Re: plumbers session on profiling?

From: Bill Wendling
Date: Fri Jul 01 2022 - 06:18:17 EST


On Fri, Jul 1, 2022 at 2:02 AM Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Jun 28, 2022 at 07:08:48PM +0200, Jose E. Marchesi wrote:
> >
> > [Added linux-toolchains@vger in CC]
> >
> > It would be interesting to have some discussion in the Toolchains track
> > on building the kernel with PGO/FDO. I have seen a raise on interest on
> > the topic in several companies, but it would make very little sense if
> > no kernel hacker is interested in participating... anybody?
>
> I know there's been a lot of work in this area, but none of it seems to
> have trickled down to be easy enough for me to use it.

We use an instrumented kernel to collect the data we need. It gives us
the best payoff, because the profiling data is more fine-grained and
accurate. (PGO does much more than make inlining decisions.)

If I recall correctly, you previously suggested using sampling data.
(Correct?) Is there a document or article that outlines that process?

-bw