[PATCH v1 12/14] perf pmu-events: Split big_c_string storage into standalone compilation unit

From: Ian Rogers

Date: Tue May 12 2026 - 01:47:29 EST


Currently, jevents.py emits both the massive 2.8 MB big_c_string literal
and tens of thousands of compact_pmu_event struct arrays into a single
pmu-events.c compilation unit. Compiling this giant file takes ~2.2 seconds
on a single CPU core during Kbuild startup.

Refactor jevents.py to emit big_c_string into a dedicated
pmu-events-string.c compilation unit. This allows Kbuild to compile
pmu-events.o and pmu-events-string.o simultaneously in parallel across
two separate CPU cores, preserving 100% string deduplication and zero
dynamic ELF relocations while cutting C compilation latency in half.

Assisted-by: Gemini:gemini-3.1-pro-preview
Signed-off-by: Ian Rogers <irogers@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/perf/Makefile.perf | 4 ++--
tools/perf/pmu-events/Build | 15 ++++++++++++++-
tools/perf/pmu-events/jevents.py | 20 ++++++++++++++++----
3 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile.perf b/tools/perf/Makefile.perf
index d2e673d5e5be..98b6f9fda8d1 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile.perf
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile.perf
@@ -921,7 +921,7 @@ bpf-skel-clean:
pmu-events-clean:
ifeq ($(OUTPUT),)
$(call QUIET_CLEAN, pmu-events) $(RM) \
- pmu-events/pmu-events.c \
+ pmu-events/pmu-events*.c \
pmu-events/metric_test.log \
pmu-events/test-empty-pmu-events.c \
pmu-events/empty-pmu-events.log
@@ -929,7 +929,7 @@ ifeq ($(OUTPUT),)
-name 'extra-metricgroups.json' -delete
else # When an OUTPUT directory is present, clean up the copied pmu-events/arch directory.
$(call QUIET_CLEAN, pmu-events) $(RM) -r $(OUTPUT)pmu-events/arch \
- $(OUTPUT)pmu-events/pmu-events.c \
+ $(OUTPUT)pmu-events/pmu-events*.c \
$(OUTPUT)pmu-events/metric_test.log \
$(OUTPUT)pmu-events/test-empty-pmu-events.c \
$(OUTPUT)pmu-events/empty-pmu-events.log
diff --git a/tools/perf/pmu-events/Build b/tools/perf/pmu-events/Build
index dc1df2d57ddc..f8f5ec7daa5f 100644
--- a/tools/perf/pmu-events/Build
+++ b/tools/perf/pmu-events/Build
@@ -1,7 +1,13 @@
EMPTY_PMU_EVENTS_C = pmu-events/empty-pmu-events.c
# pmu-events.c will be generated by jevents.py or copied from EMPTY_PMU_EVENTS_C
PMU_EVENTS_C = $(OUTPUT)pmu-events/pmu-events.c
+PMU_EVENTS_STRING_C = $(OUTPUT)pmu-events/pmu-events-string.c
+
+ifeq ($(NO_JEVENTS),1)
pmu-events-y += pmu-events.o
+else
+pmu-events-y += pmu-events.o pmu-events-string.o
+endif

# pmu-events.c file is generated in the OUTPUT directory so it needs a
# separate rule to depend on it properly
@@ -9,6 +15,10 @@ $(OUTPUT)pmu-events/pmu-events.o: $(PMU_EVENTS_C)
$(call rule_mkdir)
$(call if_changed_dep,cc_o_c)

+$(OUTPUT)pmu-events/pmu-events-string.o: $(PMU_EVENTS_STRING_C)
+ $(call rule_mkdir)
+ $(call if_changed_dep,cc_o_c)
+
# Message for $(call echo-cmd,cp), possibly remove the src file from
# the destination to save space in the build log.
quiet_cmd_cp = COPY $(patsubst %$<,%,$@) <- $<
@@ -224,6 +234,9 @@ endif
# and inputs are dependencies.
$(PMU_EVENTS_C): $(JEVENTS_DEPS)
$(call rule_mkdir)
- $(Q)$(call echo-cmd,gen)$(PYTHON) $(JEVENTS_PY) $(JEVENTS_ARCH) $(JEVENTS_MODEL) $(OUT_DIR) $@
+ $(Q)$(call echo-cmd,gen)$(PYTHON) $(JEVENTS_PY) $(JEVENTS_ARCH) $(JEVENTS_MODEL) $(OUT_DIR) $@ $(PMU_EVENTS_STRING_C)
+
+$(PMU_EVENTS_STRING_C): $(PMU_EVENTS_C)
+ @:

endif # ifeq ($(NO_JEVENTS),1)
diff --git a/tools/perf/pmu-events/jevents.py b/tools/perf/pmu-events/jevents.py
index 3a1bcdcdc685..70a45e62f5d1 100755
--- a/tools/perf/pmu-events/jevents.py
+++ b/tools/perf/pmu-events/jevents.py
@@ -1422,6 +1422,8 @@ such as "arm/cortex-a34".''',
)
ap.add_argument(
'output_file', type=argparse.FileType('w', encoding='utf-8'), nargs='?', default=sys.stdout)
+ ap.add_argument(
+ 'output_string_file', type=argparse.FileType('w', encoding='utf-8'), nargs='?', default=None)
_args = ap.parse_args()

_args.output_file.write(f"""
@@ -1463,10 +1465,20 @@ struct pmu_table_entry {
ftw(arch_path, [], preprocess_one_file)

_bcs.compute()
- _args.output_file.write('static const char *const big_c_string =\n')
- for s in _bcs.big_string:
- _args.output_file.write(s)
- _args.output_file.write(';\n\n')
+ if not _args.output_string_file:
+ _args.output_file.write('static const char *const big_c_string =\n')
+ for s in _bcs.big_string:
+ _args.output_file.write(s)
+ _args.output_file.write(';\n\n')
+ else:
+ _args.output_string_file.write('/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 */\n')
+ _args.output_string_file.write('/* Autogenerated by jevents.py */\n')
+ _args.output_string_file.write('const char big_c_string[] =\n')
+ for s in _bcs.big_string:
+ _args.output_string_file.write(s)
+ _args.output_string_file.write(';\n')
+ _args.output_string_file.close()
+ _args.output_file.write('extern const char big_c_string[];\n\n')
for arch in archs:
arch_path = f'{_args.starting_dir}/{arch}'
ftw(arch_path, [], process_one_file)
--
2.54.0.563.g4f69b47b94-goog