From 8a7f5b5e860b5c113ca99acd5b1e9074f5c5af3c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Leo Yan Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:37:06 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] perf/core: Skip empty AUX records with only format flags perf_aux_output_end() emits a PERF_RECORD_AUX when the recorded size is nonzero or when any flag other than PERF_AUX_FLAG_OVERWRITE is set. PMU format flags describe how an AUX payload is encoded. TRBE driver sets PERF_AUX_FLAG_CORESIGHT_FORMAT_RAW for raw trace buffers, causing an AUX record to be emitted even when no trace data. This is noticeable when tracing a task with strace. Ptrace stops repeatedly end empty AUX transactions, producing many zero-sized PERF_RECORD_AUX records. For example: perf record -e cs_etm//u -m,128M -- strace ls perf script -D 2>&1 | awk '/PERF_RECORD_AUX offset/ { for (i = 1; i <= NF; i++) if ($i == "size:" && $(i + 1) == "0") count++ } END { print count }' 165 This recording contains 165 zero-sized AUX records which provide no useful information to userspace. Ignore PERF_AUX_FLAG_PMU_FORMAT_TYPE_MASK, together with PERF_AUX_FLAG_OVERWRITE, when deciding whether an empty AUX record is useful. Zero-sized records carrying TRUNCATED, PARTIAL or COLLISION are still emitted. Fixes: 547b60988e63 ("perf: aux: Add flags for the buffer format") Reported-by: Tamas Petz Signed-off-by: Leo Yan Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260825-perf_core_fix_zero_aux_records-v1-1-23b95e8d5df3@arm.com --- kernel/events/ring_buffer.c | 9 +++++++-- 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/kernel/events/ring_buffer.c b/kernel/events/ring_buffer.c index 9fe92161715e..1b1ffe0533e5 100644 --- a/kernel/events/ring_buffer.c +++ b/kernel/events/ring_buffer.c @@ -509,7 +509,10 @@ void perf_aux_output_end(struct perf_output_handle *handle, unsigned long size) /* * Only send RECORD_AUX if we have something useful to communicate * - * Note: the OVERWRITE records by themselves are not considered + * PMU_FORMAT bits identify the PMU type rather than an AUX event + * has occurred, so ignore them for zero-sized records. + * + * The OVERWRITE records by themselves are not considered * useful, as they don't communicate any *new* information, * aside from the short-lived offset, that becomes history at * the next event sched-in and therefore isn't useful. @@ -518,7 +521,9 @@ void perf_aux_output_end(struct perf_output_handle *handle, unsigned long size) * offset. So, from now on we don't output AUX records that * have *only* OVERWRITE flag set. */ - if (size || (handle->aux_flags & ~(u64)PERF_AUX_FLAG_OVERWRITE)) + if (size || + (handle->aux_flags & ~(u64)(PERF_AUX_FLAG_PMU_FORMAT_TYPE_MASK | + PERF_AUX_FLAG_OVERWRITE))) perf_event_aux_event(handle->event, aux_head, size, handle->aux_flags);