Re: why is 'perf record --call-graph' using addr2line?

[Namhyung Kim <namhyung@kernel.org>]

Hello,

On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 01:47:02PM +0200, Noel Grandin wrote:
> On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 at 21:39, Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@kernel.org> wrote:
> > Are you sure? addr2line can be used when using '-s srcline' or '-s
> > srcfile', but then in 'perf report', not on record.
> >
> 
> Yeah, that is what confused me too. I can see the addr2line
> sub-processes show up in ps.
> 
> For example, if I do ps -ef, I see stuff like:
> 
> noel     1259058  199773 10 13:45 pts/4    00:00:01
> /usr/lib/linux-tools/6.17.0-14-generic/perf record
> --call-graph=dwarf,32000 --pid=1258658
> noel     1259067 1259058 42 13:45 pts/4    00:00:01 addr2line -e
> /home/noel/.debug/.build-id/40/d2427b70abca4c5530fc6abe4b64acfe039146/elf
> -a -i -f
> noel     1259068 1259058  9 13:45 pts/4    00:00:00 addr2line -e
> /home/noel/.debug/.build-id/99/2e0e9c5b545f70d957da48ca4fa0062cc086c9/elf
> -a -i -f
> noel     1259069 1259058  2 13:45 pts/4    00:00:00 addr2line -e
> /home/noel/.debug/.build-id/71/9539027bc2d800b08810a3847206e283f8f347/elf
> -a -i -f
> noel     1259070 1259058 22 13:45 pts/4    00:00:00 addr2line -e
> /home/noel/.debug/.build-id/38/2eb792f7961162be41274fa3c1aae864f9cde7/elf
> -a -i -f
> noel     1259071 1259058 11 13:45 pts/4    00:00:00 addr2line -e
> /home/noel/.debug/.build-id/ed/fe3aec8836926683342a0efcb4d8e44eb8521a/elf
> -a -i -f
> noel     1259072 1259058 41 13:45 pts/4    00:00:00 addr2line -e
> /home/noel/.debug/.build-id/e8/fc08b1b0ce4130c26f40b13470d484fc2f6f55/elf
> -a -i -f
> noel     1259074 1259058  1 13:45 pts/4    00:00:00 addr2line -e
> /home/noel/.debug/.build-id/f4/8422093b1a8f666e0ef64ff6a3842d83206274/elf
> -a -i -f
> noel     1259075 1259058  2 13:45 pts/4    00:00:00 addr2line -e
> /home/noel/.debug/.build-id/55/43d41f3e8e476763d436e15d5a8e287d7ea677/elf
> -a -i -f
> noel     1259076 1259058  0 13:45 pts/4    00:00:00 addr2line -e
> /home/noel/.debug/.build-id/74/eaf539c3959f449ac8bd93ff882cd7b2990290/elf
> -a -i -f
> noel     1259077 1259058  5 13:45 pts/4    00:00:00 addr2line -e
> /home/noel/.debug/.build-id/8e/9fd827446c24067541ac5390e6f527fb5947bb/debug
> -a -i -f
> 
> > Can you give more details? Do you have anything in ~/.perfconfig, etc?
> 
> I do not have such a file.

That's ok and it means you don't have any specific config.

> 
> Note that in this case I am not doing system-wide profiling, just
> profiling a single process.

I think we turned on (since v6.17) the build-id collection on the
callstacks (commit 29be60c93d2d9300) at the end of perf record.
That may run addr2line to get inlined functions.

There's a recent change to use libdw to speed up inline function
processing.  But it's gonna take some time to land on the distro.

In the meantime, I think you can disable the build-ID entirely with -B
option.

Thanks,
Namhyung