[PATCH V2 9/9] powerpc/pseries/htmdump: Add documentation for H_HTM debugfs interface

[Athira Rajeev]

Documentation for HTM (Hardware Trace Macro) debugfs interface
and how it can be used to configure/control the HTM operations.

Signed-off-by: Athira Rajeev <atrajeev at linux.ibm.com>
---
 Documentation/arch/powerpc/htm.rst | 104 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 104 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/arch/powerpc/htm.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/arch/powerpc/htm.rst b/Documentation/arch/powerpc/htm.rst
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+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+.. _htm:
+
+===================================
+HTM (Hardware Trace Macro)
+===================================
+
+Athira Rajeev, 2 Mar 2025
+
+.. contents::
+    :depth: 3
+
+
+Basic overview
+==============
+
+H_HTM is used as an interface for executing Hardware Trace Macro (HTM)
+functions, including setup, configuration, control and dumping of the HTM data.
+For using HTM, it is required to setup HTM buffers and HTM operations can
+be controlled using the H_HTM hcall. The hcall can be invoked for any core/chip
+of the system from within a partition itself. To use this feature, a debugfs
+folder called "htmdump" is present under /sys/kernel/debug/powerpc.
+
+
+HTM debugfs example usage
+=========================
+
+.. code-block:: sh
+
+  #  ls /sys/kernel/debug/powerpc/htmdump/
+  coreindexonchip  htmcaps  htmconfigure  htmflags  htminfo  htmsetup
+  htmstart  htmstatus  htmtype  nodalchipindex  nodeindex  trace
+
+Details on each file:
+
+* nodeindex, nodalchipindex, coreindexonchip specifies which partition to configure the HTM for.
+* htmtype: specifies the type of HTM. Supported target is hardwareTarget.
+* trace: is to read the HTM data.
+* htmconfigure: Configure/Deconfigure the HTM. Writing 1 to the file will configure the trace, writing 0 to the file will do deconfigure.
+* htmstart: start/Stop the HTM. Writing 1 to the file will start the tracing, writing 0 to the file will stop the tracing.
+* htmstatus: get the status of HTM. This is needed to understand the HTM state after each operation.
+* htmsetup: set the HTM buffer size. Size of HTM buffer is in power of 2
+* htminfo: provides the system processor configuration details. This is needed to understand the appropriate values for nodeindex, nodalchipindex, coreindexonchip.
+* htmcaps : provides the HTM capabilities like minimum/maximum buffer size, what kind of tracing the HTM supports etc.
+* htmflags : allows to pass flags to hcall. Currently supports controlling the wrapping of HTM buffer.
+
+To see the system processor configuration details:
+
+.. code-block:: sh
+
+  # cat /sys/kernel/debug/powerpc/htmdump/htminfo > htminfo_file
+
+The result can be interpreted using hexdump.
+
+To collect HTM traces for a partition represented by nodeindex as
+zero, nodalchipindex as 1 and coreindexonchip as 12
+
+.. code-block:: sh
+
+  # cd /sys/kernel/debug/powerpc/htmdump/
+  # echo 2 > htmtype
+  # echo 33 > htmsetup ( sets 8GB memory for HTM buffer, number is size in power of 2 )
+
+This requires a CEC reboot to get the HTM buffers allocated.
+
+.. code-block:: sh
+
+  # cd /sys/kernel/debug/powerpc/htmdump/
+  # echo 2 > htmtype
+  # echo 0 > nodeindex
+  # echo 1 > nodalchipindex
+  # echo 12 > coreindexonchip
+  # echo 1 > htmflags     # to set noWrap for HTM buffers
+  # echo 1 > htmconfigure # Configure the HTM
+  # echo 1 > htmstart     # Start the HTM
+  # echo 0 > htmstart     # Stop the HTM
+  # echo 0 > htmconfigure # Deconfigure the HTM
+  # cat htmstatus         # Dump the status of HTM entries as data
+
+Above will set the htmtype and core details, followed by executing respective HTM operation.
+
+Read the HTM trace data
+========================
+
+After starting the trace collection, run the workload
+of interest. Stop the trace collection after required period
+of time, and read the trace file.
+
+.. code-block:: sh
+
+  # cat /sys/kernel/debug/powerpc/htmdump/trace > trace_file
+
+This trace file will contain the relevant instruction traces
+collected during the workload execution. And can be used as
+input file for trace decoders to understand data.
+
+Benefits of using HTM debugfs interface
+=======================================
+
+It is now possible to collect traces for a particular core/chip
+from within any partition of the system and decode it. Through
+this enablement, a small partition can be dedicated to collect the
+trace data and analyze to provide important information for Performance
+analysis, Software tuning, or Hardware debug.
-- 
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