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diff --git a/Documentation/trace/histograms.txt b/Documentation/trace/histograms.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..6f2aeabf7faa --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/trace/histograms.txt @@ -0,0 +1,186 @@ + Using the Linux Kernel Latency Histograms + + +This document gives a short explanation how to enable, configure and use +latency histograms. Latency histograms are primarily relevant in the +context of real-time enabled kernels (CONFIG_PREEMPT/CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT) +and are used in the quality management of the Linux real-time +capabilities. + + +* Purpose of latency histograms + +A latency histogram continuously accumulates the frequencies of latency +data. There are two types of histograms +- potential sources of latencies +- effective latencies + + +* Potential sources of latencies + +Potential sources of latencies are code segments where interrupts, +preemption or both are disabled (aka critical sections). To create +histograms of potential sources of latency, the kernel stores the time +stamp at the start of a critical section, determines the time elapsed +when the end of the section is reached, and increments the frequency +counter of that latency value - irrespective of whether any concurrently +running process is affected by latency or not. +- Configuration items (in the Kernel hacking/Tracers submenu) + CONFIG_INTERRUPT_OFF_LATENCY + CONFIG_PREEMPT_OFF_LATENCY + + +* Effective latencies + +Effective latencies are actually occuring during wakeup of a process. To +determine effective latencies, the kernel stores the time stamp when a +process is scheduled to be woken up, and determines the duration of the +wakeup time shortly before control is passed over to this process. Note +that the apparent latency in user space may be somewhat longer, since the +process may be interrupted after control is passed over to it but before +the execution in user space takes place. Simply measuring the interval +between enqueuing and wakeup may also not appropriate in cases when a +process is scheduled as a result of a timer expiration. The timer may have +missed its deadline, e.g. due to disabled interrupts, but this latency +would not be registered. Therefore, the offsets of missed timers are +recorded in a separate histogram. If both wakeup latency and missed timer +offsets are configured and enabled, a third histogram may be enabled that +records the overall latency as a sum of the timer latency, if any, and the +wakeup latency. This histogram is called "timerandwakeup". +- Configuration items (in the Kernel hacking/Tracers submenu) + CONFIG_WAKEUP_LATENCY + CONFIG_MISSED_TIMER_OFSETS + + +* Usage + +The interface to the administration of the latency histograms is located +in the debugfs file system. To mount it, either enter + +mount -t sysfs nodev /sys +mount -t debugfs nodev /sys/kernel/debug + +from shell command line level, or add + +nodev /sys sysfs defaults 0 0 +nodev /sys/kernel/debug debugfs defaults 0 0 + +to the file /etc/fstab. All latency histogram related files are then +available in the directory /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist. A +particular histogram type is enabled by writing non-zero to the related +variable in the /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/enable directory. +Select "preemptirqsoff" for the histograms of potential sources of +latencies and "wakeup" for histograms of effective latencies etc. The +histogram data - one per CPU - are available in the files + +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/preemptoff/CPUx +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/irqsoff/CPUx +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/preemptirqsoff/CPUx +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/wakeup/CPUx +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/wakeup/sharedprio/CPUx +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/missed_timer_offsets/CPUx +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/timerandwakeup/CPUx + +The histograms are reset by writing non-zero to the file "reset" in a +particular latency directory. To reset all latency data, use + +#!/bin/sh + +TRACINGDIR=/sys/kernel/debug/tracing +HISTDIR=$TRACINGDIR/latency_hist + +if test -d $HISTDIR +then + cd $HISTDIR + for i in `find . | grep /reset$` + do + echo 1 >$i + done +fi + + +* Data format + +Latency data are stored with a resolution of one microsecond. The +maximum latency is 10,240 microseconds. The data are only valid, if the +overflow register is empty. Every output line contains the latency in +microseconds in the first row and the number of samples in the second +row. To display only lines with a positive latency count, use, for +example, + +grep -v " 0$" /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/preemptoff/CPU0 + +#Minimum latency: 0 microseconds. +#Average latency: 0 microseconds. +#Maximum latency: 25 microseconds. +#Total samples: 3104770694 +#There are 0 samples greater or equal than 10240 microseconds +#usecs samples + 0 2984486876 + 1 49843506 + 2 58219047 + 3 5348126 + 4 2187960 + 5 3388262 + 6 959289 + 7 208294 + 8 40420 + 9 4485 + 10 14918 + 11 18340 + 12 25052 + 13 19455 + 14 5602 + 15 969 + 16 47 + 17 18 + 18 14 + 19 1 + 20 3 + 21 2 + 22 5 + 23 2 + 25 1 + + +* Wakeup latency of a selected process + +To only collect wakeup latency data of a particular process, write the +PID of the requested process to + +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/wakeup/pid + +PIDs are not considered, if this variable is set to 0. + + +* Details of the process with the highest wakeup latency so far + +Selected data of the process that suffered from the highest wakeup +latency that occurred in a particular CPU are available in the file + +/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/latency_hist/wakeup/max_latency-CPUx. + +In addition, other relevant system data at the time when the +latency occurred are given. + +The format of the data is (all in one line): +<PID> <Priority> <Latency> (<Timeroffset>) <Command> \ +<- <PID> <Priority> <Command> <Timestamp> + +The value of <Timeroffset> is only relevant in the combined timer +and wakeup latency recording. In the wakeup recording, it is +always 0, in the missed_timer_offsets recording, it is the same +as <Latency>. + +When retrospectively searching for the origin of a latency and +tracing was not enabled, it may be helpful to know the name and +some basic data of the task that (finally) was switching to the +late real-tlme task. In addition to the victim's data, also the +data of the possible culprit are therefore displayed after the +"<-" symbol. + +Finally, the timestamp of the time when the latency occurred +in <seconds>.<microseconds> after the most recent system boot +is provided. + +These data are also reset when the wakeup histogram is reset. |