README.md

Machine-readable data

pmu

This repository contains JSON descriptions of hardware performance events for Arm cores.

This repository is currently "beta" quality. Arm encourages use and evaluation but the data, and the data format, are subject to change.

Arm welcomes feedback on this repository via the issue tracker.

PMU data schema

The JSON schema is in pmu/pmu-schema.json. Briefly, each JSON file contains a list of events, each event being described by a JSON object:

        {
            "code": 1,
            "name": "L1I_CACHE_REFILL",
            "architectural": false,
            "type": "UEVT",
            "subtype": "REFILL",
            "component": "L1I",
            "event_bits": 1,
            "event_lsb": 0,
            "trace_lsb": 1,
            "description": "Level 1 instruction cache refill"
        },

The "type" field classfies the event:

type	meaning
INS	Instruction of a certain type executed
UEVT	Microarchitectural event
CYCLE	Counts number of cycles during which a condition is true
EXC	Exception of a certain type

For microarchitectural events the "component" field indicates the core component that the event relates to:

	component
L1I	L1 I-cache
L1D	L1 D-cache
L2	L2 cache
BPU	Branch predictor
L1ITLB	L1 instruction TLB
L1DTLB	L1 data TLB
BUS	Core bus interface

The "subtype" field may be present to classify the event further, e.g. into READ, WRITE, ACCESS and REFILL cache events.

For events exported on the external event bus, and/or to the ETM, the position of the event on the bus is shown.