The HyperNews Linux KHG Discussion Pages

Note: readprofile systool

Forum: The Linux Kernel Hackers' Guide
Re: Question The /proc/profile (Charles Barrasso)
Keywords: /proc/profile, kernel hacking
Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 15:24:43 GMT
From: Jukka Santala <[email protected]>

RTFM ;) If you enter '?' at the prompt (or menu-choice) about kernel-hacking support, it explains all it does for now is allow you to get profiles on where exactly the kernel is spending it's time into the /proc - filesystem. Further it's noted that to read that information you need a tool called readprofile, which is available from ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/readprofile-2.0.tar.gz (What a surprise;). Using the mirror-site closest to you is preferable.

It's actually pretty useful for profiling the kernel for optimization purposes, however worth remembering is that since the kernel-source is heavily optimized, there's no direct connection between the results and the actual code in the way one could expect (Ie. a lot of functions get inlined etc; if the entry you're looking for doesn't show even on readprofile -a, it's probably made part of the calling function(s)).