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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              

-E              

-f              

-F              

-k              

-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.