The timerlat tracer provides an interface for any application to wait
for the timerlat's periodic wakeup. Currently, rtla timerlat uses it
to dispatch its user-space workload (-u option).
But as the tracer interface is generic, rtla timerlat can also be used
to monitor any workload that uses it. For example, a user might
place their own workload to wait on the tracer interface, and
monitor the results with rtla timerlat.
Add the -U option to rtla timerlat top and hist. With this option, rtla
timerlat will not dispatch its workload but only setting up the
system, waiting for a user to dispatch its workload.
The sample code in this patch is an example of python application
that loops in the timerlat tracer fd.
To use it, dispatch:
# rtla timerlat -U
In a terminal, then run the python program on another terminal,
specifying the CPU to run it. For example, setting on CPU 1:
#./timerlat_load.py 1
Then rtla timerlat will start printing the statistics of the
./timerlat_load.py app.
An interesting point is that the "Ret user Timer Latency" value
is the overall response time of the load. The sample load does
a memory copy to exemplify that.
The stop tracing options on rtla timerlat works in this setup
as well, including auto analysis.
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/36e6bcf18fe15c7601048fd4c65aeb193c502cc8.1707229706.git.bristot@kernel.org
Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc: Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Daniel Bristot de Oliveira <bristot@kernel.org>
