Re: [PATCH V5 09/12] perf: make events stream always parsable

[Adrian Hunter <adrian.hunter@intel.com>]

On 15/07/13 09:14, Adrian Hunter wrote:
> On 12/07/13 17:55, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
>> On Fri, Jul 12, 2013 at 03:56:01PM +0300, Adrian Hunter wrote:
>>>> There's events where this isn't a possible location; take PERF_RECORD_MMAP for
>>>> instance; the tail is the complete filename.
>>>
>>> PERF_RECORD_MMAP falls in the category I have called non-sample events.
>>> Those events are appended with an ID sample.  perf tools parses the ID
>>> sample backwards from header.size.  So the ID is at the last position
>>> relative to header.size
>>
>> But why? Why make it different per PERF_RECORD type? 
> 
> There have always been two formats:
> 
> 	1. PERF_RECORD_SAMPLE as defined by perf_output_sample()
> 
> 	2. everything else as defined by __perf_event__output_id_sample()
> 
> The two formats are not the same, and there is no reason for them to be.
> 
> PERF_RECORD_SAMPLE is parsed forwards, so the ID is at the first position.
> 
> ID samples are parsed backwards, so the ID is at the last position (i.e. the
> first position parsed).

If you want the ID at the first position in the ID sample, it is do-able.
It means perf tools will have to be changed to calculate the variable start
position of the ID sample, and then parse the ID sample forwards from there.
Please advise.