kcbenchrate - Man Page

Linux kernel compile benchmark, rate edition (EXPERIMENTAL)

Synopsis

kcbenchrate [options]

Description

Kcbenchrate compiles a Linux kernel on each CPU core in parallel to test a system's performance or stability.

Note: The number of compile jobs ('-j') and workers ('-w') that delivers the best result depends on the machine being tested. See the section "On the Default Number of Jobs and Workers" below for details.

To get comparable results from different machines you need to use the exact same operating system on all of them. There are multiple reasons for this recommendation, but one of the main reasons is: the Linux version compiled by default depends on the operating system's default compiler and both heavily influence the result.

If you choose to ignore this recommendation at least make sure to hard code the Linux version to compile ('-s 5.4'), as for example compiling 5.7 will take longer than 5.4 or 4.19 and thus lead to results one cannot compare. Also, make sure the compiler used on the systems you want to compare is from similar, as for example gcc10 will try harder to optimize the code than gcc8 or gcc9 and thus take more time for its work.

Kcbenchrate is accompanied by kcbench. Both are quite similar, but work slightly different:

Options

-b,  --bypass

After starting a worker wait just a tenths of a second before launching the next to start all the workers a lot faster than usually. This can he useful to create a lot of load quickly, but the benchmark result might be slightly inaccurate due to caching effects.

-h,  --help

Show usage.

-i,  --iterations int

Determines the number of kernels that each worker will compile before the end result it printed. Default: 2

-j,  --jobs int

Number of jobs to use when compiling a kernel('make -j #').

The default is '1'.

-m,  --modconfig

Instead of using a config generated with 'defconfig' use one built by 'allmodconfig' and compile modules as well. Takes a lot longer to compile, which is more suitable for machines with a lot of fast CPU cores.

-k,  --kconfig file

Instead of using a config generated with 'defconfig' or 'allmodconfig' use file as a base and complete it with 'olddefconfig'. This option overrides a possible -m/--modconfig.

-o,  --outputdir dir

Use path to compile Linux. Passes 'O=dir/kcbench-worker/' to make when calling it to compile a kernel. Without this, kcbenchrate will use a temporary directory.

-s,  --src path|version

Look for sources in path, ~/.cache/kcbench/linux-version or /usr/share/kcbench/linux-version. If not found try to download version automatically unless '--no-download' was specified.

-v,  --verbose

Increase verbose level; option can be given multiple times.

-w,  --workers int

Number of workers to use. Default: Number of CPUs. The optimal setting will depend on the particual machine. See ON THE DEFAULT NUMBER OF WORKERS for details.

-V,  --version

Output program version.

--cc exec

Use exec as target compiler.

--cross-compile arch

EXPERIMENTAL: Cross compile the Linux kernel. Cross compilers for this task are packaged in some Linux distribution. There are also pre-compiled compilers available on the internet, for example here: https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/tools/crosstool/

Values of arch that kcbench/kcbenchrate understand: arm arm64 aarch64 riscv riscv64 powerpc powerpc64 x86_64

Building for archs not directly supported by kcbench/kcbenchrate should work, too: just export ARCH= and CROSS_COMPILE= just like you would when normally cross compiling a Linux kernel. Do not use '--cross-compile' in that case.

Be aware there is a bigger risk running into compile errors (see below) when cross compiling.

Keep in mind that unless you provide a build configuration using '--kconfig', kcbench/kcbenchrate configure the compiled Linux kernel with the make target 'defconfig' (or 'allmodconfig', if you specify '-m'). That .config might be unusual for the architecture in question, but good enough for benchmarking purposes.

--crosscomp-scheme scheme

On Linux distributions that are known to ship cross compilers kcbench/ kcbenchrate will assume you want to use those. This parameter allows to specify one of the various different naming schemes in cases this automatic detection fails or work you want kcbench/kcbenchrate to find them using a 'generic' scheme that should work with compilers from various sources, which is the default on unknown distributions.

Valid values of scheme: debian fedora generic redhat ubuntu

--hostcc exec

Use exec as host compiler.

--infinite

Run endlessly to create system load.

--llvm

Set LLVM=1 to use clang as compiler and LLVM utilities as GNU binutils substitute.

--add-make-args string

Pass additional flags found in string to make when creating the config or building the kernel. This option is meant for experts that want to try unusual things, like specifying a special linker (--add-make-args 'LD=ld.lld').

Use with caution!

--no-download

Never download Linux kernel sources from the web automatically.

--savefailedlogs path

Save log of failed compile runs to path.

On the Default Number of Jobs and Workers

The optimal number of workers (-w) in most cases will be identical to the number of CPU cores in the tested machine, that's why this is the default. But some systems might be a bit faster if they are oversubscribed a little with additional workers or a higher number ob jobs per worker. Others might be quicker if you only utilize the real CPU cores and let the cores idle which are only available due to SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading, also called Hyper-threading/HT by Intel).

For details and some results that show unexpected effects see the kcbench man page's section 'ON THE DEFAULT NUMBER OF JOBS'.

Ideally kcbenchrate would do what kcbench does and try a few settings to narrow down the optimal setting. As this would take quite a while this exercise is left to the user. Impatient users should consider finding the optimal number of jobs with kcbench and then try to start kernbenchrate with as many workers, as it might be a good setting for it as well. You can also try to experiment with the number of jobs used per worker (-j), maybe some machines perform best if you start worker on every second core, but use 2 jobs per worker.

On Failed Runs Due to Compilation Errors

The compilation is unlikely to fail, as long as you are using a settled GCC version to natively compile the source of a current Linux kernel for popular architectures like ARM, ARM64/Aarch64, or x86_64. For other cases there is a bigger risk that compilation will fail due to factors outside that kcbench/kcbenchrate cannot control. They nevertheless try to catch a few common problems and warn, but they can not catch them all, as there are to many factors involved:

Hints

Running benchmarks to compare the results fairly can be tricky. Here are a few of the aspects you should keep mind when trying to do so:

If you want to work against that consider using '-m' to build an allmodconfig configuration with modules; comping a newer, more complex Linux kernel version can also help. But the best way to avoid this effect is by running kcbenchrate.

Examples

To let kcbenchrate decide everything automatically simply run:

$ kcbenchrate

Results

By default the line you are looking for is this:

4 workers completed 8 kernels so far (avrg: 1100.75 s/run) with a rate of 13.08 kernels/hour.

On this quad-core processor four workers each compiled two kernels. On average, it took each worker 1100.77 seconds to compile one kernel image. With a speed like this the machine can compile 13.08 kernels per hour (3600/1100.75*4).

Missing Features

See Also

kcbench(1), time(1)

Author

Thorsten Leemhuis <linux [AT] leemhuis [DOT] info>

Referenced By

kcbench(1).