Profiling CPU Usage with gcc and Google Perf Tools

Google Perf Tools also provides a CPU profiler, with a slightly friendlier interface. To use it:

Install Google Perf Tools
Compile your code as usual
Add the libprofiler profiler library to your library load path at runtime
Use pprof to generate a flat execution profile, or a callgraph diagram

For example:

# compile code
g++ -O3 -std=c++11 main.cpp -o main

# run with profiler
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/local/lib/libprofiler.so CPUPROFILE=main.prof CPUPROFILE_FREQUENCY=100000 ./main

where:

CPUPROFILE indicates the output file for profiling data
CPUPROFILE_FREQUENCY indicates the profiler sampling frequency;

Use pprof to post-process the profiling data.

You can generate a flat call profile as text:

$ pprof --text ./main main.prof
PROFILE: interrupts/evictions/bytes = 67/15/2016
pprof --text --lines ./main main.prof
Using local file ./main.
Using local file main.prof.
Total: 67 samples
      22  32.8%  32.8%       67 100.0% longRunningFoo ??:0
      20  29.9%  62.7%       20  29.9% __memmove_ssse3_back /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/string/../sysdeps/x86_64/multiarch/memcpy-ssse3-back.S:1627
       4   6.0%  68.7%        4   6.0% __memmove_ssse3_back /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/string/../sysdeps/x86_64/multiarch/memcpy-ssse3-back.S:1619
       3   4.5%  73.1%        3   4.5% __random_r /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/random_r.c:388
       3   4.5%  77.6%        3   4.5% __random_r /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/random_r.c:401
       2   3.0%  80.6%        2   3.0% __munmap /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/misc/../sysdeps/unix/syscall-template.S:81
       2   3.0%  83.6%       12  17.9% __random /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/random.c:298
       2   3.0%  86.6%        2   3.0% __random_r /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/random_r.c:385
       2   3.0%  89.6%        2   3.0% rand /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/rand.c:26
       1   1.5%  91.0%        1   1.5% __memmove_ssse3_back /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/string/../sysdeps/x86_64/multiarch/memcpy-ssse3-back.S:1617
       1   1.5%  92.5%        1   1.5% __memmove_ssse3_back /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/string/../sysdeps/x86_64/multiarch/memcpy-ssse3-back.S:1623
       1   1.5%  94.0%        1   1.5% __random /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/random.c:293
       1   1.5%  95.5%        1   1.5% __random /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/random.c:296
       1   1.5%  97.0%        1   1.5% __random_r /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/random_r.c:371
       1   1.5%  98.5%        1   1.5% __random_r /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/random_r.c:381
       1   1.5% 100.0%        1   1.5% rand /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/rand.c:28
       0   0.0% 100.0%       67 100.0% __libc_start_main /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/csu/libc-start.c:287
       0   0.0% 100.0%       67 100.0% _start ??:0
       0   0.0% 100.0%       67 100.0% main ??:0
       0   0.0% 100.0%       14  20.9% rand /build/eglibc-3GlaMS/eglibc-2.19/stdlib/rand.c:27
       0   0.0% 100.0%       27  40.3% std::vector::_M_emplace_back_aux ??:0

… or you can generate an annotated callgraph in a pdf with:

pprof --pdf ./main main.prof > out.pdf

Found a mistake? Have a question or improvement idea? Let me know.

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