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1perf.data format
2
3Uptodate as of v4.7
4
5This document describes the on-disk perf.data format, generated by perf record
6or perf inject and consumed by the other perf tools.
7
8On a high level perf.data contains the events generated by the PMUs, plus metadata.
9
10All fields are in native-endian of the machine that generated the perf.data.
11
12When perf is writing to a pipe it uses a special version of the file
13format that does not rely on seeking to adjust data offsets. This
14format is described in "Pipe-mode data" section. The pipe data version can be
15augmented with additional events using perf inject.
16
17The file starts with a perf_header:
18
19struct perf_header {
20 char magic[8]; /* PERFILE2 */
21 uint64_t size; /* size of the header */
22 uint64_t attr_size; /* size of an attribute in attrs */
23 struct perf_file_section attrs;
24 struct perf_file_section data;
25 struct perf_file_section event_types;
26 uint64_t flags;
27 uint64_t flags1[3];
28};
29
30The magic number identifies the perf file and the version. Current perf versions
31use PERFILE2. Old perf versions generated a version 1 format (PERFFILE). Version 1
32is not described here. The magic number also identifies the endian. When the
33magic value is 64bit byte swapped compared the file is in non-native
34endian.
35
36A perf_file_section contains a pointer to another section of the perf file.
37The header contains three such pointers: for attributes, data and event types.
38
39struct perf_file_section {
40 uint64_t offset; /* offset from start of file */
41 uint64_t size; /* size of the section */
42};
43
44Flags section:
45
46The header is followed by different optional headers, described by the bits set
47in flags. Only headers for which the bit is set are included. Each header
48consists of a perf_file_section located after the initial header.
49The respective perf_file_section points to the data of the additional
50header and defines its size.
51
52Some headers consist of strings, which are defined like this:
53
54struct perf_header_string {
55 uint32_t len;
56 char string[len]; /* zero terminated */
57};
58
59Some headers consist of a sequence of strings, which start with a
60
61struct perf_header_string_list {
62 uint32_t nr;
63 struct perf_header_string strings[nr]; /* variable length records */
64};
65
66The bits are the flags bits in a 256 bit bitmap starting with
67flags. These define the valid bits:
68
69 HEADER_RESERVED = 0, /* always cleared */
70 HEADER_FIRST_FEATURE = 1,
71 HEADER_TRACING_DATA = 1,
72
73Describe me.
74
75 HEADER_BUILD_ID = 2,
76
77The header consists of an sequence of build_id_event. The size of each record
78is defined by header.size (see perf_event.h). Each event defines a ELF build id
79for a executable file name for a pid. An ELF build id is a unique identifier
80assigned by the linker to an executable.
81
82struct build_id_event {
83 struct perf_event_header header;
84 pid_t pid;
85 uint8_t build_id[24];
86 char filename[header.size - offsetof(struct build_id_event, filename)];
87};
88
89 HEADER_HOSTNAME = 3,
90
91A perf_header_string with the hostname where the data was collected
92(uname -n)
93
94 HEADER_OSRELEASE = 4,
95
96A perf_header_string with the os release where the data was collected
97(uname -r)
98
99 HEADER_VERSION = 5,
100
101A perf_header_string with the perf user tool version where the
102data was collected. This is the same as the version of the source tree
103the perf tool was built from.
104
105 HEADER_ARCH = 6,
106
107A perf_header_string with the CPU architecture (uname -m)
108
109 HEADER_NRCPUS = 7,
110
111A structure defining the number of CPUs.
112
113struct nr_cpus {
114 uint32_t nr_cpus_available; /* CPUs not yet onlined */
115 uint32_t nr_cpus_online;
116};
117
118 HEADER_CPUDESC = 8,
119
120A perf_header_string with description of the CPU. On x86 this is the model name
121in /proc/cpuinfo
122
123 HEADER_CPUID = 9,
124
125A perf_header_string with the exact CPU type. On x86 this is
126vendor,family,model,stepping. For example: GenuineIntel,6,69,1
127
128 HEADER_TOTAL_MEM = 10,
129
130An uint64_t with the total memory in bytes.
131
132 HEADER_CMDLINE = 11,
133
134A perf_header_string with the perf command line used to collect the data.
135
136 HEADER_EVENT_DESC = 12,
137
138Another description of the perf_event_attrs, more detailed than header.attrs
139including IDs and names. See perf_event.h or the man page for a description
140of a struct perf_event_attr.
141
142struct {
143 uint32_t nr; /* number of events */
144 uint32_t attr_size; /* size of each perf_event_attr */
145 struct {
146 struct perf_event_attr attr; /* size of attr_size */
147 uint32_t nr_ids;
148 struct perf_header_string event_string;
149 uint64_t ids[nr_ids];
150 } events[nr]; /* Variable length records */
151};
152
153 HEADER_CPU_TOPOLOGY = 13,
154
155String lists defining the core and CPU threads topology.
156The string lists are followed by a variable length array
157which contains core_id and socket_id of each cpu.
158The number of entries can be determined by the size of the
159section minus the sizes of both string lists.
160
161struct {
162 struct perf_header_string_list cores; /* Variable length */
163 struct perf_header_string_list threads; /* Variable length */
164 struct {
165 uint32_t core_id;
166 uint32_t socket_id;
167 } cpus[nr]; /* Variable length records */
168};
169
170Example:
171 sibling cores : 0-3
172 sibling threads : 0-1
173 sibling threads : 2-3
174
175 HEADER_NUMA_TOPOLOGY = 14,
176
177 A list of NUMA node descriptions
178
179struct {
180 uint32_t nr;
181 struct {
182 uint32_t nodenr;
183 uint64_t mem_total;
184 uint64_t mem_free;
185 struct perf_header_string cpus;
186 } nodes[nr]; /* Variable length records */
187};
188
189 HEADER_BRANCH_STACK = 15,
190
191Not implemented in perf.
192
193 HEADER_PMU_MAPPINGS = 16,
194
195 A list of PMU structures, defining the different PMUs supported by perf.
196
197struct {
198 uint32_t nr;
199 struct pmu {
200 uint32_t pmu_type;
201 struct perf_header_string pmu_name;
202 } [nr]; /* Variable length records */
203};
204
205 HEADER_GROUP_DESC = 17,
206
207 Description of counter groups ({...} in perf syntax)
208
209struct {
210 uint32_t nr;
211 struct {
212 struct perf_header_string string;
213 uint32_t leader_idx;
214 uint32_t nr_members;
215 } [nr]; /* Variable length records */
216};
217
218 HEADER_AUXTRACE = 18,
219
220Define additional auxtrace areas in the perf.data. auxtrace is used to store
221undecoded hardware tracing information, such as Intel Processor Trace data.
222
223/**
224 * struct auxtrace_index_entry - indexes a AUX area tracing event within a
225 * perf.data file.
226 * @file_offset: offset within the perf.data file
227 * @sz: size of the event
228 */
229struct auxtrace_index_entry {
230 u64 file_offset;
231 u64 sz;
232};
233
234#define PERF_AUXTRACE_INDEX_ENTRY_COUNT 256
235
236/**
237 * struct auxtrace_index - index of AUX area tracing events within a perf.data
238 * file.
239 * @list: linking a number of arrays of entries
240 * @nr: number of entries
241 * @entries: array of entries
242 */
243struct auxtrace_index {
244 struct list_head list;
245 size_t nr;
246 struct auxtrace_index_entry entries[PERF_AUXTRACE_INDEX_ENTRY_COUNT];
247};
248
249 HEADER_STAT = 19,
250
251This is merely a flag signifying that the data section contains data
252recorded from perf stat record.
253
254 HEADER_CACHE = 20,
255
256Description of the cache hierarchy. Based on the Linux sysfs format
257in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cache/
258
259 u32 version Currently always 1
260 u32 number_of_cache_levels
261
262struct {
263 u32 level;
264 u32 line_size;
265 u32 sets;
266 u32 ways;
267 struct perf_header_string type;
268 struct perf_header_string size;
269 struct perf_header_string map;
270}[number_of_cache_levels];
271
272 HEADER_SAMPLE_TIME = 21,
273
274Two uint64_t for the time of first sample and the time of last sample.
275
276 other bits are reserved and should ignored for now
277 HEADER_FEAT_BITS = 256,
278
279Attributes
280
281This is an array of perf_event_attrs, each attr_size bytes long, which defines
282each event collected. See perf_event.h or the man page for a detailed
283description.
284
285Data
286
287This section is the bulk of the file. It consist of a stream of perf_events
288describing events. This matches the format generated by the kernel.
289See perf_event.h or the manpage for a detailed description.
290
291Some notes on parsing:
292
293Ordering
294
295The events are not necessarily in time stamp order, as they can be
296collected in parallel on different CPUs. If the events should be
297processed in time order they need to be sorted first. It is possible
298to only do a partial sort using the FINISHED_ROUND event header (see
299below). perf record guarantees that there is no reordering over a
300FINISHED_ROUND.
301
302ID vs IDENTIFIER
303
304When the event stream contains multiple events each event is identified
305by an ID. This can be either through the PERF_SAMPLE_ID or the
306PERF_SAMPLE_IDENTIFIER header. The PERF_SAMPLE_IDENTIFIER header is
307at a fixed offset from the event header, which allows reliable
308parsing of the header. Relying on ID may be ambiguous.
309IDENTIFIER is only supported by newer Linux kernels.
310
311Perf record specific events:
312
313In addition to the kernel generated event types perf record adds its
314own event types (in addition it also synthesizes some kernel events,
315for example MMAP events)
316
317 PERF_RECORD_USER_TYPE_START = 64,
318 PERF_RECORD_HEADER_ATTR = 64,
319
320struct attr_event {
321 struct perf_event_header header;
322 struct perf_event_attr attr;
323 uint64_t id[];
324};
325
326 PERF_RECORD_HEADER_EVENT_TYPE = 65, /* deprecated */
327
328#define MAX_EVENT_NAME 64
329
330struct perf_trace_event_type {
331 uint64_t event_id;
332 char name[MAX_EVENT_NAME];
333};
334
335struct event_type_event {
336 struct perf_event_header header;
337 struct perf_trace_event_type event_type;
338};
339
340
341 PERF_RECORD_HEADER_TRACING_DATA = 66,
342
343Describe me
344
345struct tracing_data_event {
346 struct perf_event_header header;
347 uint32_t size;
348};
349
350 PERF_RECORD_HEADER_BUILD_ID = 67,
351
352Define a ELF build ID for a referenced executable.
353
354 struct build_id_event; /* See above */
355
356 PERF_RECORD_FINISHED_ROUND = 68,
357
358No event reordering over this header. No payload.
359
360 PERF_RECORD_ID_INDEX = 69,
361
362Map event ids to CPUs and TIDs.
363
364struct id_index_entry {
365 uint64_t id;
366 uint64_t idx;
367 uint64_t cpu;
368 uint64_t tid;
369};
370
371struct id_index_event {
372 struct perf_event_header header;
373 uint64_t nr;
374 struct id_index_entry entries[nr];
375};
376
377 PERF_RECORD_AUXTRACE_INFO = 70,
378
379Auxtrace type specific information. Describe me
380
381struct auxtrace_info_event {
382 struct perf_event_header header;
383 uint32_t type;
384 uint32_t reserved__; /* For alignment */
385 uint64_t priv[];
386};
387
388 PERF_RECORD_AUXTRACE = 71,
389
390Defines auxtrace data. Followed by the actual data. The contents of
391the auxtrace data is dependent on the event and the CPU. For example
392for Intel Processor Trace it contains Processor Trace data generated
393by the CPU.
394
395struct auxtrace_event {
396 struct perf_event_header header;
397 uint64_t size;
398 uint64_t offset;
399 uint64_t reference;
400 uint32_t idx;
401 uint32_t tid;
402 uint32_t cpu;
403 uint32_t reserved__; /* For alignment */
404};
405
406struct aux_event {
407 struct perf_event_header header;
408 uint64_t aux_offset;
409 uint64_t aux_size;
410 uint64_t flags;
411};
412
413 PERF_RECORD_AUXTRACE_ERROR = 72,
414
415Describes an error in hardware tracing
416
417enum auxtrace_error_type {
418 PERF_AUXTRACE_ERROR_ITRACE = 1,
419 PERF_AUXTRACE_ERROR_MAX
420};
421
422#define MAX_AUXTRACE_ERROR_MSG 64
423
424struct auxtrace_error_event {
425 struct perf_event_header header;
426 uint32_t type;
427 uint32_t code;
428 uint32_t cpu;
429 uint32_t pid;
430 uint32_t tid;
431 uint32_t reserved__; /* For alignment */
432 uint64_t ip;
433 char msg[MAX_AUXTRACE_ERROR_MSG];
434};
435
436 PERF_RECORD_HEADER_FEATURE = 80,
437
438Describes a header feature. These are records used in pipe-mode that
439contain information that otherwise would be in perf.data file's header.
440
441Event types
442
443Define the event attributes with their IDs.
444
445An array bound by the perf_file_section size.
446
447 struct {
448 struct perf_event_attr attr; /* Size defined by header.attr_size */
449 struct perf_file_section ids;
450 }
451
452ids points to a array of uint64_t defining the ids for event attr attr.
453
454Pipe-mode data
455
456Pipe-mode avoid seeks in the file by removing the perf_file_section and flags
457from the struct perf_header. The trimmed header is:
458
459struct perf_pipe_file_header {
460 u64 magic;
461 u64 size;
462};
463
464The information about attrs, data, and event_types is instead in the
465synthesized events PERF_RECORD_ATTR, PERF_RECORD_HEADER_TRACING_DATA,
466PERF_RECORD_HEADER_EVENT_TYPE, and PERF_RECORD_HEADER_FEATURE
467that are generated by perf record in pipe-mode.
468
469
470References:
471
472include/uapi/linux/perf_event.h
473
474This is the canonical description of the kernel generated perf_events
475and the perf_event_attrs.
476
477perf_events manpage
478
479A manpage describing perf_event and perf_event_attr is here:
480http://web.eece.maine.edu/~vweaver/projects/perf_events/programming.html
481This tends to be slightly behind the kernel include, but has better
482descriptions. An (typically older) version of the man page may be
483included with the standard Linux man pages, available with "man
484perf_events"
485
486pmu-tools
487
488https://github.com/andikleen/pmu-tools/tree/master/parser
489
490A definition of the perf.data format in python "construct" format is available
491in pmu-tools parser. This allows to read perf.data from python and dump it.
492
493quipper
494
495The quipper C++ parser is available at
496http://github.com/google/perf_data_converter/tree/master/src/quipper
497
1perf.data format
2
3Uptodate as of v4.7
4
5This document describes the on-disk perf.data format, generated by perf record
6or perf inject and consumed by the other perf tools.
7
8On a high level perf.data contains the events generated by the PMUs, plus metadata.
9
10All fields are in native-endian of the machine that generated the perf.data.
11
12When perf is writing to a pipe it uses a special version of the file
13format that does not rely on seeking to adjust data offsets. This
14format is not described here. The pipe version can be converted to
15normal perf.data with perf inject.
16
17The file starts with a perf_header:
18
19struct perf_header {
20 char magic[8]; /* PERFILE2 */
21 uint64_t size; /* size of the header */
22 uint64_t attr_size; /* size of an attribute in attrs */
23 struct perf_file_section attrs;
24 struct perf_file_section data;
25 struct perf_file_section event_types;
26 uint64_t flags;
27 uint64_t flags1[3];
28};
29
30The magic number identifies the perf file and the version. Current perf versions
31use PERFILE2. Old perf versions generated a version 1 format (PERFFILE). Version 1
32is not described here. The magic number also identifies the endian. When the
33magic value is 64bit byte swapped compared the file is in non-native
34endian.
35
36A perf_file_section contains a pointer to another section of the perf file.
37The header contains three such pointers: for attributes, data and event types.
38
39struct perf_file_section {
40 uint64_t offset; /* offset from start of file */
41 uint64_t size; /* size of the section */
42};
43
44Flags section:
45
46The header is followed by different optional headers, described by the bits set
47in flags. Only headers for which the bit is set are included. Each header
48consists of a perf_file_section located after the initial header.
49The respective perf_file_section points to the data of the additional
50header and defines its size.
51
52Some headers consist of strings, which are defined like this:
53
54struct perf_header_string {
55 uint32_t len;
56 char string[len]; /* zero terminated */
57};
58
59Some headers consist of a sequence of strings, which start with a
60
61struct perf_header_string_list {
62 uint32_t nr;
63 struct perf_header_string strings[nr]; /* variable length records */
64};
65
66The bits are the flags bits in a 256 bit bitmap starting with
67flags. These define the valid bits:
68
69 HEADER_RESERVED = 0, /* always cleared */
70 HEADER_FIRST_FEATURE = 1,
71 HEADER_TRACING_DATA = 1,
72
73Describe me.
74
75 HEADER_BUILD_ID = 2,
76
77The header consists of an sequence of build_id_event. The size of each record
78is defined by header.size (see perf_event.h). Each event defines a ELF build id
79for a executable file name for a pid. An ELF build id is a unique identifier
80assigned by the linker to an executable.
81
82struct build_id_event {
83 struct perf_event_header header;
84 pid_t pid;
85 uint8_t build_id[24];
86 char filename[header.size - offsetof(struct build_id_event, filename)];
87};
88
89 HEADER_HOSTNAME = 3,
90
91A perf_header_string with the hostname where the data was collected
92(uname -n)
93
94 HEADER_OSRELEASE = 4,
95
96A perf_header_string with the os release where the data was collected
97(uname -r)
98
99 HEADER_VERSION = 5,
100
101A perf_header_string with the perf user tool version where the
102data was collected. This is the same as the version of the source tree
103the perf tool was built from.
104
105 HEADER_ARCH = 6,
106
107A perf_header_string with the CPU architecture (uname -m)
108
109 HEADER_NRCPUS = 7,
110
111A structure defining the number of CPUs.
112
113struct nr_cpus {
114 uint32_t nr_cpus_online;
115 uint32_t nr_cpus_available; /* CPUs not yet onlined */
116};
117
118 HEADER_CPUDESC = 8,
119
120A perf_header_string with description of the CPU. On x86 this is the model name
121in /proc/cpuinfo
122
123 HEADER_CPUID = 9,
124
125A perf_header_string with the exact CPU type. On x86 this is
126vendor,family,model,stepping. For example: GenuineIntel,6,69,1
127
128 HEADER_TOTAL_MEM = 10,
129
130An uint64_t with the total memory in bytes.
131
132 HEADER_CMDLINE = 11,
133
134A perf_header_string with the perf command line used to collect the data.
135
136 HEADER_EVENT_DESC = 12,
137
138Another description of the perf_event_attrs, more detailed than header.attrs
139including IDs and names. See perf_event.h or the man page for a description
140of a struct perf_event_attr.
141
142struct {
143 uint32_t nr; /* number of events */
144 uint32_t attr_size; /* size of each perf_event_attr */
145 struct {
146 struct perf_event_attr attr; /* size of attr_size */
147 uint32_t nr_ids;
148 struct perf_header_string event_string;
149 uint64_t ids[nr_ids];
150 } events[nr]; /* Variable length records */
151};
152
153 HEADER_CPU_TOPOLOGY = 13,
154
155String lists defining the core and CPU threads topology.
156
157struct {
158 struct perf_header_string_list cores; /* Variable length */
159 struct perf_header_string_list threads; /* Variable length */
160};
161
162Example:
163 sibling cores : 0-3
164 sibling threads : 0-1
165 sibling threads : 2-3
166
167 HEADER_NUMA_TOPOLOGY = 14,
168
169 A list of NUMA node descriptions
170
171struct {
172 uint32_t nr;
173 struct {
174 uint32_t nodenr;
175 uint64_t mem_total;
176 uint64_t mem_free;
177 struct perf_header_string cpus;
178 } nodes[nr]; /* Variable length records */
179};
180
181 HEADER_BRANCH_STACK = 15,
182
183Not implemented in perf.
184
185 HEADER_PMU_MAPPINGS = 16,
186
187 A list of PMU structures, defining the different PMUs supported by perf.
188
189struct {
190 uint32_t nr;
191 struct pmu {
192 uint32_t pmu_type;
193 struct perf_header_string pmu_name;
194 } [nr]; /* Variable length records */
195};
196
197 HEADER_GROUP_DESC = 17,
198
199 Description of counter groups ({...} in perf syntax)
200
201struct {
202 uint32_t nr;
203 struct {
204 struct perf_header_string string;
205 uint32_t leader_idx;
206 uint32_t nr_members;
207 } [nr]; /* Variable length records */
208};
209
210 HEADER_AUXTRACE = 18,
211
212Define additional auxtrace areas in the perf.data. auxtrace is used to store
213undecoded hardware tracing information, such as Intel Processor Trace data.
214
215/**
216 * struct auxtrace_index_entry - indexes a AUX area tracing event within a
217 * perf.data file.
218 * @file_offset: offset within the perf.data file
219 * @sz: size of the event
220 */
221struct auxtrace_index_entry {
222 u64 file_offset;
223 u64 sz;
224};
225
226#define PERF_AUXTRACE_INDEX_ENTRY_COUNT 256
227
228/**
229 * struct auxtrace_index - index of AUX area tracing events within a perf.data
230 * file.
231 * @list: linking a number of arrays of entries
232 * @nr: number of entries
233 * @entries: array of entries
234 */
235struct auxtrace_index {
236 struct list_head list;
237 size_t nr;
238 struct auxtrace_index_entry entries[PERF_AUXTRACE_INDEX_ENTRY_COUNT];
239};
240
241 other bits are reserved and should ignored for now
242 HEADER_FEAT_BITS = 256,
243
244Attributes
245
246This is an array of perf_event_attrs, each attr_size bytes long, which defines
247each event collected. See perf_event.h or the man page for a detailed
248description.
249
250Data
251
252This section is the bulk of the file. It consist of a stream of perf_events
253describing events. This matches the format generated by the kernel.
254See perf_event.h or the manpage for a detailed description.
255
256Some notes on parsing:
257
258Ordering
259
260The events are not necessarily in time stamp order, as they can be
261collected in parallel on different CPUs. If the events should be
262processed in time order they need to be sorted first. It is possible
263to only do a partial sort using the FINISHED_ROUND event header (see
264below). perf record guarantees that there is no reordering over a
265FINISHED_ROUND.
266
267ID vs IDENTIFIER
268
269When the event stream contains multiple events each event is identified
270by an ID. This can be either through the PERF_SAMPLE_ID or the
271PERF_SAMPLE_IDENTIFIER header. The PERF_SAMPLE_IDENTIFIER header is
272at a fixed offset from the event header, which allows reliable
273parsing of the header. Relying on ID may be ambigious.
274IDENTIFIER is only supported by newer Linux kernels.
275
276Perf record specific events:
277
278In addition to the kernel generated event types perf record adds its
279own event types (in addition it also synthesizes some kernel events,
280for example MMAP events)
281
282 PERF_RECORD_USER_TYPE_START = 64,
283 PERF_RECORD_HEADER_ATTR = 64,
284
285struct attr_event {
286 struct perf_event_header header;
287 struct perf_event_attr attr;
288 uint64_t id[];
289};
290
291 PERF_RECORD_HEADER_EVENT_TYPE = 65, /* depreceated */
292
293#define MAX_EVENT_NAME 64
294
295struct perf_trace_event_type {
296 uint64_t event_id;
297 char name[MAX_EVENT_NAME];
298};
299
300struct event_type_event {
301 struct perf_event_header header;
302 struct perf_trace_event_type event_type;
303};
304
305
306 PERF_RECORD_HEADER_TRACING_DATA = 66,
307
308Describe me
309
310struct tracing_data_event {
311 struct perf_event_header header;
312 uint32_t size;
313};
314
315 PERF_RECORD_HEADER_BUILD_ID = 67,
316
317Define a ELF build ID for a referenced executable.
318
319 struct build_id_event; /* See above */
320
321 PERF_RECORD_FINISHED_ROUND = 68,
322
323No event reordering over this header. No payload.
324
325 PERF_RECORD_ID_INDEX = 69,
326
327Map event ids to CPUs and TIDs.
328
329struct id_index_entry {
330 uint64_t id;
331 uint64_t idx;
332 uint64_t cpu;
333 uint64_t tid;
334};
335
336struct id_index_event {
337 struct perf_event_header header;
338 uint64_t nr;
339 struct id_index_entry entries[nr];
340};
341
342 PERF_RECORD_AUXTRACE_INFO = 70,
343
344Auxtrace type specific information. Describe me
345
346struct auxtrace_info_event {
347 struct perf_event_header header;
348 uint32_t type;
349 uint32_t reserved__; /* For alignment */
350 uint64_t priv[];
351};
352
353 PERF_RECORD_AUXTRACE = 71,
354
355Defines auxtrace data. Followed by the actual data. The contents of
356the auxtrace data is dependent on the event and the CPU. For example
357for Intel Processor Trace it contains Processor Trace data generated
358by the CPU.
359
360struct auxtrace_event {
361 struct perf_event_header header;
362 uint64_t size;
363 uint64_t offset;
364 uint64_t reference;
365 uint32_t idx;
366 uint32_t tid;
367 uint32_t cpu;
368 uint32_t reserved__; /* For alignment */
369};
370
371struct aux_event {
372 struct perf_event_header header;
373 uint64_t aux_offset;
374 uint64_t aux_size;
375 uint64_t flags;
376};
377
378 PERF_RECORD_AUXTRACE_ERROR = 72,
379
380Describes an error in hardware tracing
381
382enum auxtrace_error_type {
383 PERF_AUXTRACE_ERROR_ITRACE = 1,
384 PERF_AUXTRACE_ERROR_MAX
385};
386
387#define MAX_AUXTRACE_ERROR_MSG 64
388
389struct auxtrace_error_event {
390 struct perf_event_header header;
391 uint32_t type;
392 uint32_t code;
393 uint32_t cpu;
394 uint32_t pid;
395 uint32_t tid;
396 uint32_t reserved__; /* For alignment */
397 uint64_t ip;
398 char msg[MAX_AUXTRACE_ERROR_MSG];
399};
400
401Event types
402
403Define the event attributes with their IDs.
404
405An array bound by the perf_file_section size.
406
407 struct {
408 struct perf_event_attr attr; /* Size defined by header.attr_size */
409 struct perf_file_section ids;
410 }
411
412ids points to a array of uint64_t defining the ids for event attr attr.
413
414References:
415
416include/uapi/linux/perf_event.h
417
418This is the canonical description of the kernel generated perf_events
419and the perf_event_attrs.
420
421perf_events manpage
422
423A manpage describing perf_event and perf_event_attr is here:
424http://web.eece.maine.edu/~vweaver/projects/perf_events/programming.html
425This tends to be slightly behind the kernel include, but has better
426descriptions. An (typically older) version of the man page may be
427included with the standard Linux man pages, available with "man
428perf_events"
429
430pmu-tools
431
432https://github.com/andikleen/pmu-tools/tree/master/parser
433
434A definition of the perf.data format in python "construct" format is available
435in pmu-tools parser. This allows to read perf.data from python and dump it.
436
437quipper
438
439The quipper C++ parser is available at
440https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/platform2
441
442It is under the chromiumos-wide-profiling/ subdirectory. This library can
443convert a perf data file to a protobuf and vice versa.
444
445Unfortunately this parser tends to be many versions behind and may not be able
446to parse data files generated by recent perf.