[PATCHES v2 0/2] perf tools: Add cached probe type detection for evsel
From: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo
Date: Tue Jun 16 2026 - 11:54:33 EST
Hi,
Checking whether an evsel is a kprobe or uprobe currently requires
walking the PMU list via evsel__find_pmu() on every call. This is
wasteful when the same evsel is checked repeatedly in hot paths like
trace__fprintf_tp_fields().
Patch 1 adds evsel__is_kprobe(), evsel__is_uprobe(), and
evsel__is_probe() helpers that resolve the probe type on first call
and cache the result in a 3-bit field that fits in existing struct
padding.
Detection covers both PMU-based probes (kprobe/uprobe PMU, detected
by PMU name) and ftrace-based dynamic probes (kprobes/uprobes/fprobes
created via tracefs, which report as PMU "tracepoint"). Ftrace probes
are detected by the __probe_ip field that the kernel adds to all
dynamic probe formats — this is authoritative regardless of the
group/system name the user chose.
Patch 2 is the first user: it guards the __probe_ip field name
comparison in perf trace with evsel__is_probe(), so the strcmp is
skipped entirely for the common case of non-probe tracepoint events.
Build-tested with gcc and clang.
Changes in v2 (patch 1 only):
- Detect ftrace-based dynamic probes (kprobes/uprobes/fprobes created
via tracefs) that report PMU "tracepoint" instead of "kprobe"/
"uprobe". Check for the __probe_ip field presence in the tracepoint
format. Without this, evsel__is_probe() returned false for ftrace
probes, breaking __probe_ip suppression in perf trace for probes
created via 'perf probe' (sashiko-bot).
- Widen probe_type bitfield from 2 to 3 bits for PROBE__FTRACE.
Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo (2):
perf evsel: Add lazy-initialized probe type detection helpers
perf trace: Guard __probe_ip suppression with evsel__is_probe()
tools/perf/builtin-trace.c | 2 +-
tools/perf/util/evsel.c | 53 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
tools/perf/util/evsel.h | 5 +++++
3 files changed, 59 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
Cc: Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ian Rogers <irogers@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@xxxxxxxxxx>
Developed with AI assistance (Claude/sashiko), tagged in commits.
Thanks,
- Arnaldo