[PATCH v1 26/49] perf python: Port sctop to perf module

From: Ian Rogers

Date: Sun Sep 20 2026 - 01:29:57 EST


Port sctop.py from tools/perf/scripts/python/ to a standalone script in
tools/perf/python/ using an SCTopAnalyzer class structure.

Improvements compared to the legacy script:
- Support both offline perf.data analysis (via perf.session, advancing
display intervals deterministically using event timestamps) and live
monitoring (via LiveSession with automatic tracepoint fallback from
raw_syscalls:sys_enter to syscalls:sys_enter_*).
- Resolve architecture-aware syscall names via
perf.syscall_name(id, session.e_machine) without requiring
python-audit.
- Replace unsafe signal.SIGALRM dictionary mutation and os.popen("clear")
subshell spawning with a synchronized threading.Lock / threading.Event
timer and direct ANSI terminal escape sequences ('\x1b[2J\x1b[H').

Add a shell test (test_sctop_python.sh) to verify the standalone script.

Assisted-by: Antigravity:gemini-3.1-pro
Signed-off-by: Ian Rogers <irogers@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/perf/python/sctop.py | 216 ++++++++++++++++++++
tools/perf/tests/shell/test_sctop_python.sh | 71 +++++++
2 files changed, 287 insertions(+)
create mode 100755 tools/perf/python/sctop.py
create mode 100755 tools/perf/tests/shell/test_sctop_python.sh

diff --git a/tools/perf/python/sctop.py b/tools/perf/python/sctop.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..37c8328ef840
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/perf/python/sctop.py
@@ -0,0 +1,216 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+"""
+System call top
+
+Periodically displays system-wide system call totals, broken down by
+syscall. If a [comm] arg is specified, only syscalls called by
+[comm] are displayed. If an [interval] arg is specified, the display
+will be refreshed every [interval] seconds. The default interval is
+3 seconds.
+
+Ported from tools/perf/scripts/python/sctop.py
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+from collections import defaultdict
+import sys
+import threading
+from typing import Optional
+import perf
+from perf_live import LiveSession
+
+
+
+
+class SCTopAnalyzer:
+ """Periodically displays system-wide system call totals."""
+
+ def __init__(self, for_comm: Optional[str], interval: int, offline: bool = False):
+ self.for_comm = for_comm
+ self.interval = interval
+ self.syscalls: dict[int, int] = defaultdict(int)
+ self.comm_cache: dict[int, str] = {}
+ self.lock = threading.Lock()
+ self.stop_event = threading.Event()
+ self.thread = threading.Thread(target=self.print_syscall_totals)
+ self.offline = offline
+ self.last_print_time: Optional[int] = None
+ self.session: Optional[perf.session] = None
+ self.e_machine: Optional[int] = None
+
+ def syscall_name(self, syscall_id: int) -> str:
+ """Lookup syscall name by ID."""
+ try:
+ e_machine = getattr(self.session, "e_machine", self.e_machine)
+ if e_machine is not None:
+ name = perf.syscall_name(syscall_id, e_machine)
+ else:
+ name = perf.syscall_name(syscall_id)
+ if name is not None:
+ return name
+ except (TypeError, OverflowError):
+ pass
+ return str(syscall_id)
+
+ def process_event(self, sample: perf.sample_event) -> None:
+ """Collect syscall events."""
+ name = str(sample.evsel)
+ syscall_id = getattr(sample, "id", -1)
+ if syscall_id < 0 or syscall_id > 0xffff:
+ syscall_id = getattr(sample, "__syscall_nr", -1)
+ if syscall_id < 0 or syscall_id > 0xffff:
+ syscall_id = getattr(sample, "nr", -1)
+
+ skip = False
+ with self.lock:
+ if self.for_comm is not None:
+ comm = "Unknown"
+ if sample.sample_pid in self.comm_cache:
+ comm = self.comm_cache[sample.sample_pid]
+ elif hasattr(self, 'session') and self.session:
+ try:
+ proc = self.session.find_thread(sample.sample_pid)
+ if proc:
+ comm = proc.comm() or "Unknown"
+ except TypeError:
+ pass
+ else:
+ try:
+ with open(f"/proc/{sample.sample_pid}/comm", "r",
+ encoding="utf-8", errors="replace") as f:
+ comm = f.read().strip()
+ except OSError:
+ comm = "Unknown"
+ self.comm_cache[sample.sample_pid] = comm
+
+ if comm != self.for_comm:
+ skip = True
+
+ is_enter = (name.startswith("evsel(raw_syscalls:sys_enter") or
+ name.startswith("evsel(syscalls:sys_enter"))
+ if not skip and is_enter and 0 <= syscall_id <= 0xffff:
+ self.syscalls[syscall_id] += 1
+
+
+
+ if self.offline and hasattr(sample, "sample_time"):
+ interval_ns = self.interval * (10 ** 9)
+ if self.last_print_time is None:
+ self.last_print_time = sample.sample_time
+ elif sample.sample_time - self.last_print_time >= interval_ns:
+ self.print_current_totals()
+ self.last_print_time = sample.sample_time
+
+ def print_current_totals(self):
+ """Print current syscall totals."""
+ # Clear terminal
+ if not self.offline:
+ print("\x1b[2J\x1b[H", end="")
+ else:
+ print()
+
+ with self.lock:
+ for_comm = self.for_comm
+ if for_comm is not None:
+ print(f"\nsyscall events for {for_comm}:\n")
+ else:
+ print("\nsyscall events:\n")
+
+ print(f"{'event':40s} {'count':10s}")
+ print(f"{'-' * 40:40s} {'-' * 10:10s}")
+
+ with self.lock:
+ current_syscalls = list(self.syscalls.items())
+ self.syscalls.clear()
+ if len(self.comm_cache) > 4096:
+ self.comm_cache.clear()
+
+ current_syscalls.sort(key=lambda kv: (kv[1], kv[0]), reverse=True)
+
+ for syscall_id, val in current_syscalls:
+ print(f"{self.syscall_name(syscall_id):<40s} {val:10d}")
+
+ def print_syscall_totals(self):
+ """Periodically print syscall totals."""
+ while not self.stop_event.is_set():
+ self.print_current_totals()
+ self.stop_event.wait(self.interval)
+ # Print final batch
+ self.print_current_totals()
+
+ def start(self):
+ """Start the background thread."""
+ self.thread.start()
+
+ def stop(self):
+ """Stop the background thread."""
+ self.stop_event.set()
+ self.thread.join()
+
+
+def main():
+ """Main function."""
+ ap = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="System call top")
+ ap.add_argument("args", nargs="*", help="[comm] [interval] or [interval]")
+ ap.add_argument("-i", "--input", help="Input file name")
+ args = ap.parse_args()
+
+ for_comm = None
+ default_interval = 3
+ interval = default_interval
+
+ if len(args.args) > 2:
+ print("Usage: python sctop.py [comm] [interval]")
+ sys.exit(1)
+
+ if len(args.args) > 1:
+ for_comm = args.args[0]
+ try:
+ interval = int(args.args[1])
+ except ValueError:
+ print(f"Invalid interval: {args.args[1]}")
+ sys.exit(1)
+ elif len(args.args) > 0:
+ try:
+ interval = int(args.args[0])
+ except ValueError:
+ for_comm = args.args[0]
+ interval = default_interval
+
+ analyzer = SCTopAnalyzer(for_comm, interval, offline=bool(args.input))
+
+ if not args.input:
+ analyzer.start()
+
+ try:
+ if args.input:
+ session = perf.session(perf.data(args.input), sample=analyzer.process_event)
+ analyzer.session = session
+ session.process_events()
+ analyzer.e_machine = getattr(session, "e_machine", None)
+ else:
+ try:
+ live_session = LiveSession(
+ "raw_syscalls:sys_enter", sample_callback=analyzer.process_event
+ )
+ except OSError:
+ live_session = LiveSession(
+ "syscalls:sys_enter_*", sample_callback=analyzer.process_event
+ )
+ live_session.run()
+ except KeyboardInterrupt:
+ pass
+ except IOError as e:
+ print(f"Error: {e}")
+ finally:
+ if args.input:
+ analyzer.print_current_totals()
+ analyzer.session = None
+ else:
+ analyzer.stop()
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+ main()
diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/shell/test_sctop_python.sh b/tools/perf/tests/shell/test_sctop_python.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..da7d9468e987
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/shell/test_sctop_python.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+# sctop python test
+
+set -e
+
+shelldir=$(dirname "$0")
+# shellcheck source=lib/setup_python.sh
+. "${shelldir}"/lib/setup_python.sh
+
+if ! "$PYTHON" -c 'import perf' > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+ echo "Skipping test, perf python module not found"
+ exit 2
+fi
+
+script_dir="$(dirname "$0")/../../python"
+script_path="${script_dir}/sctop.py"
+
+if [ ! -f "$script_path" ]; then
+ echo "Skipping test, sctop.py not found at $script_path"
+ exit 2
+fi
+
+err=0
+temp_data=""
+temp_out=""
+
+cleanup() {
+ rm -f "${temp_data}" "${temp_out}"
+}
+trap 'cleanup' EXIT TERM INT
+
+temp_data=$(mktemp /tmp/perf.data.XXXXXX)
+temp_out=$(mktemp /tmp/perf.out.XXXXXX)
+
+echo "Testing sctop.py..."
+
+# Create a perf.data file.
+if perf list | grep -q "raw_syscalls:sys_enter"; then
+ perf record -e raw_syscalls:sys_enter -a -o "${temp_data}" \
+ -- sleep 0.1 >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
+ { echo "Skipping test, perf record failed"; exit 2; }
+else
+ echo "Skipping test, no raw_syscalls:sys_enter event"
+ exit 2
+fi
+
+
+if [ ! -s "${temp_data}" ]; then
+ echo "Skipping test, perf record failed to create data"
+ exit 2
+fi
+
+# Check that the script executes
+if ! "$PYTHON" "$script_path" -i "${temp_data}" > "${temp_out}"; then
+ echo "sctop.py test failed"
+ err=1
+elif ! "$PYTHON" "$script_path" -i "${temp_data}" sleep 1 >/dev/null; then
+ echo "sctop.py comm+interval test failed"
+ err=1
+else
+ if ! grep -E -q "[0-9]+$" "${temp_out}"; then
+ echo "Failed to find metric data rows"
+ err=1
+ else
+ echo "sctop test passed."
+ fi
+fi
+rm -f "${temp_out}"
+
+exit $err
--
2.55.0.1082.g2b9226bbc0-goog