Re: [PATCH v1 06/11] perf annotate-data: Collect global variables without name
From: Namhyung Kim
Date: Tue Feb 10 2026 - 21:29:55 EST
On Mon, Jan 26, 2026 at 09:04:59PM -0500, Zecheng Li wrote:
> Previously, global_var__collect() required get_global_var_info() to
> succeed (i.e., the variable must have a symbol name) before caching a
> global variable. This prevented variables that exist in DWARF but lack
> symbol table coverage from being cached.
Do you have any example? It's not clear to me why global variables
don't have name.
Thanks,
Namhyung
>
> Remove the symbol table requirement since DW_OP_addr already provides
> the variable's address directly from DWARF. The symbol table lookup is
> now optional to obtain the variable name when available.
>
> Also remove the var_offset != 0 check, which was intended to skip
> variables where the access address doesn't match the symbol start.
> The symbol table lookup is now optional and I found removing this check
> has no effect on the annotation results for both kernel and userspace
> programs.
>
> Test results show improved annotation coverage especially for userspace
> programs with RIP-relative addressing instructions.
>
> Signed-off-by: Zecheng Li <zli94@xxxxxxxx>
> ---
> tools/perf/util/annotate-data.c | 7 +------
> 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 6 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/tools/perf/util/annotate-data.c b/tools/perf/util/annotate-data.c
> index 8ea3e8b024e8..970238bc81b7 100644
> --- a/tools/perf/util/annotate-data.c
> +++ b/tools/perf/util/annotate-data.c
> @@ -774,12 +774,7 @@ static void global_var__collect(struct data_loc_info *dloc)
> if (!dwarf_offdie(dwarf, pos->die_off, &type_die))
> continue;
>
> - if (!get_global_var_info(dloc, pos->addr, &var_name,
> - &var_offset))
> - continue;
> -
> - if (var_offset != 0)
> - continue;
> + get_global_var_info(dloc, pos->addr, &var_name, &var_offset);
>
> global_var__add(dloc, pos->addr, var_name, &type_die);
> }
> --
> 2.52.0
>