NAME
libpfm - a helper library to program the hardware performance counters
of IA-64 CPUs
SYNOPSIS
#include <perfmon/pfmlib.h>
DESCRIPTION
The libpfm library is a helper library which can be used by
applications to program the IA-64 Performance Monitoring Unit (PMU).
While it is being developed on Linux in conjunction with the Linux/ia64
subsystem. It is generic enough to be used on other IA-64 operating
systems. It is important to realize that the library does not make the
actual kernel calls to program the PMU, it simply helps you figure out
which PMU registers to use to measure certains events. On Linux/ia64,
for instance, it does not make any perfmonctl call.
There are two categories of PMU registers. The performance monitoring
data registers (PMD) are used to collects counts or serve as hardware
buffers. The performance monitoring control registers (PMCS) are used
to indicate what events need to be monitored. Programming the PMU
consists in setting up the PMC registers to monitor certain events. The
PMDS are commonly set to zero unless sampling is used.
The number of PMC and PMD registers varies from one implementation of
the IA-64 architecture to another. The association of PMC to PMD can
also change. Moreover the number and encoding of events can also widely
change. Finally, the structure of a PMC register can also change. All
these factors make it quite difficult to write monitoring tools.
This library is designed to simplify the programming of the PMC
registers by hiding the complexity behind simple interfaces. The
library does this without limiting accessibility to model specific
features by using a layered design.
The library is structured in two layers. The common layer provides an
interface that is shared by all implementations. For instance, getting
an event descriptor using the event name is the same operation on all
IA-64 implementation, even though the returned descriptor and the event
name can vary. This layer is good enough to setup simple monitoring
sessions which count occurrences of simple events. Then there is a
model specific layer which gives access to the model-specific features.
For instance, on Itanium, you can use the library to figure out how to
initialize PMC12 which controls the Branch Trace Buffer. Model specific
interfaces have the abbreviated PMU model name in their names. For
instance, pfm_ita2_get_event_umask() is an Itanium2 (ita2) specific
function.
When the library is initialized, it automatically probes the host CPU
and enables the right set of interfaces. The layered design uses a
modular implementation, where support for each CPU is well separated
and can be compiled in or out of the library.
The common interface is defined in the pfmlib.h header file. The
Itanium specific interface is in pfmlib_itanium.h. The
pfmlib_itanium2.h provides the Itanium2 interface.
The common interface is described in individual man pages. There is one
man page for each model specific set of interfaces.
AUTHOR
Stephane Eranian <eranian@hpl.hp.com>
SEE ALSO
pfmlib_itanium(3), pfmlib_itanium2(3) and the set of examples shipped
with the library
November, 2003