Re: [PATCH] perf/x86/intel: Avoid PEBS_ENABLE MSR access in PMI

[Liang, Kan]

On 11/15/2019 9:07 AM, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 15, 2019 at 05:39:17AM -0800, kan.liang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > From: Kan Liang <kan.liang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> > The perf PMI handler, intel_pmu_handle_irq(), currently does
> > unnecessary MSR accesses when PEBS is enabled.
> >
> > When entering the handler, global ctrl is explicitly disabled. All
> > counters do not count anymore. It doesn't matter if the PEBS is
> > enabled or disabled. Furthermore, cpuc->pebs_enabled is not changed
> > in PMI. The PEBS status doesn't change. The PEBS_ENABLE MSR doesn't need
> > to be changed either.
>
> PMI can throttle, and iirc x86_pmu_stop() ends up in
> intel_pmu_pebs_disable()

Right, the declaration is inaccurate. I will fix it in v2.
But the patch still works for the case of PMI throttle.
The intel_pmu_pebs_disable() will update cpuc->pebs_enabled and 
unconditionally modify MSR_IA32_PEBS_ENABLE.
When exiting the handler, current perf re-write the PEBS MSR according 
to the updated cpuc->pebs_enabled, which is still unnecessary.

Thanks,
Kan