Provided by: oprofile_0.9.9-0ubuntu8_amd64 bug

NAME

       operf - Performance profiler tool for Linux

SYNOPSIS

       operf [ options ] [ --system-wide | --pid <pid> | [ command [ args ] ] ]

DESCRIPTION

       Operf is an OProfile tool that can be used in place of opcontrol for profiling. Operf uses
       the Linux Performance Events Subsystem, and  hence,  does  not  require  the  use  of  the
       opcontrol daemon -- in fact, operf and opcontrol usage are mutually exclusive.

       By default, operf uses <current_dir>/oprofile_data as the session-dir and stores profiling
       data there.  You can change this by way of the --session-dir option.

       The usual post-profiling analysis tools such as opreport(1) and opannotate(1) can be  used
       to  generate  profile reports.  The post-processing analysis tools will search for samples
       in <current_dir>/oprofile_data  first.  If  that  directory  does  not  exist,  the  post-
       processing tools use the standard session-dir of /var/lib/oprofile.

       Statistics,  such as total samples received and lost samples, are written to the operf.log
       file that can be found in the <session_dir>/samples directory.

OPTIONS

       command[args]
              The command or application to be profiled.  args are the input arguments  that  the
              command  or  application requires.  One (and only one) of either command , --pid or
              --system-wide is required.

       --pid / -p PID
              This option enables operf to profile a running  application.   PID  should  be  the
              process ID of the process you wish to profile.  When finished profiling (e.g., when
              the profiled process ends), press Ctrl-c to stop operf. If you run operf --pid as a
              background job (i.e., with the &), you must stop it in a controlled manner in order
              for it to process the profile data it has collected.  Use kill -SIGINT  <operf-PID>
              for this purpose.

       --system-wide / -s
              This  option is for performing a system-wide profile.  You must have root authority
              to run operf in this mode.  When finished profiling, Ctrl-c to stop operf.  If  you
              run operf --system-wide as a background job (i.e., with the &), you must stop it in
              a controlled manner in order for it to process the profile data it  has  collected.
              Use kill -SIGINT <operf-PID> for this purpose.  It is recommended that when running
              operf with this option, the user's current working directory should be /root  or  a
              subdirectory of /root to avoid storing sample data files in locations accessible by
              regular users.

       --vmlinux / k vmlinux_path
              A vmlinux file that matches the running kernel that has  symbol  and/or  debuginfo.
              Kernel  samples  will  be attributed to this binary, allowing post-processing tools
              (like opreport) to attribute samples to the appropriate kernel symbols.

       --events / -e event1[,event2[,...]]
              This option is for passing a  comma-separated  list  of  event  specifications  for
              profiling. Each event spec is of the form:
                 name:count[:unitmask[:kernel[:user]]]
              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.

              Event names for some IBM PowerPC systems include a _GRP<n> (group  number)  suffix.
              You  can  pass either the full event name or the base event name (i.e., without the
              suffix) to operf.  If the base event  name  is  passed,  operf  will  automatically
              choose  an  appropriate  group  number  suffix  for the event; thus, OProfile post-
              processing tools will always show real event names that include  the  group  number
              suffix.

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

       --callgraph / -g
              This  option  enables  the  callgraph  to be saved during profiling. NOTE: The full
              callchain is recorded, so there is no depth limit.

       --separate-thread / -t
              This option categorizes samples by thread group ID (tgid) and thread ID (tid).  The
              '--separate-thread'  option  is  useful  for  seeing  per-thread  samples in multi-
              threaded applications.  When used in conjunction with the  '--system-wide'  option,
              the  '--separate-thread'  option  is also useful for seeing per-process (i.e., per-
              thread group) samples for the case where multiple processes are executing the  same
              program during a profiling run.

       --separate-cpu / -c
              This option categorizes samples by cpu.

       --session-dir / -d path
              This  option  specifies the session path to hold the sample data. If not specified,
              the data is saved in the oprofile_data directory on the current path.

       --lazy-conversion / -l
              Use this option to reduce the overhead of operf during profiling. Normally, profile
              data  received  from  the  kernel  is converted to OProfile format during profiling
              time. This is typically not an issue when profiling a single application. But  when
              using  the  --system-wide  option,  this  on-the-fly  conversion  process can cause
              noticeable overhead, particularly on  busy  multi-processor  systems.  The  --lazy-
              conversion  option  directs  operf  to  wait until profiling is completed to do the
              conversion of profile data.

       --append / -a
              By default, operf moves old  profile  data  from  <session_dir>/samples/current  to
              <session_dir>/samples/previous.   If  a 'previous' profile already existed, it will
              be replaced.  If the --append option is passed, old profile data is left  in  place
              and  new  profile  data  will  be  added  to it, and the 'previous' profile (if one
              existed) will remain untouched.  To access the 'previous'  profile,  simply  add  a
              session  specification  to the normal invocation of oprofile post-processing tools.
              For example:
                 opreport session:previous

       --verbose / -V level
              A comma-separated list of debugging control values, used to increase the  verbosity
              of  the  output.   Valid values are:  debug, record, convert, misc, sfile, arcs, or
              the special value, 'all'.

       --version / -v
              Show operf version.

       --help / -h
              Display brief usage message.

       --usage / -u
              Display brief usage message.

EXAMPLE

       $ operf make

VERSION

       This man page is current for oprofile-0.9.9.

SEE ALSO

       opreport(1), opannotate(1).