Ubuntu Manpage: ocount - Event counting tool for Linux

Provided by: oprofile_0.9.9-0ubuntu8_amd64

NAME

       ocount - Event counting tool for Linux

SYNOPSIS

       ocount [ options ] [ --system-wide | --process-list <pids> | --thread-list <tids> | --cpu-
       list <cpus> [ command [ args ] ] ]

DESCRIPTION

       ocount is an OProfile tool that can be used to count native hardware events  occurring  in
       either  a  given  application,  a  set  of processes or threads, a subset of active system
       processors, or the entire  system.  The  data  collected  during  a  counting  session  is
       displayed to stdout by default or, optionally, to a file.

       When  counting  multiple  events,  the  kernel  may  not  be  able  to  count  all  events
       simultaneously and, thus, may need to multiplex the  counting  of  the  events.   If  this
       happens, the "Percent time enabled" column in the ocount output will be less than 100, but
       counts are scaled up to a 100% estimated value.

RUN MODES

One (and only one) of the following run modes must be specified. If you run ocount using
a run mode other than command [args] , press Ctrl-c to stop ocount when finished counting
(e.g., when the monitored process ends). If you background ocount (i.e., with '&') while
using one these run modes, you must stop it in a controlled manner so that the data
collection process can be shut down cleanly and final results can be displayed. Use kill
-SIGINT <ocount-PID> for this purpose.

command [args]
The command is the application for which to count events. args are the input
arguments required by the application. The command and its arguments must be
positioned at the end of the command line, after all ocount options.

--process-list / -p pids
Use this option to count events for one or more already-running applications,
specified via a comma-separated list ( pids ). Event counts will be collected for
all children of the passed process(es) as well.

--thread-list / -r tids
Use this option to count events for one or more already-running threads, specified
via a comma-separated list ( tids ). Event counts will not be collected for any
children of the passed thread(s).

--system-wide / -s
This option is for counting events for all processes running on your system. You
must have root authority to run ocount in this mode.

--cpu-list / -C cpus
This option is for counting events on a subset of processors on your system. You
must have root authority to run ocount in this mode. This is a comma-separated
list, where each element in the list may be either a single processor number or a
range of processor numbers; for example: '-C 2,3,4-11,15'.

OTHER OPTIONS

--events / -e event1[,event2[,...]]
This option is for passing a comma-separated list of event specifications for
counting. Each event spec is of the form:
name[:unitmask[:kernel[:user]]]
Note: Do not include a count value in the event spec, as that parameter is only
need when profiling.

You can specify unit mask values using either a numerical value (hex values must
begin with "0x") or a symbolic name (if the name=<um_name> field is shown in the
ophelp output). For some named unit masks, the hex value is not unique; thus,
OProfile tools enforce specifying such unit masks value by name. If no unit mask
is specified, the default unit mask value for the event is used.

Event names for certain processor types include a _GRP<n> suffix. For such cases,
the --events option may be specified with or without the _GRP<n> suffix.

When no event specification is given, the default event for the running processor
type will be used for counting. Use ophelp to list the available events for your
processor type.

--separate-thread / -t
This option can be used in conjunction with either the --process-list or --thread-
list option to display event counts on a per-thread (per-process) basis. Without
this option, all counts are aggregated.

NOTE: If new threads are started by the process(es) being monitored after counting
begins, the counts for those threads are aggregated with their parent's counts.

--separate-cpu / -c
This option can be used in conjunction with either the --system-wide or --cpu-list
option to display event counts on a per-cpu basis. Without this option, all counts
are aggregated.

--time-interval / -i num_seconds[:num_intervals]
Results collected for each time interval are printed every num_seconds instead of
the default of one dump of cumulative event counts at the end of the run. If
num_intervals is specified, ocount exits after the specified number of intervals
occur.

--brief-format / -b
Use this option to print results in the following brief format:
[optional cpu or thread,]<event_name>,<count>,<percent_time_enabled>
[ <int> ,]< string >,< u64 >,< double >

If --timer-interval is specified, a separate line formatted as
timestamp,<num_seconds_since_epoch>
is printed ahead of each dump of event counts.

--output-file / -f outfile_name
Results are written to outfile_name instead of interactively to the terminal.

--verbose / -V
Use this option to increase the verbosity of the output.

--version / -v
Show ocount version.

--help / -h
Display brief usage message.

--usage / -u
Display brief usage message.

EXAMPLE

       $ ocount make

VERSION

       This man page is current for oprofile-0.9.9.