Re: [PATCH v8 1/4] cpufreq: Introduce an optional cpuinfo_avg_freq sysfs entry

Beata Michalska
2024-12-16T22:22:13Z

On Mon, Dec 16, 2024 at 01:43:02PM +0800, Kai-Heng Feng wrote:
> Hi Beata,
>
> On 2024/12/6 9:55 PM, Beata Michalska wrote:
> > Currently the CPUFreq core exposes two sysfs attributes that can be used
> > to query current frequency of a given CPU(s): namely cpuinfo_cur_freq
> > and scaling_cur_freq. Both provide slightly different view on the
> > subject and they do come with their own drawbacks.
> >
> > cpuinfo_cur_freq provides higher precision though at a cost of being
> > rather expensive. Moreover, the information retrieved via this attribute
> > is somewhat short lived as frequency can change at any point of time
> > making it difficult to reason from.
> >
> > scaling_cur_freq, on the other hand, tends to be less accurate but then
> > the actual level of precision (and source of information) varies between
> > architectures making it a bit ambiguous.
> >
> > The new attribute, cpuinfo_avg_freq, is intended to provide more stable,
> > distinct interface, exposing an average frequency of a given CPU(s), as
> > reported by the hardware, over a time frame spanning no more than a few
> > milliseconds. As it requires appropriate hardware support, this
> > interface is optional.
> >
> > Note that under the hood, the new attribute relies on the information
> > provided by arch_freq_get_on_cpu, which, up to this point, has been
> > feeding data for scaling_cur_freq attribute, being the source of
> > ambiguity when it comes to interpretation. This has been amended by
> > restoring the intended behavior for scaling_cur_freq, with a new
> > dedicated config option to maintain status quo for those, who may need
> > it.
> >
> > CC: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
> > CC: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
> > CC: Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
> > CC: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>
> > CC: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>
> > CC: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
> > CC: Phil Auld <pauld@redhat.com>
> > CC: x86@kernel.org
> > CC: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org
> > Signed-off-by: Beata Michalska <beata.michalska@arm.com>
> > ---
> > Documentation/admin-guide/pm/cpufreq.rst | 16 ++++++++++-
> > arch/x86/kernel/cpu/aperfmperf.c | 2 +-
> > arch/x86/kernel/cpu/proc.c | 7 +++--
> > drivers/cpufreq/Kconfig.x86 | 12 ++++++++
> > drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c | 36 +++++++++++++++++++++---
> > include/linux/cpufreq.h | 2 +-
> > 6 files changed, 66 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/pm/cpufreq.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/pm/cpufreq.rst
> > index fe1be4ad88cb..76f3835afe01 100644
> > --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/pm/cpufreq.rst
> > +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/pm/cpufreq.rst
> > @@ -248,6 +248,19 @@ are the following:
> > If that frequency cannot be determined, this attribute should not
> > be present.
> > +``cpuinfo_avg_freq``
> > + An average frequency (in KHz) of all CPUs belonging to a given policy,
> > + derived from a hardware provided feedback and reported on a time frame
> > + spanning at most few milliseconds.
> > +
> > + This is expected to be based on the frequency the hardware actually runs
> > + at and, as such, might require specialised hardware support (such as AMU
> > + extension on ARM). If one cannot be determined, this attribute should
> > + not be present.
> > +
> > + Note, that failed attempt to retrieve current frequency for a given
> > + CPU(s) will result in an appropriate error.
> > +
> > ``cpuinfo_max_freq``
> > Maximum possible operating frequency the CPUs belonging to this policy
> > can run at (in kHz).
> > @@ -293,7 +306,8 @@ are the following:
> > Some architectures (e.g. ``x86``) may attempt to provide information
> > more precisely reflecting the current CPU frequency through this
> > attribute, but that still may not be the exact current CPU frequency as
> > - seen by the hardware at the moment.
> > + seen by the hardware at the moment. This behavior though, is only
> > + available via c:macro:``CPUFREQ_ARCH_CUR_FREQ`` option.
> > ``scaling_driver``
> > The scaling driver currently in use.
> > diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/aperfmperf.c b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/aperfmperf.c
> > index 0b69bfbf345d..a00059139ca4 100644
> > --- a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/aperfmperf.c
> > +++ b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/aperfmperf.c
> > @@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ void arch_scale_freq_tick(void)
> > */
> > #define MAX_SAMPLE_AGE ((unsigned long)HZ / 50)
> > -unsigned int arch_freq_get_on_cpu(int cpu)
> > +int arch_freq_get_on_cpu(int cpu)
> > {
> > struct aperfmperf *s = per_cpu_ptr(&cpu_samples, cpu);
> > unsigned int seq, freq;
> > diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/proc.c b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/proc.c
> > index e65fae63660e..34d8fb93fb70 100644
> > --- a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/proc.c
> > +++ b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/proc.c
> > @@ -86,9 +86,12 @@ static int show_cpuinfo(struct seq_file *m, void *v)
> > seq_printf(m, "microcode\t: 0x%x\n", c->microcode);
> > if (cpu_has(c, X86_FEATURE_TSC)) {
> > - unsigned int freq = arch_freq_get_on_cpu(cpu);
> > + int freq = arch_freq_get_on_cpu(cpu);
> > - seq_printf(m, "cpu MHz\t\t: %u.%03u\n", freq / 1000, (freq % 1000));
> > + if (freq <= 0)
> > + seq_puts(m, "cpu MHz\t\t: Unknown\n");
> > + else
> > + seq_printf(m, "cpu MHz\t\t: %u.%03u\n", freq / 1000, (freq % 1000));
> > }
> > /* Cache size */
> > diff --git a/drivers/cpufreq/Kconfig.x86 b/drivers/cpufreq/Kconfig.x86
> > index 97c2d4f15d76..212e1b9afe21 100644
> > --- a/drivers/cpufreq/Kconfig.x86
> > +++ b/drivers/cpufreq/Kconfig.x86
> > @@ -340,3 +340,15 @@ config X86_SPEEDSTEP_RELAXED_CAP_CHECK
> > option lets the probing code bypass some of those checks if the
> > parameter "relaxed_check=1" is passed to the module.
> > +config CPUFREQ_ARCH_CUR_FREQ
> > + default y
> > + bool "Current frequency derived from HW provided feedback"
> > + help
> > + This determines whether the scaling_cur_freq sysfs attribute returns
> > + the last requested frequency or a more precise value based on hardware
> > + provided feedback (as architected counters).
> > + Given that a more precise frequency can now be provided via the
> > + cpuinfo_avg_cur_freq attribute, by enabling this option,
> > + scaling_cur_freq maintains the provision of a counter based frequency,
> > + for compatibility reasons.
> > +
> > diff --git a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
> > index 04fc786dd2c0..70df2a24437b 100644
> > --- a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
> > +++ b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
> > @@ -747,9 +747,14 @@ show_one(cpuinfo_transition_latency, cpuinfo.transition_latency);
> > show_one(scaling_min_freq, min);
> > show_one(scaling_max_freq, max);
> > -__weak unsigned int arch_freq_get_on_cpu(int cpu)
> > +__weak int arch_freq_get_on_cpu(int cpu)
> > {
> > - return 0;
> > + return -EOPNOTSUPP;
> > +}
> > +
> > +static inline bool cpufreq_avg_freq_supported(struct cpufreq_policy *policy)
> > +{
> > + return arch_freq_get_on_cpu(policy->cpu) != -EOPNOTSUPP;
> > }
> > static ssize_t show_scaling_cur_freq(struct cpufreq_policy *policy, char *buf)
> > @@ -757,8 +762,11 @@ static ssize_t show_scaling_cur_freq(struct cpufreq_policy *policy, char *buf)
> > ssize_t ret;
> > unsigned int freq;
> > - freq = arch_freq_get_on_cpu(policy->cpu);
> > - if (freq)
> > + freq = IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_CPUFREQ_ARCH_CUR_FREQ)
> > + ? arch_freq_get_on_cpu(policy->cpu)
> > + : 0;
> > +
> > + if (freq > 0)
> > ret = sysfs_emit(buf, "%u\n", freq);
> > else if (cpufreq_driver->setpolicy && cpufreq_driver->get)
> > ret = sysfs_emit(buf, "%u\n", cpufreq_driver->get(policy->cpu));
> > @@ -802,6 +810,19 @@ static ssize_t show_cpuinfo_cur_freq(struct cpufreq_policy *policy,
> > return sysfs_emit(buf, "<unknown>\n");
> > }
> > +/*
> > + * show_cpuinfo_avg_freq - average CPU frequency as detected by hardware
> > + */
> > +static ssize_t show_cpuinfo_avg_freq(struct cpufreq_policy *policy,
> > + char *buf)
> > +{
> > + int avg_freq = arch_freq_get_on_cpu(policy->cpu);
>
> We are seeing issues when reading cpuinfo_avg_freq on an ARM64 system:
>
> $ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy1/cpuinfo_avg_freq
> cat: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy1/cpuinfo_avg_freq: Resource
> temporarily unavailable
>
> The CPU is in idle state, so arch_freq_get_on_cpu() can't find a good
> alternative source for frequency info.
>
> One way to resolve this is to have fallback methods in
> show_cpuinfo_avg_freq() so it will look like this:
>
> static ssize_t show_cpuinfo_avg_freq(struct cpufreq_policy *policy,
> char *buf)
> {
> int avg_freq = arch_freq_get_on_cpu(policy->cpu);
> int ret;
>
> if (avg_freq > 0)
> ret = sysfs_emit(buf, "%u\n", avg_freq);
> else if (cpufreq_driver->setpolicy && cpufreq_driver->get)
> ret = sysfs_emit(buf, "%u\n", cpufreq_driver->get(policy->cpu));
> else
> ret = sysfs_emit(buf, "%u\n", policy->cur);
> return ret;
> }
>
> But that also makes show_cpuinfo_avg_freq() pretty much the same as
> show_scaling_cur_freq().
>
> So is it possible to consolidate show_cpuinfo_avg_freq() into
> show_scaling_cur_freq(), by making CONFIG_CPUFREQ_ARCH_CUR_FREQ also
> available to ARM64?
>
The whole idea of this patch was to add support for retrieving the average
frequency withouth modifying expected bahaviour of the scaling_cur_freq handler.
The proposed config option is there to keep backward compatibility and allow
userspace tools to catch up with the change - I'd expect that option to be
either set as default to No or droped at some point.

---
BR
Beata
> Kai-Heng
>
> > +
> > + if (avg_freq > 0)
> > + return sysfs_emit(buf, "%u\n", avg_freq);
> > + return avg_freq != 0 ? avg_freq : -EINVAL;
> > +}
> > +
> > /*
> > * show_scaling_governor - show the current policy for the specified CPU
> > */
> > @@ -964,6 +985,7 @@ static ssize_t show_bios_limit(struct cpufreq_policy *policy, char *buf)
> > }
> > cpufreq_freq_attr_ro_perm(cpuinfo_cur_freq, 0400);
> > +cpufreq_freq_attr_ro(cpuinfo_avg_freq);
> > cpufreq_freq_attr_ro(cpuinfo_min_freq);
> > cpufreq_freq_attr_ro(cpuinfo_max_freq);
> > cpufreq_freq_attr_ro(cpuinfo_transition_latency);
> > @@ -1091,6 +1113,12 @@ static int cpufreq_add_dev_interface(struct cpufreq_policy *policy)
> > return ret;
> > }
> > + if (cpufreq_avg_freq_supported(policy)) {
> > + ret = sysfs_create_file(&policy->kobj, &cpuinfo_avg_freq.attr);
> > + if (ret)
> > + return ret;
> > + }
> > +
> > ret = sysfs_create_file(&policy->kobj, &scaling_cur_freq.attr);
> > if (ret)
> > return ret;
> > diff --git a/include/linux/cpufreq.h b/include/linux/cpufreq.h
> > index d4d2f4d1d7cb..a7b6c0ccf9bc 100644
> > --- a/include/linux/cpufreq.h
> > +++ b/include/linux/cpufreq.h
> > @@ -1194,7 +1194,7 @@ static inline int of_perf_domain_get_sharing_cpumask(int pcpu, const char *list_
> > }
> > #endif
> > -extern unsigned int arch_freq_get_on_cpu(int cpu);
> > +extern int arch_freq_get_on_cpu(int cpu);
> > #ifndef arch_set_freq_scale
> > static __always_inline
>