Re: [patch 2/3] performance counters: documentation

David Miller
2008-12-05T00:38:12Z

From: Paul Mackerras <paulus@samba.org>
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 11:33:31 +1100

> This is going to be a huge problem, at least on powerpc, because it
> means that the kernel will have to know which events can be counted on
> which counters and what values need to be put in the control registers
> to select them.

Sparc64 is the same.

> The situation will be even worse with POWER5 and POWER6, where the
> event selection logic is very complex, with multiple layers of
> multiplexers. I really really don't want the kernel to have to know
> about all that.

Niagara2 has deep multiplexing and sub-event masking too.

I really appreciated how perfmon kept all of those details
in userspace.