Sparkling gems and new releases from the world of Free and Open Source Software
Perf GUI
hotspot
Perf
is one of those commands that desktop Linux users might not appreciate is so fundamental to their Linux experience. That's because perf
is a tool aimed squarely at developers to help them peek inside their application's internals, as well as the internals of the Linux operating system itself. Running perf
against the binary for an executable built with debugging symbols will collate everything that the binary does and where it spends its time. But perf
is complex and deep, requiring good working knowledge of the underlying operating system and system calls to be most useful. This is why a GUI can be so helpful, and it's one the reasons why Qt Creator with its integrated Callgrind support (a tool similar to perf
) is so popular.
hotspot is a new GUI for perf
that does away with the need for a complex IDE if all you want to do is get a visual overview of what an application is doing. It can even open source files in Qt Creator, as well as Kate or another editor if you so choose. You need to generate the perf
data first, which requires running your application against your choice of perf
arguments. For example, running
perf record -e cycles, instructions ./filmulator-gui
within the build directory of filmulator-gui
loads the photo-processing tool and collates perf
data at the same time. You then use the application just as you would, quit, and load the resultant file into hotspot. This immediately shows that develop()
and LibRaw::median_filter()
are the two post-processor-intensive functions taking up 30 percent of the cycles while the application is running. This behavior is what you'd expect, because these functions are presumably generating the image previews, but it gives you a good indication of where your efforts, as a developer, might go when improving performance. Which is exactly what perf
is good for.
Project Website
https://www.kdab.com/hotspot-gui-linux-perf-profiler/
Material shader
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.