perf intel-pt: Support itrace A option to approximate IPC

Normally, for cycle-acccurate mode, IPC values are an exact number of
instructions and cycles. Due to the granularity of timestamps, that happens
only when a CYC packet correlates to the event.

Support the itrace 'A' option, to use instead, the number of cycles
associated with the current timestamp. This provides IPC information for
every change of timestamp, but at the expense of accuracy. Due to the
granularity of timestamps, the actual number of cycles increases even
though the cycles reported does not. The number of instructions is known,
but if IPC is reported, cycles can be too low and so IPC is too high. Note
that inaccuracy decreases as the period of sampling increases i.e. if the
number of cycles is too low by a small amount, that becomes less
significant if the number of cycles is large.

Furthermore, it can be used in conjunction with dlfilter-show-cycles.so
to provide higher granularity cycle information.

Reviewed-by: Andi Kleen <[e-mail]>
Signed-off-by: Adrian Hunter <[e-mail]>
Cc: Jiri Olsa <[e-mail]>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/[e-mail]
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <[e-mail]>

tools/perf/Documentation/perf-intel-pt.txt

···
 the average IPC since the last IPC for that event type.  Note IPC for "branches"
 events is calculated separately from IPC for "instructions" events.
 
+Even with the 'cyc' config term, it is possible to produce IPC information for
+every change of timestamp, but at the expense of accuracy.  That is selected by
+specifying the itrace 'A' option.  Due to the granularity of timestamps, the
+actual number of cycles increases even though the cycles reported does not.
+The number of instructions is known, but if IPC is reported, cycles can be too
+low and so IPC is too high.  Note that inaccuracy decreases as the period of
+sampling increases i.e. if the number of cycles is too low by a small amount,
+that becomes less significant if the number of cycles is large.
+
 Also note that the IPC instruction count may or may not include the current
 instruction.  If the cycle count is associated with an asynchronous branch
 (e.g. page fault or interrupt), then the instruction count does not include the
···
 	L	synthesize last branch entries on existing event records
 	s	skip initial number of events
 	q	quicker (less detailed) decoding
+	A	approximate IPC
 	Z	prefer to ignore timestamps (so-called "timeless" decoding)
 
 "Instructions" events look like they were recorded by "perf record -e

tools/perf/util/intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-decoder.c

···
 {
 	decoder->sample_timestamp = decoder->timestamp;
 	decoder->sample_insn_cnt = decoder->timestamp_insn_cnt;
+	decoder->state.cycles = decoder->tot_cyc_cnt;
 }
 
 static void intel_pt_reposition(struct intel_pt_decoder *decoder)

tools/perf/util/intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-decoder.h

···
 	uint64_t to_ip;
 	uint64_t tot_insn_cnt;
 	uint64_t tot_cyc_cnt;
+	uint64_t cycles;
 	uint64_t timestamp;
 	uint64_t est_timestamp;
 	uint64_t trace_nr;

tools/perf/util/intel-pt.c

···
 	bool step_through_buffers;
 	bool use_buffer_pid_tid;
 	bool sync_switch;
+	bool sample_ipc;
 	pid_t pid, tid;
 	int cpu;
 	int switch_state;
···
 		sample.branch_stack = (struct branch_stack *)&dummy_bs;
 	}
 
-	if (ptq->state->flags & INTEL_PT_SAMPLE_IPC)
+	if (ptq->sample_ipc)
 		sample.cyc_cnt = ptq->ipc_cyc_cnt - ptq->last_br_cyc_cnt;
 	if (sample.cyc_cnt) {
 		sample.insn_cnt = ptq->ipc_insn_cnt - ptq->last_br_insn_cnt;
···
 	else
 		sample.period = ptq->state->tot_insn_cnt - ptq->last_insn_cnt;
 
-	if (ptq->state->flags & INTEL_PT_SAMPLE_IPC)
+	if (ptq->sample_ipc)
 		sample.cyc_cnt = ptq->ipc_cyc_cnt - ptq->last_in_cyc_cnt;
 	if (sample.cyc_cnt) {
 		sample.insn_cnt = ptq->ipc_insn_cnt - ptq->last_in_insn_cnt;
···
 
 	ptq->have_sample = false;
 
-	ptq->ipc_insn_cnt = ptq->state->tot_insn_cnt;
-	ptq->ipc_cyc_cnt = ptq->state->tot_cyc_cnt;
+	if (pt->synth_opts.approx_ipc) {
+		ptq->ipc_insn_cnt = ptq->state->tot_insn_cnt;
+		ptq->ipc_cyc_cnt = ptq->state->cycles;
+		ptq->sample_ipc = true;
+	} else {
+		ptq->ipc_insn_cnt = ptq->state->tot_insn_cnt;
+		ptq->ipc_cyc_cnt = ptq->state->tot_cyc_cnt;
+		ptq->sample_ipc = ptq->state->flags & INTEL_PT_SAMPLE_IPC;
+	}
 
 	/*
 	 * Do PEBS first to allow for the possibility that the PEBS timestamp