kbuild: Add AutoFDO support for Clang build

Add the build support for using Clang's AutoFDO. Building the kernel
with AutoFDO does not reduce the optimization level from the
compiler. AutoFDO uses hardware sampling to gather information about
the frequency of execution of different code paths within a binary.
This information is then used to guide the compiler's optimization
decisions, resulting in a more efficient binary. Experiments
showed that the kernel can improve up to 10% in latency.

The support requires a Clang compiler after LLVM 17. This submission
is limited to x86 platforms that support PMU features like LBR on
Intel machines and AMD Zen3 BRS. Support for SPE on ARM 1,
 and BRBE on ARM 1 is part of planned future work.

Here is an example workflow for AutoFDO kernel:

1) Build the kernel on the host machine with LLVM enabled, for example,
       $ make menuconfig LLVM=1
    Turn on AutoFDO build config:
      CONFIG_AUTOFDO_CLANG=y
    With a configuration that has LLVM enabled, use the following
    command:
       scripts/config -e AUTOFDO_CLANG
    After getting the config, build with
      $ make LLVM=1

2) Install the kernel on the test machine.

3) Run the load tests. The '-c' option in perf specifies the sample
   event period. We suggest     using a suitable prime number,
   like 500009, for this purpose.
   For Intel platforms:
      $ perf record -e BR_INST_RETIRED.NEAR_TAKEN:k -a -N -b -c <count> \
        -o <perf_file> -- <loadtest>
   For AMD platforms:
      The supported system are: Zen3 with BRS, or Zen4 with amd_lbr_v2
     For Zen3:
      $ cat proc/cpuinfo | grep " brs"
      For Zen4:
      $ cat proc/cpuinfo | grep amd_lbr_v2
      $ perf record --pfm-events RETIRED_TAKEN_BRANCH_INSTRUCTIONS:k -a \
        -N -b -c <count> -o <perf_file> -- <loadtest>

4) (Optional) Download the raw perf file to the host machine.

5) To generate an AutoFDO profile, two offline tools are available:
   create_llvm_prof and llvm_profgen. The create_llvm_prof tool is part
   of the AutoFDO project and can be found on GitHub
   (https://github.com/google/autofdo), version v0.30.1 or later. The
   llvm_profgen tool is included in the LLVM compiler itself. It's
   important to note that the version of llvm_profgen doesn't need to
   match the version of Clang. It needs to be the LLVM 19 release or
   later, or from the LLVM trunk.
      $ llvm-profgen --kernel --binary=<vmlinux> --perfdata=<perf_file> \
        -o <profile_file>
   or
      $ create_llvm_prof --binary=<vmlinux> --profile=<perf_file> \
        --format=extbinary --out=<profile_file>

   Note that multiple AutoFDO profile files can be merged into one via:
      $ llvm-profdata merge -o <profile_file>  <profile_1> ... <profile_n>

6) Rebuild the kernel using the AutoFDO profile file with the same config
   as step 1, (Note CONFIG_AUTOFDO_CLANG needs to be enabled):
      $ make LLVM=1 CLANG_AUTOFDO_PROFILE=<profile_file>

Co-developed-by: Han Shen <shenhan@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Han Shen <shenhan@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Rong Xu <xur@google.com>
Suggested-by: Sriraman Tallam <tmsriram@google.com>
Suggested-by: Krzysztof Pszeniczny <kpszeniczny@google.com>
Suggested-by: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@google.com>
Suggested-by: Stephane Eranian <eranian@google.com>
Tested-by: Yonghong Song <yonghong.song@linux.dev>
Tested-by: Yabin Cui <yabinc@google.com>
Tested-by: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>
Tested-by: Peter Jung <ptr1337@cachyos.org>
Signed-off-by: Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@kernel.org>

2 files changed, 169 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/autofdo.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/autofdo.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1f0a451e9ccd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/autofdo.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+===================================
+Using AutoFDO with the Linux kernel
+===================================
+
+This enables AutoFDO build support for the kernel when using
+the Clang compiler. AutoFDO (Auto-Feedback-Directed Optimization)
+is a type of profile-guided optimization (PGO) used to enhance the
+performance of binary executables. It gathers information about the
+frequency of execution of various code paths within a binary using
+hardware sampling. This data is then used to guide the compiler's
+optimization decisions, resulting in a more efficient binary. AutoFDO
+is a powerful optimization technique, and data indicates that it can
+significantly improve kernel performance. It's especially beneficial
+for workloads affected by front-end stalls.
+
+For AutoFDO builds, unlike non-FDO builds, the user must supply a
+profile. Acquiring an AutoFDO profile can be done in several ways.
+AutoFDO profiles are created by converting hardware sampling using
+the "perf" tool. It is crucial that the workload used to create these
+perf files is representative; they must exhibit runtime
+characteristics similar to the workloads that are intended to be
+optimized. Failure to do so will result in the compiler optimizing
+for the wrong objective.
+
+The AutoFDO profile often encapsulates the program's behavior. If the
+performance-critical codes are architecture-independent, the profile
+can be applied across platforms to achieve performance gains. For
+instance, using the profile generated on Intel architecture to build
+a kernel for AMD architecture can also yield performance improvements.
+
+There are two methods for acquiring a representative profile:
+(1) Sample real workloads using a production environment.
+(2) Generate the profile using a representative load test.
+When enabling the AutoFDO build configuration without providing an
+AutoFDO profile, the compiler only modifies the dwarf information in
+the kernel without impacting runtime performance. It's advisable to
+use a kernel binary built with the same AutoFDO configuration to
+collect the perf profile. While it's possible to use a kernel built
+with different options, it may result in inferior performance.
+
+One can collect profiles using AutoFDO build for the previous kernel.
+AutoFDO employs relative line numbers to match the profiles, offering
+some tolerance for source changes. This mode is commonly used in a
+production environment for profile collection.
+
+In a profile collection based on a load test, the AutoFDO collection
+process consists of the following steps:
+
+#. Initial build: The kernel is built with AutoFDO options
+   without a profile.
+
+#. Profiling: The above kernel is then run with a representative
+   workload to gather execution frequency data. This data is
+   collected using hardware sampling, via perf. AutoFDO is most
+   effective on platforms supporting advanced PMU features like
+   LBR on Intel machines.
+
+#. AutoFDO profile generation: Perf output file is converted to
+   the AutoFDO profile via offline tools.
+
+The support requires a Clang compiler LLVM 17 or later.
+
+Preparation
+===========
+
+Configure the kernel with::
+
+   CONFIG_AUTOFDO_CLANG=y
+
+Customization
+=============
+
+The default CONFIG_AUTOFDO_CLANG setting covers kernel space objects for
+AutoFDO builds. One can, however, enable or disable AutoFDO build for
+individual files and directories by adding a line similar to the following
+to the respective kernel Makefile:
+
+- For enabling a single file (e.g. foo.o) ::
+
+   AUTOFDO_PROFILE_foo.o := y
+
+- For enabling all files in one directory ::
+
+   AUTOFDO_PROFILE := y
+
+- For disabling one file ::
+
+   AUTOFDO_PROFILE_foo.o := n
+
+- For disabling all files in one directory ::
+
+   AUTOFDO_PROFILE := n
+
+Workflow
+========
+
+Here is an example workflow for AutoFDO kernel:
+
+1)  Build the kernel on the host machine with LLVM enabled,
+    for example, ::
+
+      $ make menuconfig LLVM=1
+
+    Turn on AutoFDO build config::
+
+      CONFIG_AUTOFDO_CLANG=y
+
+    With a configuration that with LLVM enabled, use the following command::
+
+      $ scripts/config -e AUTOFDO_CLANG
+
+    After getting the config, build with ::
+
+      $ make LLVM=1
+
+2) Install the kernel on the test machine.
+
+3) Run the load tests. The '-c' option in perf specifies the sample
+   event period. We suggest using a suitable prime number, like 500009,
+   for this purpose.
+
+   - For Intel platforms::
+
+      $ perf record -e BR_INST_RETIRED.NEAR_TAKEN:k -a -N -b -c <count> -o <perf_file> -- <loadtest>
+
+   - For AMD platforms:
+
+     The supported systems are: Zen3 with BRS, or Zen4 with amd_lbr_v2. To check,
+
+     For Zen3::
+
+      $ cat proc/cpuinfo | grep " brs"
+
+     For Zen4::
+
+      $ cat proc/cpuinfo | grep amd_lbr_v2
+
+     The following command generated the perf data file::
+
+      $ perf record --pfm-events RETIRED_TAKEN_BRANCH_INSTRUCTIONS:k -a -N -b -c <count> -o <perf_file> -- <loadtest>
+
+4) (Optional) Download the raw perf file to the host machine.
+
+5) To generate an AutoFDO profile, two offline tools are available:
+   create_llvm_prof and llvm_profgen. The create_llvm_prof tool is part
+   of the AutoFDO project and can be found on GitHub
+   (https://github.com/google/autofdo), version v0.30.1 or later.
+   The llvm_profgen tool is included in the LLVM compiler itself. It's
+   important to note that the version of llvm_profgen doesn't need to match
+   the version of Clang. It needs to be the LLVM 19 release of Clang
+   or later, or just from the LLVM trunk. ::
+
+      $ llvm-profgen --kernel --binary=<vmlinux> --perfdata=<perf_file> -o <profile_file>
+
+   or ::
+
+      $ create_llvm_prof --binary=<vmlinux> --profile=<perf_file> --format=extbinary --out=<profile_file>
+
+   Note that multiple AutoFDO profile files can be merged into one via::
+
+      $ llvm-profdata merge -o <profile_file> <profile_1> <profile_2> ... <profile_n>
+
+6) Rebuild the kernel using the AutoFDO profile file with the same config as step 1,
+   (Note CONFIG_AUTOFDO_CLANG needs to be enabled)::
+
+      $ make LLVM=1 CLANG_AUTOFDO_PROFILE=<profile_file>
diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
index 53d4d124f9c5..6945644f7008 100644
--- a/Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ Documentation/dev-tools/testing-overview.rst
    ktap
    checkuapi
    gpio-sloppy-logic-analyzer
+   autofdo
 
 
 .. only::  subproject and html