Perf Tools for Kernel Performance Profiling

Linux Kernel Debugging and Analysis · 4:38

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Lyrics

[Verse 1]
When your kernel's running slow and you want to know why
CPU cycles vanishing, performance way too high
There's a tool that looks inside the hardware's beating heart
Perf will show you where your system's bottlenecks start
Sample after sample, it captures every call
Memory patterns, branch predictions, perf sees it all

[Chorus]
Perf record, perf report, diving in the data flow
Counting cache misses, branch predicting, watch your numbers grow
Hardware counters tell the stories that you need to know
Perf stat, perf top, let the profiling show
Where your kernel bottlenecks are hiding down below

[Verse 2]
Start with perf stat to get your overview clear
Instructions every cycle, cache behavior appears
L1, L2, L3 misses lighting up your screen
Branch mispredictions showing where your code gets lean
TLB misses stalling memory translation
Page faults showing allocation frustration

[Chorus]
Perf record, perf report, diving in the data flow
Counting cache misses, branch predicting, watch your numbers grow
Hardware counters tell the stories that you need to know
Perf stat, perf top, let the profiling show
Where your kernel bottlenecks are hiding down below

[Bridge]
Flame graphs burning bright with call stack pictures
Hot spots glowing red need fixing their mixtures
Kernel space and user space divided clean and neat
PMU events paint the performance beat
Sample frequency tuning signal from the noise
Profile guided optimization, always the smart choice

[Verse 3]
Perf record with dash g captures call graph traces
Function attribution shows you all the places
Where your CPU time disappears into the air
System calls and interrupts are waiting for you there
Annotate assembly, see instruction cost
Find the cycles where performance has been lost

[Chorus]
Perf record, perf report, diving in the data flow
Counting cache misses, branch predicting, watch your numbers grow
Hardware counters tell the stories that you need to know
Perf stat, perf top, let the profiling show
Where your kernel bottlenecks are hiding down below

[Outro]
From sampling to tracing, perf will show the way
Hardware performance counters guide you every day
Kernel space profiling with precision and with might
Perf tools will give you true performance insight

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