GPROFNG(1) User Commands GPROFNG(1)
NAME
gprofng - The next generation GNU application profiling tool
SYNOPSIS
gprofng [option(s)] action [qualifier] [option(s)] target [options]
DESCRIPTION
This is the driver for the gprofng tools suite to gather and analyze
performance data.
The driver executes the action specified. An example of an action is
collect to collect performance data. Depending on the action, a
qualifier may be needed to further define the command. The last item is
the target that the command applies to.
There are three places where options are supported. The driver supports
options. These can be found below. The action, possibly in combination
with the qualifier also supports options. A description of these can be
found in the man page for the command. Any options needed to execute
the target command should follow the target name.
For example, to collect performance data for an application called a.out
and store the results in experiment directory mydata.er, the following
command may be used:
$ gprofng collect app -o mydata.er a.out -t 2
In this example, the action is collect, the qualifier is app, the single
argument to the command is "-o mydata.er" and the target is a.out. The
target command is invoked with the -t 2 option.
If gprofng is executed without any additional option, action, or target,
a usage overview is printed.
OPTIONS
--version
Print the version number and exit.
--help
Print usage information and exit.
ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables are supported:
GPROFNG_MAX_CALL_STACK_DEPTH
Set the depth of the call stack (default is 256).
GPROFNG_USE_JAVA_OPTIONS
May be set when profiling a C/C++ application that uses dlopen() to
execute Java code.
GPROFNG_ALLOW_CORE_DUMP
Set this variable to allow a core file to be generated; otherwise an
error report is created on /tmp.
GPROFNG_ARCHIVE
Use this variable to define the settings for automatic archiving
upon experiment recording completion.
GPROFNG_ARCHIVE_COMMON_DIR
Set this variable to the location of the common archive.
GPROFNG_JAVA_MAX_CALL_STACK_DEPTH
Set the depth of the Java call stack; the default is 256; set to 0
to disable capturing of call stacks.
GPROFNG_JAVA_NATIVE_MAX_CALL_STACK_DEPTH
Set the depth of the Java native call stack; the default is 256; set
to 0 to disable capturing of call stacks (JNI and assembly call
stacks are not captured).
GPROFNG_SYSCONFDIR
Set the path to the gprofng.rc configuration file. By default, this
file is placed in the etc subdirectory of the binutils installation
directory. In case an RPM has been used for the installation, this
file is in directory /etc.
When building and installing from the source, the user can set the
path to this configuration file to a non-default location. If this
is the case, the user may set the "GPROFNG_SYSCONFDIR" environment
variable to point to this location.
Otherwise, the gprofng display text, gprofng display src, and
gprofng archive tools cannot find this file.
NOTES
The gprofng driver supports the following commands.
Collect performance data:
"gprofng collect app"
Collect application performance data.
Display the performance results:
"gprofng display text"
Display the performance data in ASCII format.
"gprofng display html"
Generate an HTML file from one or more experiments.
"gprofng display gui"
Start the GUI. Note that this tool is not available by default and
needs to be installed seperately.
Miscellaneous commands:
"gprofng display src"
Display source or disassembly with compiler annotations.
"gprofng archive"
Include binaries and source code in an experiment directory.
It is also possible to invoke the lower level commands directly, but
since these are subject to change, in particular the options, we
recommend to use the driver.
The gprofng GUI is an optional tool that provides a graphical interface
for "gprofng". It is easy to use and supports many views into the
performance data. For those interested in this GUI, we recommend to
search for "gprofng-gui" how to obtain, install and use it.
SEE ALSO
gprofng-archive(1), gprofng-collect-app(1), gprofng-display-html(1),
gprofng-display-src(1), gprofng-display-text(1)
Each gprofng command also supports the --help option. This lists the
options and a short description for each option.
For example this displays the options supported on the gprofng collect
app command:
$ gprofng collect app --help
The user guide for gprofng is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the
info and gprofng programs are correctly installed, the command info
gprofng should give access to this document.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2022-2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
Free Documentation License".
binutils-2.44 2025-03-03 GPROFNG(1)
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