Re: [PATCH v1 05/22] perf metricgroup: Add care to picking the evsel for displaying a metric

[Namhyung Kim <namhyung@kernel.org>]

On Fri, Oct 24, 2025 at 10:58:40AM -0700, Ian Rogers wrote:
> Rather than using the first evsel in the matched events, try to find
> the least shared non-tool evsel. The aim is to pick the first evsel
> that typifies the metric within the list of metrics.
> 
> This addresses an issue where Default metric group metrics may lose
> their counter value due to how the stat displaying hides counters for
> default event/metric output.

Do you have a command line example to show impact of this change?

Thanks,
Namhyung

> 
> Signed-off-by: Ian Rogers <irogers@google.com>
> ---
>  tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c | 48 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
>  1 file changed, 47 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c b/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c
> index 48936e517803..76092ee26761 100644
> --- a/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c
> +++ b/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c
> @@ -1323,6 +1323,51 @@ static int parse_ids(bool metric_no_merge, bool fake_pmu,
>  	return ret;
>  }
>  
> +/* How many times will a given evsel be used in a set of metrics? */
> +static int count_uses(struct list_head *metric_list, struct evsel *evsel)
> +{
> +	const char *metric_id = evsel__metric_id(evsel);
> +	struct metric *m;
> +	int uses = 0;
> +
> +	list_for_each_entry(m, metric_list, nd) {
> +		if (hashmap__find(m->pctx->ids, metric_id, NULL))
> +			uses++;
> +	}
> +	return uses;
> +}
> +
> +/*
> + * Select the evsel that stat-display will use to trigger shadow/metric
> + * printing. Pick the least shared non-tool evsel, encouraging metrics to be
> + * with a hardware counter that is specific to them.
> + */
> +static struct evsel *pick_display_evsel(struct list_head *metric_list,
> +					struct evsel **metric_events)
> +{
> +	struct evsel *selected = metric_events[0];
> +	size_t selected_uses;
> +	bool selected_is_tool;
> +
> +	if (!selected)
> +		return NULL;
> +
> +	selected_uses = count_uses(metric_list, selected);
> +	selected_is_tool = evsel__is_tool(selected);
> +	for (int i = 1; metric_events[i]; i++) {
> +		struct evsel *candidate = metric_events[i];
> +		size_t candidate_uses = count_uses(metric_list, candidate);
> +
> +		if ((selected_is_tool && !evsel__is_tool(candidate)) ||
> +		    (candidate_uses < selected_uses)) {
> +			selected = candidate;
> +			selected_uses = candidate_uses;
> +			selected_is_tool = evsel__is_tool(selected);
> +		}
> +	}
> +	return selected;
> +}
> +
>  static int parse_groups(struct evlist *perf_evlist,
>  			const char *pmu, const char *str,
>  			bool metric_no_group,
> @@ -1430,7 +1475,8 @@ static int parse_groups(struct evlist *perf_evlist,
>  			goto out;
>  		}
>  
> -		me = metricgroup__lookup(&perf_evlist->metric_events, metric_events[0],
> +		me = metricgroup__lookup(&perf_evlist->metric_events,
> +					 pick_display_evsel(&metric_list, metric_events),
>  					 /*create=*/true);
>  
>  		expr = malloc(sizeof(struct metric_expr));
> -- 
> 2.51.1.821.gb6fe4d2222-goog
>