Re: [PATCH] perf: Document recent additions to the perf.data file header

From: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo

Date: Mon Jun 15 2026 - 15:56:56 EST


On Mon, Jun 15, 2026 at 12:21:10PM -0700, Ian Rogers wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 12, 2026 at 12:28 PM Thomas Falcon <thomas.falcon@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > Add documentation for recently added HEADER_E_MACHINE and
> > HEADER_CLN_SIZE data to the perf.data file. Also fix a typo
> > at the end of the header section.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Thomas Falcon <thomas.falcon@xxxxxxxxx>
> > ---
> > .../perf/Documentation/perf.data-file-format.txt | 16 +++++++++++++++-
> > 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf.data-file-format.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf.data-file-format.txt
> > index 0e4d0ecc9e12..b90cba9168f8 100644
> > --- a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf.data-file-format.txt
> > +++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf.data-file-format.txt
> > @@ -464,7 +464,21 @@ struct cpu_domain_info {
> > struct domain_info domains[];
> > };
> >
> > - other bits are reserved and should ignored for now
> > + HEADER_E_MACHINE = 33,
> > +
> > +ELF machine and flags data. e_machine is expanded from 16 to 32 bits
> > +for alignment. Format:
> > +
> > + u32 e_machine;
> > + u32 e_flags;
>
> Thanks Thomas! I found that endianness was missing from the
> e_machine/e_flags for capstone disassembly support. Part of me thinks
> the unused 16-bits of the e_machine could carry information like this.
> That said, we also have endianness information via the perf.data magic
> value. Anyway:
>
> Reviewed-by: Ian Rogers <irogers@xxxxxxxxxx>

Thanks, applied to perf-tools-next, for v7.2.

- Arnaldo