Profiling C/C++ Using Eclipse

Jeff Johnston ([email protected])

Principal Engineer, Red Hat
June 12, 2013
Packages

● devtoolset-2-ide (Eclipse components)

● scl-utils, devtoolset-2-eclipse-* (cdt, platform, linuxtools)
● devtoolset-2-perftools (Performance Tools)
● scl-utils, valgrind, oprofile, systemtap
● devtoolset-2-toolchain (Tool chain)
● scl-utils, gcc, binutils, gdb, elfutils
● devtoolset-2
● Includes all 3 packages above
CDT

● devtoolset-2-eclipse-cdt package
● C/C++ Developer Tools
● Project editing, building, debugging, indexing
● Similar to JDT (Java Developer Tools) only for C/C++
● Based on upstream Kepler contribution
● CDT 8.2.0
● Previous version is 7.0.0
Linux Tools

Eclipse plug-ins for supporting:

● Perf - devtoolset-2-eclipse-perf
● Oprofile - devtoolset-2-eclipse-oprofile
● Valgrind – devtoolset-2-eclipse-valgrind
● Gcov - devtoolset-2-eclipse-gcov
● Gprof - devtoolset-2-eclipse-gprof
● SystemTap - devtoolset-2-eclipse-systemtap
Profiling Framework

● New in Eclipse Linux Tools for DTS 2.0

● Novice users can profile via categories
● Timing, Code Coverage, Memory
● Each category has default tool
● Default tools can be set in C/C++ Preferences or
overridden in Project Properties->C/C++ General
● Categories accessed via new “Profiling Tools” context
menu
● Profile Memory, Profile Timing, Profile Code Coverage
Profiling Framework continued...

● New Profile As...-> Local C/C++ Application

● Shares settings with Debug / Run launch configurations
(e.g. Debug as...-> Local C/C++ Application)
● Program arguments, environment variables
● Profiling launch configuration dialog adds “Profiler” tab
● Allows user to select which profiling tool to use and settings for
that tool (any of the supported profiling tools can be specified)
● Multiple launch configurations are possible
● Default is to use Perf tool to record cpu-cycles
Profiling Framework continued....2

● New “Profiling Tools” context menu lists profiling

categories as well as individual tools
● Previously, these tools were shown under “Profile as..”
● “Profiling Tools Configurations” dialog allows user to
create/edit launch configurations for specific tools or
categories (e.g. Profile with Valgrind)
● Individual profiling tool settings are presented in dialog
as appropriate
Profiling Tools Menu
Gcov

● Profile code coverage (new for DTS 2.0)

● Only tool in “Profile Code Coverage” category
● Requires special hooks compiled in by gcc
● -fprofile-arcs and -ftest-coverage
● For Autotools projects, there is a checkbox under Project-
>Properties->Autotools->Configure Settings->Advanced
● For Managed make projects, one can use Project->Properties-
>C/C++ Build->Settings
● Recommended that optimization be turned off as inlining
fools coverage tool
●
Gcov continued...

● Each compiled file generates .gcda file during run

● Gcov viewer displays results in list with coverage
percentages
● double-clicking list item opens colored/annotated editor
● Green means coverage, red means no coverage
● Two ways to bring up Gcov viewer
● Double-click any .gcda/.gcno file after running
● Profile the application using Gcov
● e.g. Use “Profile Code Coverage” on binary
Gcov View
Gcov Editor Colorization
Gprof

● Generate flat timing profile

● call graph profile not supported in Eclipse
● New for DTS 2.0
● Requires special hooks compiled/linked in
● -pg compile/link option
● For Autotools projects, there is a check-box under Project-
>Properties->Autotools->Configure Settings->Advanced
● For Managed make projects, there is a check-box under
Project->Properties->C/C++ Build->Settings->GCC Compiler-
>Debugging (-pg)
Gprof continued...

● Creates gmon.out in CWD when program is run

● Gprof viewer displays results in tree list with timing
percentages
● Clicking on leaf list items brings up C/C++ editor
● Two ways to bring up Gcov viewer
● Double-click on gmon.out file after running application
● Profile the application using Gprof
● e.g. Use “Profile Code Timing” and reset tool to be gprof
instead of perf
Gprof View
Valgrind

● Uses simulation (can be slow)

● Multiple sub-tools
● memcheck (check for memory leaks)
● Default for “Profile Memory” category
● massif (display memory usage over time in chart)
● helgrind (check for memory usage in threads)
● New for DTS 2.0
● cachegrind (check for cache usage)
● Better to use Perf instead
Valgrind continued..

● Errors found by valgrind result in markers added to the

C/C++ editor
● Markers are cleared by selecting to clear all markers in
the Valgrind view
● Markers are not cleared by new build
Valgrind View (memcheck)
Valgrind Massif Chart
Valgrind View (massif)
Valgrind Error Markers
SystemTap

● Eclipse provides SystemTap script editor

● Hover/completion support with probe documentation
extracted from man pages (new for DTS 2.0)
● Right-click on script to compile/run or to set up run
configuration with SystemTap options (options new in
DTS 2.0)
● Can run script tied to running an Eclipse binary or user
can manually start/stop script and run anything in-
between (new in DTS 2.0)
SystemTap continued...

● “Run launch” configuration for SystemTap allows

setting up graphing specifications (new in DTS 2.0)
● User can specify regex filters for output data
● Graph type can also be selected
● Pie chart, standard graph, bar graph
Perf

● New for DTS 2.0 – default “Profile Timing” tool

● Similar events to Oprofile but no root access required
● Sub-commands supported:
● stat – event counts for application
● Can select which events to stat or use default set
● Can diff previous stat run or saved runs
● Can select multiple runs to get averaging and variance
● record/report/annotate – default usage
● Default event is cycles but is configurable
Perf continued...

● Perf view displayed

● For “stat” the events and numbers are displayed
● For “record”, tree lists are shown for each event
● Disassembly view supported for record (not stat)
● Disassembly generation is option in profiling
configuration settings
● Can search in disassembly view using Ctrl+f
● Can invoke directly using “Profile with Perf” in Profiling
Tools menu
Perf View
Perf Stat
Perf Disassembly View
Oprofile

● Requires root access to use

● Also need to echo 0> /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog
● Similar events to perf (default: CPU_CLK_UNHALTED)
● Oprofile view shows current session
● Session has tree list of events which open to show
percentages
● double-clicking on leaf nodes can bring up C/C++ editor
● Sessions can be saved, otherwise current session is
overwritten
Oprofile View
Further Information

● All profiling tools and CDT have user guides found in

Eclipse Help menu->Help Contents
● Linux Tools project wiki pages can be found at:
● http://wiki.eclipse.org/Linux_Tools_Project
● CDT project wiki pages can be found at:
● http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/CDT
Demo
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