Re: [PATCH v3 1/9] perf tools: add parse events append error

Ian Rogers
2019-10-28T21:06:42Z

On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 12:32 PM Jiri Olsa <jolsa@redhat.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Oct 25, 2019 at 08:14:36AM -0700, Ian Rogers wrote:
> > On Fri, Oct 25, 2019 at 12:58 AM Jiri Olsa <jolsa@redhat.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 12:01:54PM -0700, Ian Rogers wrote:
> > > > Parse event error handling may overwrite one error string with another
> > > > creating memory leaks and masking errors. Introduce a helper routine
> > > > that appends error messages and avoids the memory leak.
> > > >
> > > > A reproduction of this problem can be seen with:
> > > > perf stat -e c/c/
> > > > After this change this produces:
> > > > event syntax error: 'c/c/'
> > > > \___ unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: unknown term (previous error: Cannot find PMU `c'. Missing kernel support?)(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,pc,in_tx,edge,any,offcore_rsp,in_tx_cp,ldlat,inv,umask,frontend,cmask,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))(help: valid terms: event,filter_rem,filter_opc0,edge,filter_isoc,filter_tid,filter_loc,filter_nc,inv,umask,filter_opc1,tid_en,thresh,filter_all_op,filter_not_nm,filter_state,filter_nm,config,config1,config2,name,period,percore))
> > >
> > >
> > > hum... I'd argue that the previous state was better:
> > >
> > > [jolsa@krava perf]$ ./perf stat -e c/c/
> > > event syntax error: 'c/c/'
> > > \___ unknown term
> > >
> > >
> > > jirka
> >
> > I am agnostic. We can either have the previous state or the new state,
> > I'm keen to resolve the memory leak. Another alternative is to warn
> > that multiple errors have occurred before dropping or printing the
> > previous error. As the code is shared in memory places the approach
> > taken here was to try to not conceal anything that could potentially
> > be useful. Given this, is the preference to keep the status quo
> > without any warning?
>
> if the other alternative is string above, yes.. but perhaps
> keeping just the first error would be the best way?
>
> here it seems to be the:
> "Cannot find PMU `c'. Missing kernel support?)(help: valid..."

I think this is a reasonable idea. I'd propose doing it as an
additional patch, the purpose of this patch is to avoid a possible
memory leak. I can write the patch and base it on this series.
To resolve the issue, I'd add an extra first error to the struct
parse_events_error. All callers would need to be responsible for
cleaning this up when present, which is why I'd rather not make it
part of this patch.
Does this sound reasonable?

Thanks,
Ian

> jirka
>