Re: [PATCH v7 00/15] perf annotate arm64: Support instruction tracking for data type profiling
From: Namhyung Kim
Date: Thu Oct 15 2026 - 19:12:12 EST
Hello,
On Tue, Oct 13, 2026 at 01:27:58PM +0000, Tengda Wu wrote:
> This series adds arm64 support to perf's data type profiling by
> implementing instruction tracking for the arm64 architecture.
>
> Patches 01-11 of v6 have already been merged. This version only
> contains the remaining instruction tracking part, renumbered from 01.
>
> The main changes since v6 include:
> v6: https://lore.kernel.org/all/cover.1789521520.git.wutengda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
>
> * Rebase on the latest tree, since flex array support patches have been
> merged recently.
> * Invalidate lifetime in propagate_load_reg_state(). (Sashiko)
> * Remove the has_reg_type() guard in update_store_insn_state() to avoid
> skipping the stack state invalidation logic. (Sashiko)
> * Fix the issue where TSR_KIND_PERCPU_BASE fails to retry as expected. (Sashiko)
>
> Patch organization
> ==================
>
> Patches 1-3: Shared infrastructure. Extract invalidate_reg_state() as
> a common helper, add the arch_get_reg_offset() helper for
> computing operand base offsets, and wire up the arm64
> entry points (arch_supports_insn_tracking(),
> init_type_state(), and update_insn_state_arm64()).
>
> Patches 4-6: Core instruction tracking for arm64: function return
> types after calls, load instructions (ldr/ldp and their
> addressing modes), and store instructions (str/stp).
>
> Patches 7-9: Shared data structure improvements and an x86 fix.
> Expand type_state_reg.imm_value to u64 so 64-bit
> addresses can be tracked, preserve imm_value for stack
> variables, and delete stale stack state on store of an
> untracked register on x86.
>
> Patches 10-15: Remaining arm64 patterns: stack variable tracking,
> 'mov' (register and immediate forms), 'add' member
> address calculation, 'adrp' global variable tracking,
> per-cpu variable access, and 'mrs sp_el0' to resolve the
> 'current' pointer.
>
> Each patch's type profiling results are as follows:
>
> Patch | Feature | no_sym | no_var | no_typeinfo | bad_offset | insn_track | ok(%)
> ------+----------------------------+--------+--------+-------------+------------+------------+------
> base | baseline | 6 | 493 | - | - | - | 56.2%
> 0002 | enable insn tracking | 6 | 42 | 437 | 2 | 12 | 57.2%
> 0005 | support 'load' insn | 6 | 42 | 398 | 1 | 52 | 60.7%
> 0006 | support 'store' insn | 6 | 42 | 398 | 1 | 52 | 60.7%
> 0010 | support stack variable | 6 | 42 | 391 | 1 | 59 | 61.3%
> 0011 | support 'mov' insn | 6 | 42 | 372 | 3 | 76 | 62.8%
> 0012 | support 'add' insn | 6 | 42 | 318 | 7 | 126 | 67.2%
> 0013 | support 'adrp' insn | 6 | 42 | 238 | 8 | 205 | 74.2%
> 0014 | support per-cpu variable | 6 | 42 | 233 | 8 | 210 | 74.6%
> 0015 | support 'mrs' insn | 6 | 42 | 230 | 8 | 213 | 74.9%
>
> Testing
> =======
>
> Tested on arm64 (all passed):
>
> # perf test -v "perf data type profiling tests"
> 81: perf data type profiling tests : Ok
>
> === Test Summary ===
> Passed main tests : 1
> Passed subtests : 0
> Skipped tests : 0
> Failed tests : 0
>
> Tested on x86. The profiling results show no change before/after applying
> this patch series:
>
> before : total 880, ok 711 (80.8%), bad 169 (19.2%)
> after : total 880, ok 711 (80.8%), bad 169 (19.2%)
>
> Changelog
> =========
> v6 -> v7:
> - v6: https://lore.kernel.org/all/cover.1789521520.git.wutengda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
> - Invalidate lifetime in propagate_load_reg_state().
> - Remove the has_reg_type() guard in update_store_insn_state().
> - Fix the issue where TSR_KIND_PERCPU_BASE fails to retry as expected.
>
> Please let me know if you have any feedback.
Thanks a lot for your work! Assuming you'll fix the issues from Sashiko
in the next version, you can add my:
Reviewed-by: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@xxxxxxxxxx>
Thanks,
Namhyung
> Tengda Wu (15):
> perf annotate-data: Extract invalidate_reg_state() as a common helper
> perf annotate-arm64: Enable instruction tracking support
> perf annotate-data: Add arch_get_reg_offset helper
> perf annotate-arm64: Track return type after call instructions
> perf annotate-arm64: Support load instruction tracking
> perf annotate-arm64: Support store instruction tracking
> perf annotate-data: Expand type_state_reg imm_value to u64
> perf annotate-data: Track imm_value for stack variables
> perf annotate-x86: Delete stale stack state on store of untracked
> register
> perf annotate-arm64: Support stack variable tracking
> perf annotate-arm64: Support 'mov' instruction tracking
> perf annotate-arm64: Support 'add' instruction tracking
> perf annotate-arm64: Support 'adrp' instruction to track global
> variables
> perf annotate-arm64: Support per-cpu variable access tracking
> perf annotate-arm64: Support 'mrs' instruction to track 'current'
> pointer
>
> .../perf/util/annotate-arch/annotate-arm64.c | 750 ++++++++++++++++++
> tools/perf/util/annotate-arch/annotate-x86.c | 38 +-
> tools/perf/util/annotate-data.c | 209 ++++-
> tools/perf/util/annotate-data.h | 14 +-
> 4 files changed, 963 insertions(+), 48 deletions(-)
>
>
> base-commit: aac26bee2287c88af5be5a5ff96d783b19a28790
> --
> 2.34.1
>