[PATCH V3 1/6] powerpc/perf: Add HTM PMU driver to expose Hardware Trace Macro data
From: Athira Rajeev <hidden>
Date: 2026-07-25 07:00:13
Also in:
linux-perf-users
Subsystem:
linux for powerpc (32-bit and 64-bit), the rest · Maintainers:
Madhavan Srinivasan, Michael Ellerman, Linus Torvalds
The H_HTM hypervisor call (hcall) provides an interface to the Hardware
Trace Macro (HTM) function on POWER systems. HTM captures hardware-level
trace data for a specific node/chip/core target within a logical partition.
Add a new "htm" Performance Monitoring Unit (PMU) that exposes HTM control
via the standard perf interface. The event configuration is a 28-bit value
packed into the perf config field:
bits 0-3: htm_type (HTM_CORE=2, HTM_NEST=1)
bits 4-11: nodeindex
bits 12-19: nodalchipindex
bits 20-27: coreindexonchip
PMU lifecycle:
add/del: Issue H_HTM_OP_CONFIGURE / H_HTM_OP_DECONFIGURE to reserve
and release the hardware trace resource.
start/stop: Issue H_HTM_OP_START / H_HTM_OP_STOP to control tracing.
HTM traces at node/chip/core scope continuously for the
duration of the event. Context-switch-triggered start/stop
callbacks (PERF_EF_RELOAD / PERF_EF_UPDATE) are ignored to
keep tracing uninterrupted. Explicit ioctl(ENABLE/DISABLE)
and event deletion do control the hardware.
State tracking uses event->pmu_private (HTM_TRACING_ACTIVE/INACTIVE) as
the source of information, with event->hw.state kept in sync as a hint
for the perf core. This avoids conflicts with infrastructure writes to
event->hw.state.
H_BUSY, H_LONG_BUSY_* and other erros handling:
All PMU callbacks (add, del, start, stop) are invoked in an atomic
context with interrupts disabled and hardware context locks held;
sleeping is not possible anywhere in the driver.
H_BUSY (transient): retried in a spin loop up to MAX_RETRIES times.
H_LONG_BUSY_* (hypervisor requests a long delay before retry) and
other errors: not retried. The correct response differs by callsite:
- pmu->add (H_HTM_OP_CONFIGURE): returns -ENODEV on any non-success
result from the configure hcall. Returning -EAGAIN from pmu->add()
would cause the perf core to re-queue the event and call pmu->add()
again on every context switch, flooding the hypervisor with
H_HTM_OP_CONFIGURE hcalls exactly when it has requested a long
backoff delay. -ENODEV is a hard failure that the perf core does
not reschedule.
- pmu->stop (H_HTM_OP_STOP): exits immediately on any failure,
leaving tracing_active as HTM_TRACING_ACTIVE. The perf core always
calls pmu->del() after pmu->stop(), so htm_event_del() is the
guaranteed retry point for the stop hcall.
- pmu->del (H_HTM_OP_STOP retry and H_HTM_OP_DECONFIGURE): retries
the stop hcall first. H_HTM_OP_DECONFIGURE requires the trace to be
stopped first; if the stop retry fails, the deconfigure will
fail too. Both failures are surfaced via pr_err with target
identifiers (node/chip/core/type).
A workqueue-based deferred cleanup was considered but rejected as
over-engineering for a firmware-maintenance-only edge case that is
consistent with how all other in-tree POWER hcall-backed PMU drivers
Note: this patch does not prevent two concurrent perf_event_open() calls
for the same HTM hardware target (node/chip/core) from being opened
simultaneously on different CPUs. PERF_PMU_CAP_EXCLUSIVE only enforces
exclusivity within the same per-CPU context and does not cover this case.
A global reserved-targets list to reject duplicate reservations is added
in the next patch.
After this patch the PMU is visible under sysfs:
# ls /sys/bus/event_source/devices/ |grep htm
htm
# ls /sys/bus/event_source/devices/htm/
events format perf_event_mux_interval_ms power subsystem type uevent
Signed-off-by: Athira Rajeev <redacted>
---
Changes in V3:
- Expanded the H_BUSY, H_LONG_BUSY_* and other errors handling section to
give per-callsite rationale for each hcall (configure, stop, del).
V2 described the retry policy but not why each site responds differently.
- Added explicit note that this patch does not yet prevent duplicate concurrent
perf_event_open() calls for the same HTM target; that is handled in patch 2.
V2 omitted this cross-reference.
- Diffstat grows from 379 to 422 lines added (the extra lines come from the
expanded commit message body; no functional change to the driver code
itself).
- No functional change to the driver code in this patch.
Changes in V2:
- Moved the HTM PMU driver from arch/powerpc/htm/ to arch/powerpc/perf/
and renamed the source file from htm.c to htm-perf.c to follow the
naming convention of other PMU drivers in that directory.
- Replaced direct H_HTM_OP_CONFIGURE/DECONFIGURE calls in htm_event_add()
and htm_event_del() with separate htm_event_init() and destroy paths.
State tracking is now via event->pmu_private (HTM_TRACING_ACTIVE /
HTM_TRACING_INACTIVE) as the authoritative source, with event->hw.state
kept in sync as a hint for the perf core, avoiding conflicts with
infrastructure writes to event->hw.state.
- Context-switch callbacks (PERF_EF_RELOAD / PERF_EF_UPDATE) are now
explicitly ignored in htm_event_start()/stop() to keep tracing
uninterrupted across task switches; previously these paths were absent.
- H_BUSY retry loop is capped at MAX_RETRIES; H_LONG_BUSY_* is not
retried in atomic context to avoid deadlocks (was unconditionally
retried in V1).
arch/powerpc/perf/Makefile | 2 +-
arch/powerpc/perf/htm-perf.c | 422 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 423 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
create mode 100644 arch/powerpc/perf/htm-perf.c
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/perf/Makefile b/arch/powerpc/perf/Makefile
index 78dd7e25219e..26ef30c0693c 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/perf/Makefile
+++ b/arch/powerpc/perf/Makefile@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_PPC_POWERNV) += imc-pmu.o obj-$(CONFIG_FSL_EMB_PERF_EVENT) += core-fsl-emb.o obj-$(CONFIG_FSL_EMB_PERF_EVENT_E500) += e500-pmu.o e6500-pmu.o -obj-$(CONFIG_HV_PERF_CTRS) += hv-24x7.o hv-gpci.o hv-common.o vpa-dtl.o +obj-$(CONFIG_HV_PERF_CTRS) += hv-24x7.o hv-gpci.o hv-common.o vpa-dtl.o htm-perf.o obj-$(CONFIG_VPA_PMU) += vpa-pmu.o
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/perf/htm-perf.c b/arch/powerpc/perf/htm-perf.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4e4c924ecfd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/arch/powerpc/perf/htm-perf.c@@ -0,0 +1,422 @@ +// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later +/* + * Perf interface to expose HTM Trace data. + * + * Copyright (C) 2026 Athira Rajeev, IBM Corporation + */ + +#define pr_fmt(fmt) "htm: " fmt + +#include <asm/dtl.h> +#include <linux/perf_event.h> +#include <asm/plpar_wrappers.h> +#include <asm/firmware.h> + +#define EVENT(_name, _code) enum{_name = _code} +#define MAX_RETRIES 100 + +EVENT(HTM_CORE, 0x2); +EVENT(HTM_NEST, 0x1); + +GENERIC_EVENT_ATTR(htm_core, HTM_CORE); +GENERIC_EVENT_ATTR(htm_nest, HTM_NEST); + +PMU_FORMAT_ATTR(event, "config:0-27"); +PMU_FORMAT_ATTR(htm_type, "config:0-3"); +PMU_FORMAT_ATTR(nodeindex, "config:4-11"); +PMU_FORMAT_ATTR(nodalchipindex, "config:12-19"); +PMU_FORMAT_ATTR(coreindexonchip, "config:20-27"); + +static struct attribute *events_attr[] = { + GENERIC_EVENT_PTR(HTM_NEST), + GENERIC_EVENT_PTR(HTM_CORE), + NULL +}; + +static struct attribute_group event_group = { + .name = "events", + .attrs = events_attr, +}; + +static struct attribute *format_attrs[] = { + &format_attr_event.attr, + &format_attr_htm_type.attr, + &format_attr_nodeindex.attr, + &format_attr_nodalchipindex.attr, + &format_attr_coreindexonchip.attr, + NULL, +}; + +static const struct attribute_group format_group = { + .name = "format", + .attrs = format_attrs, +}; + +static const struct attribute_group *attr_groups[] = { + &format_group, + &event_group, + NULL, +}; + +static u64 htmflags = H_HTM_FLAGS_NOWRAP; + +struct htm_config { + u32 htmtype; + u32 nodeindex; + u32 nodalchipindex; + u32 coreindexonchip; +}; + +/* + * Per-event private state. Allocated in htm_event_init(), freed via the + * event->destroy callback (reset_htm_active()). + * + * cfg stores the HTM target identity parsed from event->attr.config. + * tracing_active tracks whether H_HTM_OP_START has been successfully issued + * for this event. It is the source of information used by + * htm_event_start() and htm_event_stop() to make hcall decisions. + * event->hw.state is kept in sync for the perf core only. + */ +struct htm_target_id { + struct htm_config cfg; + int tracing_active; /* HTM_TRACING_ACTIVE / HTM_TRACING_INACTIVE */ +}; + +/* Helper to parse the 28-bit event config into distinct fields */ +static inline void parse_htm_config(u64 config, struct htm_config *cfg) +{ + cfg->htmtype = config & 0xf; + cfg->nodeindex = (config >> 4) & 0xff; + cfg->nodalchipindex = (config >> 12) & 0xff; + cfg->coreindexonchip = (config >> 20) & 0xff; +} + +/* + * Check the return code for H_HTM hcall. + * Return 1 if either H_PARTIAL or H_SUCCESS is returned. + * Return 0 if H_NOT_AVAILABLE. + * Return exact negative error codes for expected issues. + */ +static ssize_t htm_return_check(int rc) +{ + switch (rc) { + case H_SUCCESS: + case H_PARTIAL: + return 1; + case H_NOT_AVAILABLE: + return 0; + case H_BUSY: + /* Transient busy: retry loop will spin up to MAX_RETRIES */ + return -EBUSY; + case H_LONG_BUSY_ORDER_1_MSEC: + case H_LONG_BUSY_ORDER_10_MSEC: + case H_LONG_BUSY_ORDER_100_MSEC: + case H_LONG_BUSY_ORDER_1_SEC: + case H_LONG_BUSY_ORDER_10_SEC: + case H_LONG_BUSY_ORDER_100_SEC: + /* + * Hypervisor requests a long delay before retry. All PMU + * callbacks (add, del, start, stop) are invoked in an atomic + * context with interrupts disabled and hardware context locks + * held. sleeping is not possible anywhere in the driver. + * Return -EAGAIN so every caller can distinguish this from + * transient H_BUSY and treat it as a hard failure without + * spinning or sleeping. See the per-callsite comments for how + * each caller handles it. + */ + return -EAGAIN; + case H_PARAMETER: + case H_P2: + case H_P3: + case H_P4: + case H_P5: + case H_P6: + return -EINVAL; + case H_STATE: + return -EIO; + case H_AUTHORITY: + return -EPERM; + default: + /* Prevent silent fallthrough mapping of unhandled errors to 1 */ + return -EIO; + } +} + +/* + * HTM_TRACING_ACTIVE/INACTIVE: values for htm_target_id.tracing_active. + * Tracks whether H_HTM_OP_START has been successfully issued. + * HTM traces at node/chip/core scope, not per-task. Once started, + * context-switch-triggered stop/start (PERF_EF_UPDATE / PERF_EF_RELOAD) + * must not stop/restart the hardware. Only explicit API calls + * (ioctl DISABLE/ENABLE) and event_del should control the hcall. + */ +#define HTM_TRACING_ACTIVE 1 +#define HTM_TRACING_INACTIVE 0 + +static void reset_htm_active(struct perf_event *event) +{ + kfree(event->pmu_private); + event->pmu_private = NULL; +} + +static int htm_event_init(struct perf_event *event) +{ + u64 config = event->attr.config; + struct htm_config cfg; + + if (event->attr.inherit) + return -EOPNOTSUPP; + + if (event->attr.type != event->pmu->type) + return -ENOENT; + + if (!perfmon_capable()) + return -EACCES; + + if (!is_sampling_event(event)) + return -EOPNOTSUPP; + + if (has_branch_stack(event)) + return -EOPNOTSUPP; + + parse_htm_config(config, &cfg); + switch (cfg.htmtype) { + case HTM_CORE: + case HTM_NEST: + break; + default: + return -EINVAL; + } + + /* Allocate per-event private state; freed via event->destroy */ + event->pmu_private = kzalloc(sizeof(struct htm_target_id), GFP_KERNEL); + if (!event->pmu_private) + return -ENOMEM; + + ((struct htm_target_id *)event->pmu_private)->cfg = cfg; + event->destroy = reset_htm_active; + return 0; +} + +static void htm_event_start(struct perf_event *event, int flags) +{ + int rc, ret, retries = 0; + struct htm_config cfg; + struct htm_target_id *target = event->pmu_private; + + /* + * Ignore context-switch re-enables. The perf core passes + * PERF_EF_RELOAD on context-switch-in. HTM tracing is + * continuous at hardware level, no hcall needed. + */ + if (flags & PERF_EF_RELOAD) + return; + + /* Already tracing, don't issue a second start hcall */ + if (target->tracing_active == HTM_TRACING_ACTIVE) + return; + + cfg = target->cfg; + + /* Only retry on transient H_BUSY; H_LONG_BUSY_* (-EAGAIN) exits immediately */ + do { + rc = htm_hcall_wrapper(htmflags, cfg.nodeindex, cfg.nodalchipindex, + cfg.coreindexonchip, cfg.htmtype, + H_HTM_OP_START, 0, 0, 0); + ret = htm_return_check(rc); + } while (ret == -EBUSY && ++retries < MAX_RETRIES); + + if (ret > 0) { + target->tracing_active = HTM_TRACING_ACTIVE; + event->hw.state &= ~PERF_HES_STOPPED; + } +} + +static void htm_event_stop(struct perf_event *event, int flags) +{ + int rc, ret, retries = 0; + struct htm_config cfg; + struct htm_target_id *target = event->pmu_private; + + /* + * Ignore context-switch-out stops. The perf core passes + * PERF_EF_UPDATE on context-switch-out. Do not stop the hcall. + */ + if (flags & PERF_EF_UPDATE) + return; + + /* Not tracing, nothing to stop */ + if (target->tracing_active == HTM_TRACING_INACTIVE) + return; + + cfg = target->cfg; + + /* Only retry on transient H_BUSY; H_LONG_BUSY_* (-EAGAIN) exits immediately */ + do { + rc = htm_hcall_wrapper(htmflags, cfg.nodeindex, cfg.nodalchipindex, + cfg.coreindexonchip, cfg.htmtype, + H_HTM_OP_STOP, 0, 0, 0); + ret = htm_return_check(rc); + } while (ret == -EBUSY && ++retries < MAX_RETRIES); + + /* + * Only mark stopped if the hcall succeeded. If the stop failed + * (e.g. -EAGAIN on long-busy), leave tracing_active as ACTIVE so + * that htm_event_del will retry the stop hcall rather than + * skipping it and leaving the hypervisor permanently configured. + */ + if (ret > 0) { + target->tracing_active = HTM_TRACING_INACTIVE; + event->hw.state |= PERF_HES_STOPPED; + } +} + +static int htm_event_add(struct perf_event *event, int flags) +{ + int rc, ret, retries = 0; + unsigned long param1 = -1, param2 = -1; + struct htm_target_id *target = event->pmu_private; + struct htm_config cfg = target->cfg; + + /* + * pmu->add() is invoked in an atomic context with interrupts disabled + * and hardware context locks held. sleeping is impossible. Only retry + * on transient H_BUSY. On H_LONG_BUSY_* (-EAGAIN) and other errors, the + * loop exits and we return -ENODEV, which is a hard failure: the perf + * core will not reschedule the event. Returning -EAGAIN here would cause + * the perf core to re-queue the event and call pmu->add() again on every + * context switch, flooding the hypervisor with H_HTM_OP_CONFIGURE hcalls + * exactly when it has requested a long backoff delay. + */ + do { + rc = htm_hcall_wrapper(htmflags, cfg.nodeindex, cfg.nodalchipindex, + cfg.coreindexonchip, cfg.htmtype, + H_HTM_OP_CONFIGURE, param1, param2, 0); + ret = htm_return_check(rc); + } while (ret == -EBUSY && ++retries < MAX_RETRIES); + + if (ret <= 0) + return -ENODEV; + + /* + * htm_event_init() allocated event->pmu_private (struct htm_target_id) + * and set event->destroy = reset_htm_active to free it on teardown. + * Initialise the tracing state and hw.state before calling start. + */ + target->tracing_active = HTM_TRACING_INACTIVE; + event->hw.state = PERF_HES_STOPPED; + + /* + * Start tracing via the .start callback so the standard + * PERF_EF_START / ioctl(ENABLE) path is honoured. + */ + if (flags & PERF_EF_START) { + htm_event_start(event, 0); /* flags=0: not a context switch */ + if (target->tracing_active == HTM_TRACING_INACTIVE) { + /* + * Start failed. Attempt to deconfigure to avoid leaving + * the hypervisor resource permanently reserved. + * pmu->add() is atomic, only H_BUSY is retried. If + * H_LONG_BUSY_* or other eerros is returned here, the + * resource cannot be reclaimed in this context; log the + * failure so it is visible in the kernel log. + */ + retries = 0; + do { + rc = htm_hcall_wrapper(htmflags, cfg.nodeindex, + cfg.nodalchipindex, cfg.coreindexonchip, + cfg.htmtype, H_HTM_OP_DECONFIGURE, 0, 0, 0); + ret = htm_return_check(rc); + } while (ret == -EBUSY && ++retries < MAX_RETRIES); + if (ret <= 0) { + pr_err("DECONFIGURE failed in htm event add (ret=%d) node:%u chip:%u core:%u type:%u;\n", + ret, cfg.nodeindex, cfg.nodalchipindex, cfg.coreindexonchip, cfg.htmtype); + } + return -EIO; + } + } + + return 0; +} + +static void htm_event_del(struct perf_event *event, int flags) +{ + int rc, ret, retries = 0; + struct htm_target_id *target = event->pmu_private; + struct htm_config cfg = target->cfg; + + /* + * pmu->del() is called by the perf core after pmu->stop(), whether + * triggered by ioctl(PERF_EVENT_IOC_DISABLE) or event destruction. + * pmu->del() is invoked in an atomic context with IRQs disabled, + * sleeping is impossible. + * + * If a prior htm_event_stop() call returned with tracing_active still + * set to HTM_TRACING_ACTIVE (because H_LONG_BUSY_* caused an immediate + * exit), calling htm_event_stop() again here with flags=0 retries the + * H_HTM_OP_STOP hcall. This del path is the guaranteed retry point: + * the perf core will always reach del after stop, so the trace is not + * permanently left running in the hypervisor. Only H_BUSY is retried + * here; H_LONG_BUSY_* or any erroes on stop is treated as a best-effort, + * ie the deconfigure that follows will still be attempted and error logged. + */ + htm_event_stop(event, 0); + + /* + * Deconfigure the hardware resource. Only H_BUSY is retried. + * If H_LONG_BUSY_* or any other error is returned, the resource + * cannot be reclaimed in this atomic context; log the failure so it + * is visible in the kernel log. + */ + do { + rc = htm_hcall_wrapper(htmflags, cfg.nodeindex, cfg.nodalchipindex, + cfg.coreindexonchip, cfg.htmtype, + H_HTM_OP_DECONFIGURE, 0, 0, 0); + ret = htm_return_check(rc); + } while (ret == -EBUSY && ++retries < MAX_RETRIES); + if (ret <= 0) { + pr_err("DECONFIGURE failed in htm event del (ret=%d) node:%u chip:%u core:%u type:%u;\n", + ret, cfg.nodeindex, cfg.nodalchipindex, cfg.coreindexonchip, cfg.htmtype); + } + /* pmu_private freed by event->destroy = reset_htm_active */ +} + +static void htm_event_read(struct perf_event *event) +{ +} + +static struct pmu htm_pmu = { + .task_ctx_nr = perf_invalid_context, + .name = "htm", + .attr_groups = attr_groups, + .event_init = htm_event_init, + .add = htm_event_add, + .del = htm_event_del, + .read = htm_event_read, + .start = htm_event_start, + .stop = htm_event_stop, + .capabilities = PERF_PMU_CAP_NO_EXCLUDE | PERF_PMU_CAP_EXCLUSIVE, +}; + +static int htm_init(void) +{ + int r; + + if (!firmware_has_feature(FW_FEATURE_LPAR)) { + pr_debug("Only supported on LPAR platforms running under a Hypervisor\n"); + return -ENODEV; + } + + if (is_kvm_guest()) { + pr_debug("Only supported for L1 host system\n"); + return -ENODEV; + } + + r = perf_pmu_register(&htm_pmu, htm_pmu.name, -1); + if (r) + return r; + + return 0; +} + +device_initcall(htm_init);
--
2.43.0