> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen Hemminger <step...@networkplumber.org>
> Sent: Monday, 16 June 2025 18:30
> To: Shani Peretz <shper...@nvidia.com>
> Cc: dev@dpdk.org
> Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 0/5] Introduce mempool object new debug
> capabilities
>
> External email: Use caution opening links or attachments
>
>
> On Mon, 16 Jun 2025 10:29:05 +0300
> Shani Peretz <shper...@nvidia.com> wrote:
>
> > This feature is designed to monitor the lifecycle of mempool objects
> > as they move between the application and the PMD.
> >
> > It will allow us to track the operations and transitions of each
> > mempool object throughout the system, helping in debugging and
> understanding objects flow.
> >
> > The implementation include several key components:
> > 1. Added a bitmap to mempool's header (rte_mempool_objhdr)
> > that represent the operations history.
> > 2. Added functions that allow marking operations on an
> > mempool objects.
> > 3. Dumps the history to a file or the console
> > (rte_mempool_objects_dump).
> > 4. Added python script that can parse, analyze the data and
> > present it in an human readable format.
> > 5. Added compilation flag to enable the feature.
> >
> > Shani Peretz (5):
> > mempool: record mempool objects operations history
> > drivers: add mempool history compilation flag
> > net/mlx5: mark an operation in mempool object's history
> > app/testpmd: add testpmd command to dump mempool history
> > usertool: add a script to parse mempool history dump
> >
> > app/test-pmd/cmdline.c | 59 +++++++-
> > config/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/meson.build | 7 +
> > drivers/net/af_packet/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/af_xdp/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/ark/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/atlantic/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/avp/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/axgbe/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/bnx2x/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/bnxt/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/bonding/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/cnxk/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/cxgbe/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/dpaa/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/dpaa2/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/ena/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/enetc/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/enetfec/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/enic/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/failsafe/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/gve/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/hinic/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/hns3/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/intel/cpfl/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/intel/e1000/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/intel/fm10k/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/intel/i40e/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/intel/iavf/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/intel/ice/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/intel/idpf/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/intel/ixgbe/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/ionic/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/mana/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/memif/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/mlx4/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/mlx5/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rx.c | 9 ++
> > drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rx.h | 2 +
> > drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxq.c | 9 +-
> > drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec.c | 6 +
> > drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_tx.h | 7 +
> > drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_txq.c | 1 +
> > drivers/net/mvneta/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/mvpp2/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/netvsc/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/nfb/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/nfp/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/ngbe/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/ntnic/meson.build | 4 +
> > drivers/net/null/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/octeon_ep/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/octeontx/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/pcap/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/pfe/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/qede/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/r8169/meson.build | 4 +-
> > drivers/net/ring/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/sfc/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/softnic/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/tap/meson.build | 1 +
> > drivers/net/thunderx/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/txgbe/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/vdev_netvsc/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/vhost/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/virtio/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/vmxnet3/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/xsc/meson.build | 2 +
> > drivers/net/zxdh/meson.build | 4 +
> > lib/ethdev/rte_ethdev.h | 14 ++
> > lib/mempool/rte_mempool.c | 111 +++++++++++++++
> > lib/mempool/rte_mempool.h | 106 ++++++++++++++
> > meson_options.txt | 2 +
> > .../dpdk-mempool_object_history_parser.py | 129
> ++++++++++++++++++
> > 74 files changed, 571 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) create mode
> > 100755 usertools/dpdk-mempool_object_history_parser.py
> >
>
> Could this not already be done with tracing infrastructure?
Hey,
We did consider tracing but:
- It has limited capacity, which will result in older mbufs being lost
in the tracing output while they are still in use
- Some operations may be lost, and we might not capture the complete
picture due to trace misses caused by the performance overhead of tracking on
the datapath as far as I understand
WDYT?
