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Profiling with gprof

Introduction

gprof is a performance analysis tool for profiling applications in Linux. It provides function call statistics and execution time details, helping to identify performance bottlenecks in a program.

Compilation with Profiling Enabled

To use gprof, compile your program with the -pg flag:

 g++ -pg -o my_program my_program.cpp

Running the Program

Execute the compiled binary as usual:

 ./my_program

This will generate a file named gmon.out, which contains profiling data.

Generating the Profiling Report

Use gprof to analyze the gmon.out file and generate a report:

 gprof my_program gmon.out > profile.txt

Understanding the Output

The profile.txt file contains two main sections:

  1. Flat Profile: Lists the total execution time of each function.
  2. Call Graph: Displays function call hierarchy and time spent in each function.

Cleaning Up

After profiling, you can remove the generated gmon.out file to free up space:

 rm gmon.out

Additional Options

  • To get more detailed output: 
    gprof -b my_program gmon.out
  • To visualize the call graph using gprof2dot (if installed): 
    gprof my_program gmon.out | gprof2dot | dot -Tpng -o call_graph.png

Conclusion

Using gprof can help optimize performance by identifying bottlenecks in the program. By analyzing the generated reports, you can make informed decisions to improve efficiency.