# alderbench

Sister app to [aldermon](../aldermon) for the same Alder Lake box
(i5-12600KF, ASRock Z690M ITX/ax). Runs **comparative benchmarks and CPU
stress tests** across stock vs OC/UV configurations, cycling instruction
sets so each clock rail (integer / SSE / AVX2) is tested separately —
"OCCT but it cycles ISAs", with per-ISA scores written to JSON reports.

Standalone — no shared code with aldermon. aldermon owns the live
sensors (clocks/temps/power); alderbench owns the workloads + scores.
Run them side by side during a sweep to watch what the load is doing.

## Usage

```sh
alderbench                     # TUI picker: Stability | Bench | Core-cycle | Custom
alderbench --tui               # TUI sweep straight from the config (no picker)
alderbench --preset stability  # 1-hour ISA-cycling stability sweep (TUI)
alderbench --preset bench      # comparative scores sweep (TUI)
alderbench --preset core-cycle # per-core single-core stability cycle (TUI)
alderbench --headless          # scripted sweep, no TUI (CI / scripts)
alderbench --smoke-workload 7zip-bench   # run one workload 3s, print verdict + score
alderbench --report runs/1756-c2c-latency.json  # print a past run's summary
alderbench --list              # enumerate workload names
alderbench --help              # usage
```

The TUI needs a real terminal; `--headless` covers scripts.

## Workloads

| name             | what it does                                        | score            |
|------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|------------------|
| `stress-ng-cpu`  | integer stressor, all `--cpu-method`s (stability)   | verdict only     |
| `y-cruncher-sse` | SSE4.2 FFT stress via the SNB variant binary        | bits/sec per algo|
| `y-cruncher-avx2`| AVX2 FFT stress via the HSW variant binary          | bits/sec per algo|
| `7zip-bench`     | `7z b` compression benchmark                        | MIPS rating      |
| `c2c-latency`    | cache-line ping-pong across every pinned cpu pair   | ns/hop per pair  |
| `dram-latency`   | pointer-chase at L1/L2/L3/DRAM-sized working sets   | ns/access per size |

Verdicts come from each workload's own self-check (y-cruncher "Passed",
7z exit code, ping-pong sequence integrity, chase cycle integrity) —
that's the stability signal per ISA rail. `c2c`/`dram` are in-process
(zero-dep: raw `sched_setaffinity` + `Instant`), and double as
coherency/memory stability checks.

Requirements: `stress-ng` + `7z` on PATH. y-cruncher: download the
static build and unpack it under `./bin/` (gitignored) — alderbench
invokes the per-microarchitecture variant binaries (`Binaries/11-SNB ~
Hina` for SSE, `13-HSW ~ Airi` for AVX2) directly, never the wrapper.
`minecraft-server` is planned; the run loop skips it with a warning.

## TUI keys

Picker: `j/k`/arrows navigate, `Enter` starts, `q` quits. Editor: `j/k`
rows, `←/→` fields, `Enter` on Name cycles workloads, on Cores cycles
`0-15`/`0-11`/`12-15`, on Duration/Cooldown/Loops opens numeric input;
`a`/`d` add/delete rows, `</>` reorder. During a sweep `q` cancels —
while a workload runs the panel heartbeat-refreshes every few seconds
(never at render-loop frequency, so it won't steal CPU from single-core
runs); workloads that outrun their estimate (7z's fixed passes) say so
explicitly. Watch aldermon for live load.

## Config

`alderbench.conf` is searched at `./` → `~/.config/alderbench/` →
`/etc/alderbench/` (first match wins). Simple `KEY = VALUE` lines; `#`
comments; unknown keys ignored; out-of-range numerics rejected.

```ini
poll_ms      = 250          # tick interval (50..60000)
cool_secs    = 15           # cooldown between workloads (0..3600)
loop_count   = 1            # sweep repeats; 0 = infinite
report_dir   = runs         # where JSON reports go
bin_dir      = bin          # where the y-cruncher bundle lives

# Either a comma list (names inherit per-workload defaults)…
workloads = stress-ng-cpu, y-cruncher-sse, 7zip-bench

# …or per-entry blocks:
workload.1.name           = y-cruncher-avx2
workload.1.duration_secs  = 300        # estimate, not a hard stop
workload.1.cores          = 0-11       # taskset-style range: 0-11 P-only, 12-15 E-only
```

`duration_secs` is a display estimate: workloads run until they finish
themselves (self-terminating stressors) or you quit; `7z b`'s fixed
passes may overrun it.

## Reports

One JSON file per finished workload:
`runs/<unix-seconds>-<workload>.json`, schema version 2:

```json
{"schema_version":2,"workload":"c2c-latency","params":"30s cores=0-15",
 "started":1758366463,"isa_class":"other","verdict":{"kind":"clean"},
 "score":{"kind":"c2c","pairs":[{"a":0,"b":1,"ns":28.0}, ...]}}
```

`alderbench --report <path>` prints a one-line human summary of any of
these. Diff report dirs across OC configs to compare scores.

## Install

```sh
make check     # fmt + clippy + tests
make install   # DESTDIR/PREFIX aware; bin → $(PREFIX)/bin,
               # conf → /etc/alderbench/alderbench.conf
```

Gentoo-friendly: `make install DESTDIR="$D" PREFIX=/usr` in an ebuild.