[PATCH] perf_counters: start documenting HAVE_PERF_COUNTERS requirements

[Mike Frysinger]

Help out arch porters who want to support perf counters by listing some
basic requirements.

Signed-off-by: Mike Frysinger <vapier@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
 init/Kconfig          |    2 ++
 tools/perf/design.txt |   15 +++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/init/Kconfig b/init/Kconfig
index c649657..ee2e3c2 100644
--- a/init/Kconfig
+++ b/init/Kconfig
@@ -936,6 +936,8 @@ config AIO
 
 config HAVE_PERF_COUNTERS
 	bool
+	help
+	  See "Arch requirements" in tools/perf/design.txt
 
 menu "Performance Counters"
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/design.txt b/tools/perf/design.txt
index 860e116..f71e0d2 100644
--- a/tools/perf/design.txt
+++ b/tools/perf/design.txt
@@ -440,3 +440,18 @@ by this process or by another, and doesn't affect any counters that
 this process has created on other processes.  It only enables or
 disables the group leaders, not any other members in the groups.
 
+
+Arch requirements
+-----------------
+
+If your architecture does not have hardware performance metrics, you can
+still use the generic software counters based on hrtimers for sampling.
+
+So to start with, in order to add HAVE_PERF_COUNTERS to your Kconfig, you
+will need at least this:
+	- asm/perf_counter.h - a basic stub will suffice at first
+	- support for atomic64 types (and associated helper functions)
+	- set_perf_counter_pending() implemented
+
+If your architecture does have hardware capabilities, you can override the
+weak stub hw_perf_counter_init() to register hardware counters.
-- 
1.6.3.1

--
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/