29.6. Understanding /dev/oprofile/
The
/dev/oprofile/ directory contains the file system for OProfile. Use the cat command to display the values of the virtual files in this file system. For example, the following command displays the type of processor OProfile detected:
~]# cat /dev/oprofile/cpu_type
A directory exists in
/dev/oprofile/ for each counter. For example, if there are 2 counters, the directories /dev/oprofile/0/ and dev/oprofile/1/ exist.
Each directory for a counter contains the following files:
count— The interval between samples.enabled— If 0, the counter is off and no samples are collected for it; if 1, the counter is on and samples are being collected for it.event— The event to monitor.extra— Used on machines with Nehalem processors to further specify the event to monitor.kernel— If 0, samples are not collected for this counter event when the processor is in kernel-space; if 1, samples are collected even if the processor is in kernel-space.unit_mask— Defines which unit masks are enabled for the counter.user— If 0, samples are not collected for the counter event when the processor is in user-space; if 1, samples are collected even if the processor is in user-space.
The values of these files can be retrieved with the
cat command. For example:
~]# cat /dev/oprofile/0/count