gprof

GNU gprof, part of the GNU binutils distributions, is a profiler - a program designed to monitor another program's execution and determine where it spends it time. This information can be helpful in improving performance by quickly identifying bottlenecks, much as a debugger aids you by quickly identifying faults. GNU gprof works in companion with other GNU software development tools, most notably gcc - the GNU C compiler, and gdb - the GNU debugger.

In the summer of 1997, while using gprof to study the performance of Tcl/Tk 8.0, I discovered a number of problems with the existing version of the code. A month-long effort ensued, during which I repaired many unworking features (including line-by-line profiling and annotated source listings), revised the gprof manual, and packaged this new and improved gprof as part of the GNU binutils package. I've submitted this code to FSF, and it will probably be included in a subsequent release of binutils, but here is an advance copy.

Brent Baccala
baccala@FreeSoft.org
November 1, 1997

Note: These changes have since been incorporated into the latest version of gprof, available from Project GNU.

An HTML version of the revised gprof manual
Sample output (excerpted from the manual)