Re: [PATCH v7 2/2] drm/xe/guc: Compress GuC log and CTB dump with zstd

["Souza, Jose" <jose.souza@intel.com>]

On Tue, 2026-08-04 at 21:07 -0400, Rodrigo Vivi wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 31, 2026 at 11:54:11AM -0400, Zhanjun Dong wrote:
> > With the default settings, the GuC log is several megabytes in
> > size.
> > Printing the entire log is time-consuming.
> 
> I'm not sure printing is the right/good wording here to be honest.
> 
> Stepping back a bit, is opening the file with uncompressed log time
> consuming?
> But then if you need to see the GuC log don't you have to go there
> decompress and then open anyway?
> 
> What is actually the problem in the regular handling of GuC log?
> 
> > In debugging scenarios,
> > printing the GuC log to dmesg while forwarding the dmesg output to
> > a
> 
> Okay, kernel buf log was not made for that. This is an abuse anyway.
> 
> > serial console can take several minutes. It can also exhaust the
> > storage
> > allocated to CI logs.
> 
> But well, I understand the need. In some machines where the bug
> happened
> perhaps the serial is the only output we can collect before the
> machine is completely dead. This is why the GuC logs from dmesg was
> never completely removed, but only hidden behind a config flag.
> 
> But well, if this is the problematic case, why can't we compress only
> when
> we are spitting that to the kernel buf log? And leave devcoredump as
> is?
> 
> > Follow i915's approach and compress the GuC dump
> > data to address these issues.
> 
> 2 wrong don't make 1 right!
> 
> > 
> > Replace the raw ascii85 dumps of GuC log snapshots with a
> > zstd-compressed ascii85 stream and reuse the same helper for CTB
> > snapshot output.
> > 
> > Use zstd streaming with the default compression level of 3 and an
> > estimated source size of 0 so the compression workspace stays
> > bounded
> > even for multi-megabyte logs.
> > 
> > Add a new Kconfig option DRM_XE_COMPRESS_DUMP to control whether
> > GuC log and CTB dumps are compressed with ZSTD. This allows users
> > to
> > choose between reduced dump sizes and lower memory usage.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Zhanjun Dong <zhanjun.dong@intel.com>
> 
> Cc: José Roberto de Souza <jose.souza@intel.com>
> 
> Jose, would this break the mesa decode tool or it is transparent
> to that?
> 
> For Mesa use case, compressed GuC log works?

Mesa just ignore the GuC log, from what I understood, this patch would
keep the [CTB].length and [CTB].data so Mesa parser would know what to
skip.

So from our side this is: Acked-by: José Roberto de Souza
<jose.souza@intel.com>

Up to KMD and GuC team if this is useful.


> 
> > ---
> >  drivers/gpu/drm/xe/Kconfig          |  15 +++
> >  drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_devcoredump.c |   4 +-
> >  drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_ct.c      |  19 ++--
> >  drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_ct.h      |   4 +-
> >  drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_log.c     | 161
> > +++++++++++++++++++++++++---
> >  drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_log.h     |   9 +-
> >  6 files changed, 183 insertions(+), 29 deletions(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/Kconfig
> > b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/Kconfig
> > index 4d7dcaff2b91..18a682a44b31 100644
> > --- a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/Kconfig
> > +++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/Kconfig
> > @@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ config DRM_XE
> >  	select ACPI_WMI if X86 && ACPI
> >  	select SYNC_FILE
> >  	select CRC32
> > +	select ZSTD_COMPRESS if DRM_XE_COMPRESS_DUMP
> >  	select SND_HDA_I915 if SND_HDA_CORE
> >  	select CEC_CORE if CEC_NOTIFIER
> >  	select VMAP_PFN
> > @@ -101,6 +102,20 @@ config DRM_XE_PAGEMAP
> >  
> >  	  If in doubt say "Y".
> >  
> > +config DRM_XE_COMPRESS_DUMP
> > +	bool "Enable ZSTD compression for error dumps"
> > +	depends on DRM_XE
> > +	default y
> > +	help
> > +	  Enable this option to compress GuC log and CTB dumps
> > with ZSTD
> > +	  compression. This can significantly reduce the size of
> > error dumps
> > +	  but requires additional memory for compression
> > workspace.
> > +
> > +	  Disable this option if you want to save memory or prefer
> > uncompressed
> > +	  error dumps for debugging.
> > +
> > +	  If in doubt say "Y".
> > +
> >  config DRM_XE_FORCE_PROBE
> >  	string "Force probe xe for selected Intel hardware IDs"
> >  	depends on DRM_XE
> > diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_devcoredump.c
> > b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_devcoredump.c
> > index 5f2b90b18f97..27473c25aad2 100644
> > --- a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_devcoredump.c
> > +++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_devcoredump.c
> > @@ -115,9 +115,9 @@ static ssize_t __xe_devcoredump_read(char
> > *buffer, ssize_t count,
> >  	drm_printf(&p, "\tTile: %d\n", ss->gt->tile->id);
> >  
> >  	drm_puts(&p, "\n**** GuC Log ****\n");
> > -	xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(ss->guc.log, &p);
> > +	xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(ss->guc.log, &p, ss->gt);
> >  	drm_puts(&p, "\n**** GuC CT ****\n");
> > -	xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print(ss->guc.ct, &p);
> > +	xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print(ss->guc.ct, &p, ss->gt);
> >  
> >  	drm_puts(&p, "\n**** Contexts ****\n");
> >  	xe_guc_exec_queue_snapshot_print(ss->ge, &p);
> > diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_ct.c
> > b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_ct.c
> > index fe70c0fd85c5..19314184798c 100644
> > --- a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_ct.c
> > +++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_ct.c
> > @@ -2135,11 +2135,12 @@ struct xe_guc_ct_snapshot
> > *xe_guc_ct_snapshot_capture(struct xe_guc_ct *ct)
> >   * xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print - Print out a given GuC CT snapshot.
> >   * @snapshot: GuC CT snapshot object.
> >   * @p: drm_printer where it will be printed out.
> > + * @gt: GT structure for error reporting
> >   *
> >   * This function prints out a given GuC CT snapshot object.
> >   */
> >  void xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print(struct xe_guc_ct_snapshot *snapshot,
> > -			      struct drm_printer *p)
> > +			      struct drm_printer *p, struct xe_gt
> > *gt)
> >  {
> >  	if (!snapshot)
> >  		return;
> > @@ -2153,11 +2154,10 @@ void xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print(struct
> > xe_guc_ct_snapshot *snapshot,
> >  		drm_printf(p, "\tg2h outstanding: %d\n",
> >  			   snapshot->g2h_outstanding);
> >  
> > -		if (snapshot->ctb) {
> > -			drm_printf(p, "[CTB].length: 0x%zx\n",
> > snapshot->ctb_size);
> > -			xe_print_blob_ascii85(p, "[CTB].data",
> > '\n',
> > -					      snapshot->ctb, 0,
> > snapshot->ctb_size);
> > -		}
> > +		if (snapshot->ctb)
> > +			xe_guc_print_blob(gt, p, "[CTB]",
> > "[CTB].data",
> > +					  &snapshot->ctb, 1,
> > +					  snapshot->ctb_size,
> > snapshot->ctb_size);
> >  	} else {
> >  		drm_puts(p, "CT disabled\n");
> >  	}
> > @@ -2191,9 +2191,10 @@ void xe_guc_ct_snapshot_free(struct
> > xe_guc_ct_snapshot *snapshot)
> >  void xe_guc_ct_print(struct xe_guc_ct *ct, struct drm_printer *p,
> > bool want_ctb)
> >  {
> >  	struct xe_guc_ct_snapshot *snapshot;
> > +	struct xe_gt *gt = ct_to_gt(ct);
> >  
> >  	snapshot = guc_ct_snapshot_capture(ct, false, want_ctb);
> > -	xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print(snapshot, p);
> > +	xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print(snapshot, p, gt);
> >  	xe_guc_ct_snapshot_free(snapshot);
> >  }
> >  
> > @@ -2291,10 +2292,10 @@ static void ct_dead_print(struct xe_dead_ct
> > *dead)
> >  	drm_printf(&lp, "\tTile: %d\n", gt->tile->id);
> >  
> >  	drm_puts(&lp, "**** GuC Log ****\n");
> > -	xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(dead->snapshot_log, &lp);
> > +	xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(dead->snapshot_log, &lp, gt);
> >  
> >  	drm_puts(&lp, "**** GuC CT ****\n");
> > -	xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print(dead->snapshot_ct, &lp);
> > +	xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print(dead->snapshot_ct, &lp, gt);
> >  
> >  	drm_puts(&lp, "Done.\n");
> >  }
> > diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_ct.h
> > b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_ct.h
> > index 767365a33dee..2005d1a0cd6c 100644
> > --- a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_ct.h
> > +++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_ct.h
> > @@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
> >  
> >  struct drm_printer;
> >  struct xe_device;
> > +struct xe_gt;
> >  
> >  int xe_guc_ct_init_noalloc(struct xe_guc_ct *ct);
> >  int xe_guc_ct_init(struct xe_guc_ct *ct);
> > @@ -24,7 +25,8 @@ void xe_guc_ct_flush_and_stop(struct xe_guc_ct
> > *ct);
> >  void xe_guc_ct_fast_path(struct xe_guc_ct *ct);
> >  
> >  struct xe_guc_ct_snapshot *xe_guc_ct_snapshot_capture(struct
> > xe_guc_ct *ct);
> > -void xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print(struct xe_guc_ct_snapshot *snapshot,
> > struct drm_printer *p);
> > +void xe_guc_ct_snapshot_print(struct xe_guc_ct_snapshot *snapshot,
> > struct drm_printer *p,
> > +			      struct xe_gt *gt);
> >  void xe_guc_ct_snapshot_free(struct xe_guc_ct_snapshot *snapshot);
> >  void xe_guc_ct_print(struct xe_guc_ct *ct, struct drm_printer *p,
> > bool want_ctb);
> >  
> > diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_log.c
> > b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_log.c
> > index 538d4df0f7aa..aaeb0f76af30 100644
> > --- a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_log.c
> > +++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_log.c
> > @@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
> >  #include "xe_guc_log.h"
> >  
> >  #include <linux/fault-inject.h>
> > +#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_DRM_XE_COMPRESS_DUMP)
> > +#include <linux/zstd.h>
> > +#endif
> >  
> >  #include <linux/utsname.h>
> >  #include <drm/drm_managed.h>
> > @@ -225,16 +228,148 @@ struct xe_guc_log_snapshot
> > *xe_guc_log_snapshot_capture(struct xe_guc_log *log,
> >  	return snapshot;
> >  }
> >  
> > +#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_DRM_XE_COMPRESS_DUMP)
> > +static void xe_guc_print_blob_compressed(struct xe_gt *gt, struct
> > drm_printer *p,
> > +					 const char *length_label,
> > const char *data_label,
> > +					 void **chunks, int
> > num_chunks,
> > +					 size_t chunk_size, size_t
> > total_size)
> > +{
> > +	zstd_parameters params;
> > +	zstd_cstream *cstream;
> > +	zstd_out_buffer outbuf;
> > +	size_t wksp_size, dst_size;
> > +	size_t remain, ret;
> > +	void *wksp = NULL;
> > +	char *dst = NULL;
> > +	int i;
> > +
> > +	/*
> > +	 * Pass 0 as estimated_src_size to use zstd level-3
> > defaults
> > +	 * (windowLog=18, 256KB window). Passing the full
> > total_size would
> > +	 * cause zstd to inflate windowLog proportionally (e.g.
> > windowLog=24
> > +	 * for a 19MB log), making the workspace tens of MB.  With
> > 0, the
> > +	 * workspace stays ~1.5MB, well within kmalloc limits.
> > +	 */
> > +	params = zstd_get_params(3, 0);
> > +
> > +	wksp_size = zstd_cstream_workspace_bound(&params.cParams);
> > +	wksp = kvzalloc(wksp_size, GFP_KERNEL);
> > +	if (!wksp)
> > +		goto err;
> > +
> > +	dst_size = zstd_compress_bound(total_size);
> > +	dst = kvzalloc(dst_size, GFP_KERNEL);
> > +	if (!dst)
> > +		goto err;
> > +
> > +	cstream = zstd_init_cstream(&params, 0, wksp, wksp_size);
> > +	if (!cstream) {
> > +		xe_gt_err(gt, "failed to init zstd cstream\n");
> > +		goto err;
> > +	}
> > +
> > +	outbuf.dst = dst;
> > +	outbuf.size = dst_size;
> > +	outbuf.pos = 0;
> > +
> > +	remain = total_size;
> > +	for (i = 0; i < num_chunks && remain; i++) {
> > +		size_t size = min(chunk_size, remain);
> > +		zstd_in_buffer inbuf = { .src = chunks[i], .size =
> > size, .pos = 0 };
> > +
> > +		while (inbuf.pos < inbuf.size) {
> > +			ret = zstd_compress_stream(cstream,
> > &outbuf, &inbuf);
> > +			if (ZSTD_isError(ret)) {
> > +				xe_gt_err(gt,
> > "zstd_compress_stream failed: %s\n",
> > +					  ZSTD_getErrorName(ret));
> > +				goto err;
> > +			}
> > +		}
> > +		remain -= size;
> > +	}
> > +
> > +	do {
> > +		ret = zstd_end_stream(cstream, &outbuf);
> > +		if (ZSTD_isError(ret)) {
> > +			xe_gt_err(gt, "zstd_end_stream failed:
> > %s\n",
> > +				  ZSTD_getErrorName(ret));
> > +			goto err;
> > +		}
> > +	} while (ret > 0 && outbuf.pos < outbuf.size);
> > +
> > +	drm_printf(p, "%s.length: 0x%zx -> 0x%zx Algo: ZSTD\n",
> > +		   length_label, total_size, outbuf.pos);
> > +	xe_print_blob_ascii85(p, data_label, '\n', dst, 0,
> > +			      DIV_ROUND_UP(outbuf.pos,
> > sizeof(u32)) * sizeof(u32));
> > +	goto out;
> > +
> > +err:
> > +	drm_printf(p, "%s.length: 0x%zx Algo: ERROR (compression
> > failed)\n",
> > +		   length_label, total_size);
> > +out:
> > +	kvfree(dst);
> > +	kvfree(wksp);
> > +}
> > +#endif
> > +
> >  /**
> > - * xe_guc_log_snapshot_print - dump a previously saved copy of the
> > GuC log to some useful location
> > - * @snapshot: a snapshot of the GuC log
> > - * @p: the printer object to output to
> > + * xe_guc_print_blob - Print binary data (compressed or
> > uncompressed) as ascii85
> > + * @gt: GT structure for error reporting
> > + * @p: drm_printer for output
> > + * @length_label: label prefix for the length/metadata line (e.g.
> > "[LOG]" or "[CTB]")
> > + * @data_label: label for the ascii85 blob (e.g. "[LOG].data" or
> > "[CTB].data")
> > + * @chunks: array of pointers to source data chunks
> > + * @num_chunks: number of elements in @chunks
> > + * @chunk_size: nominal size of each chunk; the last chunk may
> > hold fewer valid bytes
> > + * @total_size: total uncompressed byte count across all chunks
> > + *
> > + * If CONFIG_DRM_XE_COMPRESS_DUMP is enabled, compresses
> > @total_size bytes using
> > + * zstd level-3 streaming compression and prints the result via @p
> > using ascii85
> > + * encoding. Otherwise, directly prints the uncompressed data.
> > + * On failure the function returns without printing the data blob.
> >   */
> > -void xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(struct xe_guc_log_snapshot
> > *snapshot, struct drm_printer *p)
> > +void xe_guc_print_blob(struct xe_gt *gt __maybe_unused, struct
> > drm_printer *p,
> > +		       const char *length_label, const char
> > *data_label,
> > +		       void **chunks, int num_chunks,
> > +		       size_t chunk_size, size_t total_size)
> >  {
> > +#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_DRM_XE_COMPRESS_DUMP)
> > +	xe_guc_print_blob_compressed(gt, p, length_label,
> > data_label,
> > +				     chunks, num_chunks,
> > chunk_size, total_size);
> > +#else
> >  	size_t remain;
> >  	int i;
> >  
> > +	drm_printf(p, "%s.length: 0x%zx Algo: RAW\n",
> > length_label, total_size);
> > +
> > +	/*
> > +	 * Print each chunk directly without merging into a single
> > buffer.
> > +	 * xe_print_blob_ascii85() supports multiple calls - use
> > suffix=0
> > +	 * for all but the last chunk to omit the newline between
> > chunks.
> > +	 */
> > +	remain = total_size;
> > +	for (i = 0; i < num_chunks && remain; i++) {
> > +		size_t size = min(chunk_size, remain);
> > +		const char *prefix = i ? NULL : data_label;
> > +		/* Add suffix only on the last chunk */
> > +		char suffix = (remain == size) ? '\n' : 0;
> > +
> > +		xe_print_blob_ascii85(p, prefix, suffix,
> > chunks[i], 0,
> > +				      DIV_ROUND_UP(size,
> > sizeof(u32)) * sizeof(u32));
> > +		remain -= size;
> > +	}
> > +#endif
> > +}
> > +
> > +/**
> > + * xe_guc_log_snapshot_print - dump a previously saved copy of the
> > GuC log to some useful location
> > + * @snapshot: a snapshot of the GuC log
> > + * @p: the printer object to output to
> > + * @gt: GT structure of the GuC log
> > + */
> > +void xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(struct xe_guc_log_snapshot
> > *snapshot, struct drm_printer *p,
> > +			       struct xe_gt *gt)
> > +{
> >  	if (!snapshot) {
> >  		drm_printf(p, "GuC log snapshot not
> > allocated!\n");
> >  		return;
> > @@ -248,16 +383,9 @@ void xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(struct
> > xe_guc_log_snapshot *snapshot, struct drm_
> >  	drm_printf(p, "GuC timestamp: 0x%08llX [%llu]\n",
> > snapshot->stamp, snapshot->stamp);
> >  	drm_printf(p, "Log level: %u\n", snapshot->level);
> >  
> > -	drm_printf(p, "[LOG].length: 0x%zx\n", snapshot->size);
> > -	remain = snapshot->size;
> > -	for (i = 0; i < snapshot->num_chunks; i++) {
> > -		size_t size = min(GUC_LOG_CHUNK_SIZE, remain);
> > -		const char *prefix = i ? NULL : "[LOG].data";
> > -		char suffix = i == snapshot->num_chunks - 1 ? '\n'
> > : 0;
> > -
> > -		xe_print_blob_ascii85(p, prefix, suffix, snapshot-
> > >copy[i], 0, size);
> > -		remain -= size;
> > -	}
> > +	xe_guc_print_blob(gt, p, "[LOG]", "[LOG].data",
> > +			  snapshot->copy, snapshot->num_chunks,
> > +			  GUC_LOG_CHUNK_SIZE, snapshot->size);
> >  }
> >  
> >  static inline void lfd_output_binary(struct drm_printer *p, char
> > *buf, int buf_size)
> > @@ -598,12 +726,13 @@ void xe_guc_log_print_dmesg(struct xe_guc_log
> > *log)
> >  void xe_guc_log_print(struct xe_guc_log *log, struct drm_printer
> > *p)
> >  {
> >  	struct xe_guc_log_snapshot *snapshot;
> > +	struct xe_gt *gt = log_to_gt(log);
> >  
> >  	drm_printf(p, "**** GuC Log ****\n");
> >  
> >  	snapshot = xe_guc_log_snapshot_capture(log, false);
> > -	drm_printf(p, "CS reference clock: %u\n", log_to_gt(log)-
> > >info.reference_clock);
> > -	xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(snapshot, p);
> > +	drm_printf(p, "CS reference clock: %u\n", gt-
> > >info.reference_clock);
> > +	xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(snapshot, p, gt);
> >  	xe_guc_log_snapshot_free(snapshot);
> >  }
> >  
> > diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_log.h
> > b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_log.h
> > index 4649a260755e..3e97647ee8b5 100644
> > --- a/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_log.h
> > +++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_guc_log.h
> > @@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
> >  
> >  struct drm_printer;
> >  struct xe_device;
> > +struct xe_gt;
> >  
> >  #if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_DRM_XE_DEBUG_GUC)
> >  #define XE_GUC_LOG_EVENT_DATA_BUFFER_SIZE	SZ_16M
> > @@ -59,7 +60,13 @@ void xe_guc_log_print(struct xe_guc_log *log,
> > struct drm_printer *p);
> >  void xe_guc_log_print_lfd(struct xe_guc_log *log, struct
> > drm_printer *p);
> >  void xe_guc_log_print_dmesg(struct xe_guc_log *log);
> >  struct xe_guc_log_snapshot *xe_guc_log_snapshot_capture(struct
> > xe_guc_log *log, bool atomic);
> > -void xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(struct xe_guc_log_snapshot
> > *snapshot, struct drm_printer *p);
> > +
> > +void xe_guc_print_blob(struct xe_gt *gt, struct drm_printer *p,
> > const char *length_label,
> > +		       const char *data_label, void **chunks, int
> > num_chunks,
> > +		       size_t chunk_size, size_t total_size);
> > +
> > +void xe_guc_log_snapshot_print(struct xe_guc_log_snapshot
> > *snapshot, struct drm_printer *p,
> > +			       struct xe_gt *gt);
> >  void xe_guc_log_snapshot_free(struct xe_guc_log_snapshot
> > *snapshot);
> >  
> >  static inline u32
> > -- 
> > 2.34.1
> >