Re: [PATCH 16/19] perf: Introduce positive capability for sampling

[Leo Yan <leo.yan@arm.com>]

On Wed, Aug 13, 2025 at 06:01:08PM +0100, Robin Murphy wrote:
> Sampling is inherently a feature for CPU PMUs, given that the thing
> to be sampled is a CPU context. These days, we have many more
> uncore/system PMUs than CPU PMUs, so it no longer makes much sense to
> assume sampling support by default and force the ever-growing majority
> of drivers to opt out of it (or erroneously fail to). Instead, let's
> introduce a positive opt-in capability that's more obvious and easier to
> maintain.

[...]

> diff --git a/drivers/perf/arm_spe_pmu.c b/drivers/perf/arm_spe_pmu.c
> index 369e77ad5f13..dbd52851f5c6 100644
> --- a/drivers/perf/arm_spe_pmu.c
> +++ b/drivers/perf/arm_spe_pmu.c
> @@ -955,7 +955,8 @@ static int arm_spe_pmu_perf_init(struct arm_spe_pmu *spe_pmu)
>  	spe_pmu->pmu = (struct pmu) {
>  		.module = THIS_MODULE,
>  		.parent		= &spe_pmu->pdev->dev,
> -		.capabilities	= PERF_PMU_CAP_EXCLUSIVE | PERF_PMU_CAP_ITRACE,
> +		.capabilities	= PERF_PMU_CAP_SAMPLING |
> +				  PERF_PMU_CAP_EXCLUSIVE | PERF_PMU_CAP_ITRACE,
>  		.attr_groups	= arm_spe_pmu_attr_groups,
>  		/*
>  		 * We hitch a ride on the software context here, so that

The change in Arm SPE driver looks good to me.

I noticed you did not set the flag for other AUX events, like Arm
CoreSight, Intel PT and bts. The drivers locate in:

  drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-etm-perf.c
  arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c
  arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c

Genearlly, AUX events generate interrupts based on AUX ring buffer
watermark but not the period. Seems to me, it is correct to set the
PERF_PMU_CAP_SAMPLING flag for them.

A special case is Arm CoreSight legacy sinks (like ETR/ETB, etc)
don't has interrupt. We might need set or clear the flag on the fly
based on sink type:

diff --git a/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-etm-perf.c b/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-etm-perf.c
index f1551c08ecb2..404edc94c198 100644
--- a/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-etm-perf.c
+++ b/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-etm-perf.c
@@ -433,6 +433,11 @@ static void *etm_setup_aux(struct perf_event *event, void **pages,
        if (!sink)
                goto err;
 
+       if (coresight_is_percpu_sink(sink))
+               event->pmu.capabilities = PERF_PMU_CAP_SAMPLING;
+       else
+               event->pmu.capabilities &= ~PERF_PMU_CAP_SAMPLING;
+

Thanks,
Leo