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authorNick Clifton <nickc@redhat.com>2001-07-19 10:43:13 +0000
committerNick Clifton <nickc@redhat.com>2001-07-19 10:43:13 +0000
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+ README for GPROF
+
+This is the GNU profiler. It is distributed with other "binary
+utilities" which should be in ../binutils. See ../binutils/README for
+more general notes, including where to send bug reports.
+
+This file documents the changes and new features available with this
+version of GNU gprof.
+
+* New Features
+
+ o Long options
+
+ o Supports generalized file format, without breaking backward compatibility:
+ new file format supports basic-block execution counts and non-realtime
+ histograms (see below)
+
+ o Supports profiling at the line level: flat profiles, call-graph profiles,
+ and execution-counts can all be displayed at a level that identifies
+ individual lines rather than just functions
+
+ o Test-coverage support (similar to Sun tcov program): source files
+ can be annotated with the number of times a function was invoked
+ or with the number of times each basic-block in a function was
+ executed
+
+ o Generalized histograms: not just execution-time, but arbitrary
+ histograms are support (for example, performance counter based
+ profiles)
+
+ o Powerful mechanism to select data to be included/excluded from
+ analysis and/or output
+
+ o Support for DEC OSF/1 v3.0
+
+ o Full cross-platform profiling support: gprof uses BFD to support
+ arbitrary, non-native object file formats and non-native byte-orders
+ (this feature has not been tested yet)
+
+ o In the call-graph function index, static function names are now
+ printed together with the filename in which the function was defined
+ (required bfd_find_nearest_line() support and symbolic debugging
+ information to be present in the executable file)
+
+ o Major overhaul of source code (compiles cleanly with -Wall, etc.)
+
+* Supported Platforms
+
+The current version is known to work on:
+
+ o DEC OSF/1 v3.0
+ All features supported.
+
+ o SunOS 4.1.x
+ All features supported.
+
+ o Solaris 2.3
+ Line-level profiling unsupported because bfd_find_nearest_line()
+ is not fully implemented for Elf binaries.
+
+ o HP-UX 9.01
+ Line-level profiling unsupported because bfd_find_nearest_line()
+ is not fully implemented for SOM binaries.
+
+* Detailed Description
+
+** User Interface Changes
+
+The command-line interface is backwards compatible with earlier
+versions of GNU gprof and Berkeley gprof. The only exception is
+the option to delete arcs from the call graph. The old syntax
+was:
+
+ -k fromname toname
+
+while the new syntax is:
+
+ -k fromname/toname
+
+This change was necessary to be compatible with long-option parsing.
+Also, "fromname" and "toname" can now be arbitrary symspecs rather
+than just function names (see below for an explanation of symspecs).
+For example, option "-k gprof.c/" suppresses all arcs due to calls out
+of file "gprof.c".
+
+*** Sym Specs
+
+It is often necessary to apply gprof only to specific parts of a
+program. GNU gprof has a simple but powerful mechanism to achieve
+this. So called {\em symspecs\/} provide the foundation for this
+mechanism. A symspec selects the parts of a profiled program to which
+an operation should be applied to. The syntax of a symspec is
+simple:
+
+ filename_containing_a_dot
+ | funcname_not_containing_a_dot
+ | linenumber
+ | ( [ any_filename ] `:' ( any_funcname | linenumber ) )
+
+Here are some examples:
+
+ main.c Selects everything in file "main.c"---the
+ dot in the string tells gprof to interpret
+ the string as a filename, rather than as
+ a function name. To select a file whose
+ name does contain a dot, a trailing colon
+ should be specified. For example, "odd:" is
+ interpreted as the file named "odd".
+
+ main Selects all functions named "main". Notice
+ that there may be multiple instances of the
+ same function name because some of the
+ definitions may be local (i.e., static).
+ Unless a function name is unique in a program,
+ you must use the colon notation explained
+ below to specify a function from a specific
+ source file. Sometimes, functionnames contain
+ dots. In such cases, it is necessary to
+ add a leading colon to the name. For example,
+ ":.mul" selects function ".mul".
+
+ main.c:main Selects function "main" in file "main.c".
+
+ main.c:134 Selects line 134 in file "main.c".
+
+IMPLEMENTATION NOTE: The source code uses the type sym_id for symspecs.
+At some point, this probably ought to be changed to "sym_spec" to make
+reading the code easier.
+
+*** Long options
+
+GNU gprof now supports long options. The following is a list of all
+supported options. Options that are listed without description
+operate in the same manner as the corresponding option in older
+versions of gprof.
+
+Short Form: Long Form:
+----------- ----------
+-l --line
+ Request profiling at the line-level rather
+ than just at the function level. Source
+ lines are identified by symbols of the form:
+
+ func (file:line)
+
+ where "func" is the function name, "file" is the
+ file name and "line" is the line-number that
+ corresponds to the line.
+
+ To work properly, the binary must contain symbolic
+ debugging information. This means that the source
+ have to be translated with option "-g" specified.
+ Functions for which there is no symbolic debugging
+ information available are treated as if "--line"
+ had not been specified. However, the line number
+ printed with such symbols is usually incorrect
+ and should be ignored.
+
+-a --no-static
+-A[symspec] --annotated-source[=symspec]
+ Request output in the form of annotated source
+ files. If "symspec" is specified, print output only
+ for symbols selected by "symspec". If the option
+ is specified multiple times, annotated output is
+ generated for the union of all symspecs.
+
+ Examples:
+
+ -A Prints annotated source for all
+ source files.
+ -Agprof.c Prints annotated source for file
+ gprof.c.
+ -Afoobar Prints annotated source for files
+ containing a function named "foobar".
+ The entire file will be printed, but
+ only the function itself will be
+ annotated with profile data.
+
+-J[symspec] --no-annotated-source[=symspec]
+ Suppress annotated source output. If specified
+ without argument, annotated output is suppressed
+ completely. With an argument, annotated output
+ is suppressed only for the symbols selected by
+ "symspec". If the option is specified multiple
+ times, annotated output is suppressed for the
+ union of all symspecs. This option has lower
+ precedence than --annotated-source
+
+-p[symspec] --flat-profile[=symspec]
+ Request output in the form of a flat profile
+ (unless any other output-style option is specified,
+ this option is turned on by default). If
+ "symspec" is specified, include only symbols
+ selected by "symspec" in flat profile. If the
+ option is specified multiple times, the flat
+ profile includes symbols selected by the union
+ of all symspecs.
+
+-P[symspec] --no-flat-profile[=symspec]
+ Suppress output in the flat profile. If given
+ without an argument, the flat profile is suppressed
+ completely. If "symspec" is specified, suppress
+ the selected symbols in the flat profile. If the
+ option is specified multiple times, the union of
+ the selected symbols is suppressed. This option
+ has lower precedence than --flat-profile.
+
+-q[symspec] --graph[=symspec]
+ Request output in the form of a call-graph
+ (unless any other output-style option is specified,
+ this option is turned on by default). If "symspec"
+ is specified, include only symbols selected by
+ "symspec" in the call-graph. If the option is
+ specified multiple times, the call-graph includes
+ symbols selected by the union of all symspecs.
+
+-Q[symspec] --no-graph[=symspec]
+ Suppress output in the call-graph. If given without
+ an argument, the call-graph is suppressed completely.
+ With a "symspec", suppress the selected symbols
+ from the call-graph. If the option is specified
+ multiple times, the union of the selected symbols
+ is suppressed. This option has lower precedence
+ than --graph.
+
+-C[symspec] --exec-counts[=symspec]
+ Request output in the form of execution counts.
+ If "symspec" is present, include only symbols
+ selected by "symspec" in the execution count
+ listing. If the option is specified multiple
+ times, the execution count listing includes
+ symbols selected by the union of all symspecs.
+
+-Z[symspec] --no-exec-counts[=symspec]
+ Suppress output in the execution count listing.
+ If given without an argument, the listing is
+ suppressed completely. With a "symspec", suppress
+ the selected symbols from the call-graph. If the
+ option is specified multiple times, the union of
+ the selected symbols is suppressed. This option
+ has lower precedence than --exec-counts.
+
+-i --file-info
+ Print information about the profile files that
+ are read. The information consists of the
+ number and types of records present in the
+ profile file. Currently, a profile file can
+ contain any number and any combination of histogram,
+ call-graph, or basic-block count records.
+
+-s --sum
+
+-x --all-lines
+ This option affects annotated source output only.
+ By default, only the lines at the beginning of
+ a basic-block are annotated. If this option is
+ specified, every line in a basic-block is annotated
+ by repeating the annotation for the first line.
+ This option is identical to tcov's "-a".
+
+-I dirs --directory-path=dirs
+ This option affects annotated source output only.
+ Specifies the list of directories to be searched
+ for source files. The argument "dirs" is a colon
+ separated list of directories. By default, gprof
+ searches for source files relative to the current
+ working directory only.
+
+-z --display-unused-functions
+
+-m num --min-count=num
+ This option affects annotated source and execution
+ count output only. Symbols that are executed
+ less than "num" times are suppressed. For annotated
+ source output, suppressed symbols are marked
+ by five hash-marks (#####). In an execution count
+ output, suppressed symbols do not appear at all.
+
+-L --print-path
+ Normally, source filenames are printed with the path
+ component suppressed. With this option, gprof
+ can be forced to print the full pathname of
+ source filenames. The full pathname is determined
+ from symbolic debugging information in the image file
+ and is relative to the directory in which the compiler
+ was invoked.
+
+-y --separate-files
+ This option affects annotated source output only.
+ Normally, gprof prints annotated source files
+ to standard-output. If this option is specified,
+ annotated source for a file named "path/filename"
+ is generated in the file "filename-ann". That is,
+ annotated output is {\em always\/} generated in
+ gprof's current working directory. Care has to
+ be taken if a program consists of files that have
+ identical filenames, but distinct paths.
+
+-c --static-call-graph
+
+-t num --table-length=num
+ This option affects annotated source output only.
+ After annotating a source file, gprof generates
+ an execution count summary consisting of a table
+ of lines with the top execution counts. By
+ default, this table is ten entries long.
+ This option can be used to change the table length
+ or, by specifying an argument value of 0, it can be
+ suppressed completely.
+
+-n symspec --time=symspec
+ Only symbols selected by "symspec" are considered
+ in total and percentage time computations.
+ However, this option does not affect percentage time
+ computation for the flat profile.
+ If the option is specified multiple times, the union
+ of all selected symbols is used in time computations.
+
+-N --no-time=symspec
+ Exclude the symbols selected by "symspec" from
+ total and percentage time computations.
+ However, this option does not affect percentage time
+ computation for the flat profile.
+ This option is ignored if any --time options are
+ specified.
+
+-w num --width=num
+ Sets the output line width. Currently, this option
+ affects the printing of the call-graph function index
+ only.
+
+-e <no long form---for backwards compatibility only>
+-E <no long form---for backwards compatibility only>
+-f <no long form---for backwards compatibility only>
+-F <no long form---for backwards compatibility only>
+-k <no long form---for backwards compatibility only>
+-b --brief
+-dnum --debug[=num]
+
+-h --help
+ Prints a usage message.
+
+-O name --file-format=name
+ Selects the format of the profile data files.
+ Recognized formats are "auto", "bsd", "magic",
+ and "prof". The last one is not yet supported.
+ Format "auto" attempts to detect the file format
+ automatically (this is the default behavior).
+ It attempts to read the profile data files as
+ "magic" files and if this fails, falls back to
+ the "bsd" format. "bsd" forces gprof to read
+ the data files in the BSD format. "magic" forces
+ gprof to read the data files in the "magic" format.
+
+-T --traditional
+-v --version
+
+** File Format Changes
+
+The old BSD-derived format used for profile data does not contain a
+magic cookie that allows to check whether a data file really is a
+gprof file. Furthermore, it does not provide a version number, thus
+rendering changes to the file format almost impossible. GNU gprof
+uses a new file format that provides these features. For backward
+compatibility, GNU gprof continues to support the old BSD-derived
+format, but not all features are supported with it. For example,
+basic-block execution counts cannot be accommodated by the old file
+format.
+
+The new file format is defined in header file \file{gmon_out.h}. It
+consists of a header containing the magic cookie and a version number,
+as well as some spare bytes available for future extensions. All data
+in a profile data file is in the native format of the host on which
+the profile was collected. GNU gprof adapts automatically to the
+byte-order in use.
+
+In the new file format, the header is followed by a sequence of
+records. Currently, there are three different record types: histogram
+records, call-graph arc records, and basic-block execution count
+records. Each file can contain any number of each record type. When
+reading a file, GNU gprof will ensure records of the same type are
+compatible with each other and compute the union of all records. For
+example, for basic-block execution counts, the union is simply the sum
+of all execution counts for each basic-block.
+
+*** Histogram Records
+
+Histogram records consist of a header that is followed by an array of
+bins. The header contains the text-segment range that the histogram
+spans, the size of the histogram in bytes (unlike in the old BSD
+format, this does not include the size of the header), the rate of the
+profiling clock, and the physical dimension that the bin counts
+represent after being scaled by the profiling clock rate. The
+physical dimension is specified in two parts: a long name of up to 15
+characters and a single character abbreviation. For example, a
+histogram representing real-time would specify the long name as
+"seconds" and the abbreviation as "s". This feature is useful for
+architectures that support performance monitor hardware (which,
+fortunately, is becoming increasingly common). For example, under DEC
+OSF/1, the "uprofile" command can be used to produce a histogram of,
+say, instruction cache misses. In this case, the dimension in the
+histogram header could be set to "i-cache misses" and the abbreviation
+could be set to "1" (because it is simply a count, not a physical
+dimension). Also, the profiling rate would have to be set to 1 in
+this case.
+
+Histogram bins are 16-bit numbers and each bin represent an equal
+amount of text-space. For example, if the text-segment is one
+thousand bytes long and if there are ten bins in the histogram, each
+bin represents one hundred bytes.
+
+
+*** Call-Graph Records
+
+Call-graph records have a format that is identical to the one used in
+the BSD-derived file format. It consists of an arc in the call graph
+and a count indicating the number of times the arc was traversed
+during program execution. Arcs are specified by a pair of addresses:
+the first must be within caller's function and the second must be
+within the callee's function. When performing profiling at the
+function level, these addresses can point anywhere within the
+respective function. However, when profiling at the line-level, it is
+better if the addresses are as close to the call-site/entry-point as
+possible. This will ensure that the line-level call-graph is able to
+identify exactly which line of source code performed calls to a
+function.
+
+*** Basic-Block Execution Count Records
+
+Basic-block execution count records consist of a header followed by a
+sequence of address/count pairs. The header simply specifies the
+length of the sequence. In an address/count pair, the address
+identifies a basic-block and the count specifies the number of times
+that basic-block was executed. Any address within the basic-address can
+be used.
+
+IMPLEMENTATION NOTE: gcc -a can be used to instrument a program to
+record basic-block execution counts. However, the __bb_exit_func()
+that is currently present in libgcc2.c does not generate a gmon.out
+file in a suitable format. This should be fixed for future releases
+of gcc. In the meantime, contact davidm@cs.arizona.edu for a version
+of __bb_exit_func() to is appropriate.