > > So far:
> > >
> > > toolsbuilder@five:~$ export BUILD_TARBALL=http://192.168.86.5/perf/perf-7.1.0-rc2.tar.xz
> > > toolsbuilder@five:~$ time dm
> > >    1     8.77 almalinux:8                   : FAIL gcc version 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-28) (GCC)
> > >    2    84.96 almalinux:9                   : Ok   gcc (GCC) 11.5.0 20240719 (Red Hat 11.5.0-11) , clang version 20.1.8 (AlmaLinux OS Foundation 20.1.8-3.el9) flex 2.6.4
> > >    3: almalinux:9-i386WARNING: image platform (linux/386) does not match the expected platform (linux/amd64)
> > > WARNING: image platform (linux/386) does not match the expected platform (linux/amd64)
> > >    103.23 almalinux:9-i386              : Ok   gcc (GCC) 11.4.1 20231218 (Red Hat 11.4.1-3) , clang version 17.0.6 (AlmaLinux OS Foundation 17.0.6-5.el9) flex 2.6.4
> > >    4    90.91 almalinux:10                  : Ok   gcc (GCC) 14.3.1 20250617 (Red Hat 14.3.1-2) , clang version 20.1.8 (AlmaLinux OS Foundation 20.1.8-1.el10.alma.1) flex 2.6.4
> > >    5   118.21 alpine:3.16                   : Ok   gcc (Alpine 11.2.1_git20220219) 11.2.1 20220219 , Alpine clang version 13.0.1 flex 2.6.4
> > >    6   106.13 alpine:3.17                   : Ok   gcc (Alpine 12.2.1_git20220924-r4) 12.2.1 20220924 , Alpine clang version 15.0.7 flex 2.6.4
> > >    7   102.80 alpine:3.18                   : Ok   gcc (Alpine 12.2.1_git20220924-r10) 12.2.1 20220924 , Alpine clang version 16.0.6 flex 2.6.4
> > >    8   114.48 alpine:3.19                   : Ok   gcc (Alpine 13.2.1_git20231014) 13.2.1 20231014 , Alpine clang version 17.0.5 flex 2.6.4
> > >    9   109.53 alpine:3.20                   : Ok   gcc (Alpine 13.2.1_git20240309) 13.2.1 20240309 , Alpine clang version 17.0.6 flex 2.6.4
> > >   10   116.20 alpine:3.22                   : Ok   gcc (Alpine 14.2.0) 14.2.0 , Alpine clang version 20.1.8 flex 2.6.4
> > >   11   109.83 alpine:3.23                   : Ok   gcc (Alpine 15.2.0) 15.2.0 , Alpine clang version 21.1.2 flex 2.6.4
> > >   12   119.23 alpine:edge                   : Ok   gcc (Alpine 14.2.0) 14.2.0 , Alpine clang version 19.1.4 flex 2.6.4
> > >   13    93.22 amazonlinux:2023              : Ok   gcc (GCC) 11.5.0 20240719 (Red Hat 11.5.0-5) , clang version 15.0.7 (AWS 15.0.7-3.amzn2023.0.4) flex 2.6.4
> > >   14    93.40 amazonlinux:devel             : Ok   gcc (GCC) 11.3.1 20221121 (Red Hat 11.3.1-4) , clang version 15.0.6 (Amazon Linux 15.0.6-3.amzn2023.0.2) flex 2.6.4
> > >   15   102.98 archlinux:base                : Ok   gcc (GCC) 15.2.1 20250813 , clang version 20.1.8 flex 2.6.4
> > >   16     9.58 centos:stream                 : FAIL gcc version 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-21) (GCC)
> > >   17: clearlinux:latest
> > >
> > >   COPY    /tmp/build/perf/ <- pmu-events/arch/x86/westmereex/virtual-memory.json
> > >   GEN     /tmp/build/perf/pmu-events/test-empty-pmu-events.c
> > > Traceback (most recent call last):
> > >   File "pmu-events/jevents.py", line 1524, in <module>
> > >     main()
> > >   File "pmu-events/jevents.py", line 1487, in main
> > >     with concurrent.futures.ProcessPoolExecutor(initializer=_init_worker, initargs=(_arch_std_events,)) as executor:
> > > TypeError: __init__() got an unexpected keyword argument 'initializer'
> > > make[3]: *** [pmu-events/Build:176: /tmp/build/perf/pmu-events/test-empty-pmu-events.c] Error 1
> > > make[3]: *** Deleting file '/tmp/build/perf/pmu-events/test-empty-pmu-events.c'
> > > make[2]: *** [Makefile.perf:554: /tmp/build/perf/pmu-events/pmu-events-in.o] Error 2
> > > make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
> > >
> > > Auto-detecting system features:
> > > ...                         clang-bpf-co-re: [ on  ]
> > > ...                                    llvm: [ on  ]
> > > ...                                  libcap: [ on  ]
> > > ...                                  libbfd: [ on  ]
> > >
> > >   MKDIR   /tmp/build/perf/util/bpf_skel/.tmp/bootstrap/libbpf/include/bpf
> > >
> > >
> > > centos:stream is the bleeding edge, so I'll drop that as you suggested,
> > > ok.
> 
> Sgtm. I'm confused though, something old and something new broke?
> In the "Minimal requirements to compile the Kernel"
> (https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/changes.html) they
> state Python must be version 3.9, so it'd be nice to set that as the
> baseline wrt APIs. We could probably automate that in the build and
> make the build NO_PYTHON if the version is older than 3.9.
> 
> > So I removed these, i.e. from the parallelize onwards:
> >
> >   28 O T May 18 Ian Rogers      (  43)           │         ├─>[PATCH v7 14/14] perf build: Convert llvm-config shell queries to simply expanded variables
> >   29 O T May 18 Ian Rogers      (  62)           │         ├─>[PATCH v7 13/14] perf pmu-events: Convert recursive shell assignments and macros to Make built-ins
> >   30 O T May 18 Ian Rogers      (  47)           │         ├─>[PATCH v7 12/14] perf build: Prefix SCRIPTS with output directory to fix continuous rebuilds
> >   31 O T May 18 Ian Rogers      (  97)           │         ├─>[PATCH v7 11/14] perf pmu-events: Parallelize JSON and metric pre-computation in jevents.py
> >
> 
> Could we keep 12, 13 and 14? They are independent changes and offer
> significant build performance improvements.

Lemme try cherry picking them then. I removed without checking if there
were any deps.

- Arnaldo