[PATCH v2] perf stat: Fix false NMI watchdog warning in aggregation modes

From: Chun-Tse Shao

Date: Thu Jun 11 2026 - 18:02:47 EST


In aggregation modes (e.g. --per-socket, --per-die, etc.), a
counter might not be scheduled or counted on specific aggregate
groups if it was not assigned to the CPUs belonging to those
groups. However, the printout() check triggers the
"print_free_counters_hint" logic unconditionally for any
supported counter with a missing count. This results in a false
"Some events weren't counted. Try disabling the NMI watchdog"
warning.

Furthermore, the NMI watchdog only reserves performance counters
on core PMUs. Uncore PMU events (e.g. CHA, IMC) are not affected
by the NMI watchdog, but their failures also falsely triggered
this warning.

This warning was originally introduced in commit 02d492e5dcb7
("perf stat: Issue a HW watchdog disable hint").

To fix this, restrict setting of print_free_counters_hint to
only trigger for core PMU events by checking counter->pmu and
counter->pmu->is_core.

Example before/after:

$ perf stat -M lpm_miss_lat --metric-only --per-socket -a -- sleep 1

Before:
Performance counter stats for 'system wide':

ns lpm_miss_lat_rem ns lpm_miss_lat_loc
S0 126 202.3 207.9
S1 126 231.9 259.3

1.006029831 seconds time elapsed

Some events weren't counted. Try disabling the NMI watchdog:
echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog
perf stat ...
echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog

After:
Performance counter stats for 'system wide':

ns lpm_miss_lat_rem ns lpm_miss_lat_loc
S0 126 202.3 207.9
S1 126 231.9 259.3

1.006029831 seconds time elapsed

Assisted-by: Gemini:gemini-next
Signed-off-by: Chun-Tse Shao <ctshao@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/perf/util/stat-display.c | 4 ++--
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/perf/util/stat-display.c b/tools/perf/util/stat-display.c
index 2b69d238858c..0a5750bb59fa 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/stat-display.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/stat-display.c
@@ -821,9 +821,9 @@ static void printout(struct perf_stat_config *config, struct outstate *os,
ok = false;

if (counter->supported) {
- if (!evlist__has_hybrid_pmus(counter->evlist)) {
+ if (!evlist__has_hybrid_pmus(counter->evlist) &&
+ counter->pmu && counter->pmu->is_core)
config->print_free_counters_hint = 1;
- }
}
}

--
2.54.0.1136.gdb2ca164c4-goog