Linux's Perf Script Command Much Faster With Overhaul As Python Module
A major patch series for the Linux kernel replaces embedded Python and Perl scripting in the perf subsystem with a new standalone Python module. This overhaul, led by Google engineer Ian Rogers, significantly reduces overhead and improves performance by using a C-based extension. The change involves 49 patches and approximately 21,000 lines of code to modernize the perf script command.
- ▪The new perf Python module is written in C and offers much faster performance than the previous embedded scripting approach.
- ▪Testing showed that a specific Python script execution time dropped from 3.7 seconds to 0.1 seconds with the new module.
- ▪Google engineer Ian Rogers developed the 49-patch series to address high overhead and complex build dependencies in the perf subsystem.
- ▪The update removes legacy libpython-based code and transitions existing Python perf code to use the new standalone module.
Phoronix files mainly under tech. We currently carry 419 of its stories.
Story provenance
Source · retrieval · rights · ranking — open for full record
inspect →
Story provenance
Attribution is not the same as permission. This drawer separates discovery metadata, excerpts, WeSearch-generated summaries, reuse status, and whether the publisher receives the visit. Nothing here claims a legal grant the publisher has not made.
Record
| Original publisher | Phoronix |
| Canonical URL | https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Perf-Python-Module |
| Publication time | Mon, 21 Sep 2026 05:57:16 -0400 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-09-21T10:03:48.976Z |
| Last seen | 2026-09-21T10:03:48.976Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | OaO1rqq0gOK1 · 1 stories |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
Rights status (four layers)
WeSearch handling by dimension
| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Linux's Perf Script Command Much Faster With Overhaul As Python Module Written by Michael Larabel in Programming on 21 September 2026 at 05:57 AM EDT. Add A Comment A big patch series sent out this weekend for the Linux kernel's perf subsystem removes the embedded Python and Perl scripting in favor of standalone Python scripts with a new Python perf module. This perf module for Python written in C is much faster than the status quo. Google engineer Ian Rogers has carried out the overhaul of the perf script command to address its high overhead, complex build dependencies, and other design challenges by creating a proper perf module for Python.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Phoronix.