xref: /aosp_15_r20/external/perfetto/docs/contributing/common-tasks.md (revision 6dbdd20afdafa5e3ca9b8809fa73465d530080dc)
1# Common tasks
2
3The checklists below show how to achieve some common tasks in the codebase.
4
5## Add a new ftrace event
6
71. Find the `format` file for your event. The location of the file depends where `tracefs` is mounted but can often be found at `/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/EVENT_GROUP/EVENT_NAME/format`.
82. Copy the format file into the codebase at `src/traced/probes/ftrace/test/data/synthetic/events/EVENT_GROUP/EVENT_NAME/format`.
93. Add the event to [src/tools/ftrace_proto_gen/event_list](/src/tools/ftrace_proto_gen/event_list).
104. Run `tools/run_ftrace_proto_gen`. This will update `protos/perfetto/trace/ftrace/ftrace_event.proto` and `protos/perfetto/trace/ftrace/GROUP_NAME.proto`.
115. Run `tools/gen_all out/YOUR_BUILD_DIRECTORY`. This will update `src/traced/probes/ftrace/event_info.cc` and `protos/perfetto/trace/perfetto_trace.proto`.
126. If special handling in `trace_processor` is desired update [src/trace_processor/importers/ftrace/ftrace_parser.cc](/src/trace_processor/importers/ftrace/ftrace_parser.cc) to parse the event.
137. Upload and land your change as normal.
14
15Here is an [example change](https://android-review.googlesource.com/c/platform/external/perfetto/+/1290645) which added the `ion/ion_stat` event.
16
17## Contribute to SQL standard library
18
191. Add or edit an SQL file inside `perfetto/src/trace_processor/stdlib/`. This SQL file will be a new standard library module.
202. For a new file inside an existing package add the file to the corresponding `BUILD.gn`.
213. For a new package (subdirectory of `/stdlib/`), the package name (directory name) has to be added to the list in `/stdlib/BUILD.gn`.
22
23Files inside the standard library have to be formatted in a very specific way, as its structure is used to generate documentation. There are presubmit checks, but they are not infallible.
24
25- Running the file cannot generate any data. There can be only `CREATE PERFETTO {FUNCTION|TABLE|VIEW|MACRO}` statements inside.
26- The name of each standard library object needs to start with `{module_name}_` or be prefixed with an underscore(`_`) for internal objects.
27  The names must only contain lower and upper case letters and underscores. When a module is included (using the `INCLUDE PERFETTO MODULE`) the internal objects  should not be treated as an API.
28- Every table or view should have [a schema](/docs/analysis/perfetto-sql-syntax.md#tableview-schema).
29
30### Documentation
31
32- Every non internal object, as well as its function arguments and columns in its schema have to be prefixed with an SQL comment documenting it.
33- Any text is going to be parsed as markdown, so usage of markdown functionality (code, links, lists) is encouraged.
34Whitespaces in anything apart from descriptions are ignored, so comments can be formatted neatly.
35If the line with description exceeds 80 chars, description can be continued in following lines.
36  - **Table/view**: each has to have schema, object description and a comment above each column's definition in the schema.
37    - Description is any text in the comment above `CREATE PERFETTO {TABLE,VIEW}` statement.
38    - Column's comment is the text immediately above column definition in the schema.
39  - **Scalar Functions**: each has to have a function description and description of return value in this order.
40    - Function description is any text in the comment above `CREATE PERFETTO FUNCTION` statement.
41    - For each argument there has to be a comment line immediately above argument definition.
42    - Return comment should immediately precede `RETURNS`.
43  - **Table Functions**: each has to have a function description, list of arguments (names, types, description) and list of columns.
44    - Function description is any text in the comment above `CREATE PERFETTO FUNCTION` statement.
45    - For each argument there has to be a comment line immediately above argument definition.
46    - For each column there has to be a comment line immediately above column definition.
47
48NOTE: Break lines outside of import description will be ignored.
49
50Example of properly formatted view in module `android`:
51```sql
52-- Count Binder transactions per process.
53CREATE PERFETTO VIEW android_binder_metrics_by_process(
54  -- Name of the process that started the binder transaction.
55  process_name STRING,
56  -- PID of the process that started the binder transaction.
57  pid INT,
58-- Name of the slice with binder transaction.
59  slice_name STRING,
60-- Number of binder transactions in process in slice.
61  event_count INT
62) AS
63SELECT
64  process.name AS process_name,
65  process.pid AS pid,
66  slice.name AS slice_name,
67  COUNT(*) AS event_count
68FROM slice
69JOIN thread_track ON slice.track_id = thread_track.id
70JOIN thread ON thread.utid = thread_track.utid
71JOIN process ON thread.upid = process.upid
72WHERE
73  slice.name GLOB 'binder*'
74GROUP BY
75  process_name,
76  slice_name;
77```
78
79Example of table function in module `android`:
80```sql
81-- Given a launch id and GLOB for a slice name, returns columns for matching slices.
82CREATE PERFETTO FUNCTION ANDROID_SLICES_FOR_LAUNCH_AND_SLICE_NAME(
83  -- Id of launch.
84  launch_id INT,
85  -- Name of slice with launch.
86  slice_name STRING
87)
88RETURNS TABLE(
89  -- Name of slice with launch.
90  slice_name STRING,
91  -- Timestamp of slice start.
92  slice_ts INT,
93  -- Duration of slice.
94  slice_dur INT,
95  -- Name of thread with slice.
96  thread_name STRING,
97  -- Arg set id.
98  arg_set_id INT
99)
100AS
101SELECT
102  slice_name,
103  slice_ts,
104  slice_dur,
105  thread_name,
106  arg_set_id
107FROM thread_slices_for_all_launches
108WHERE launch_id = $launch_id AND slice_name GLOB $slice_name;
109```
110
111
112## {#new-metric} Add a new trace-based metric
113
1141. Create the proto file containing the metric in the [protos/perfetto/metrics](/protos/perfetto/metrics) folder. The appropriate` BUILD.gn` file should be updated as well.
1152. Import the proto in [protos/perfetto/metrics/metrics.proto](/protos/perfetto/metrics/metrics.proto) and add a field for the new message.
1163. Run `tools/gen_all out/YOUR_BUILD_DIRECTORY`. This will update the generated headers containing the descriptors for the proto.
117  * *Note: this step has to be performed any time any metric-related proto is modified.*
118  * If you don't see anything inside the `out/` directory you might have to
119  rerun `tools/setup_all_configs.py`.
1204. Add a new SQL file for the metric to [src/trace_processor/metrics](/src/trace_processor/metrics). The appropriate `BUILD.gn` file should be updated as well.
121  * To learn how to write new metrics, see the [trace-based metrics documentation](/docs/analysis/metrics.md).
1225. Build all targets in your out directory with `tools/ninja -C out/YOUR_BUILD_DIRECTORY`.
1236. Add a new diff test for the metric. This can be done by adding files to
124the `tests.*.py` files in a proper [test/trace_processor](/test/trace_processor) subfolder.
1251. Run the newly added test with `tools/diff_test_trace_processor.py <path to trace processor binary>`.
1262. Upload and land your change as normal.
127
128Here is an [example change](https://android-review.googlesource.com/c/platform/external/perfetto/+/1290643) which added the `time_in_state` metric.
129
130## Add a new trace processor table
131
1321. Create the new table in the appropriate header file in [src/trace_processor/tables](/src/trace_processor/tables) by copying one of the existing macro definitions.
133  * Make sure to understand whether a root or derived table is needed and copy the appropriate one. For more information see the [trace processor](/docs/analysis/trace-processor.md) documentation.
1342. Register the table with the trace processor in the constructor for the [TraceProcessorImpl class](/src/trace_processor/trace_processor_impl.cc).
1353. If also implementing ingestion of events into the table:
136  1. Modify the appropriate parser class in [src/trace_processor/importers](/src/trace_processor/importers) and add the code to add rows to the newly added table.
137  2. Add a new diff test for the added parsing code and table.
138  3. Run the newly added test with `tools/diff_test_trace_processor.py <path to trace processor shell binary>`.
1394. Upload and land your change as normal.
140
141
142## Update `TRACE_PROCESSOR_CURRENT_API_VERSION`
143
144Generally you do not have to worry about version skew between the UI
145and the `trace_processor` since they are built together at the same
146commit. However version skew can occur when using the `--httpd` mode
147which allows a native `trace_processor` instance to be used with the UI.
148
149A common case is when the UI is more recent than `trace_processor`
150and depends on a new table definition. With older versions of
151`trace_processor` in `--httpd` mode the UI crashes attempting to query
152a non-existant table. To avoid this we use a version number. If the
153version number `trace_processor` reports is older than the one the UI
154was built with we prompt the user to update.
155
1561. Go to `protos/perfetto/trace_processor/trace_processor.proto`
1572. Increment `TRACE_PROCESSOR_CURRENT_API_VERSION`
1583. Add a comment explaining what has changed.
159
160## Update statsd descriptor
161
162Perfetto has limited support for statsd atoms it does not know about.
163
164* Must be referred to using `raw_atom_id` in the config.
165* Show up as `atom_xxx.field_yyy` in trace processor.
166* Only top level messages are parsed.
167
168To update Perfetto's descriptor and handle new atoms from AOSP without these
169limitations:
170
1711. Run `tools/update-statsd-descriptor`.
1722. Upload and land your change as normal.
173