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".