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29.5. Analyzing the Data

Periodically, the OProfile daemon, oprofiled, collects the samples and writes them to the /var/lib/oprofile/samples/ directory. Before reading the data, make sure all data has been written to this directory by executing the following command as root: 
~]# opcontrol --dump
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Each sample file name is based on the name of the executable. For example, the samples for the default event on a Pentium III processor for /bin/bash becomes: 
\{root\}/bin/bash/\{dep\}/\{root\}/bin/bash/CPU_CLK_UNHALTED.100000
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The following tools are available to profile the sample data once it has been collected:
  • opreport
  • opannotate
Use these tools, along with the binaries profiled, to generate reports that can be further analyzed.

Warning

The executable being profiled must be used with these tools to analyze the data. If it must change after the data is collected, back up the executable used to create the samples as well as the sample files. Please note that the sample file and the binary have to agree. Making a backup is not going to work if they do not match. oparchive can be used to address this problem.
Samples for each executable are written to a single sample file. Samples from each dynamically linked library are also written to a single sample file. While OProfile is running, if the executable being monitored changes and a sample file for the executable exists, the existing sample file is automatically deleted. Thus, if the existing sample file is needed, it must be backed up, along with the executable used to create it before replacing the executable with a new version. The OProfile analysis tools use the executable file that created the samples during analysis. If the executable changes the analysis tools will be unable to analyze the associated samples. See Section 29.4, “Saving Data” for details on how to back up the sample file.

29.5.1. Using opreport
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The opreport tool provides an overview of all the executables being profiled.
The following is part of a sample output: 
Profiling through timer interrupt
TIMER:0|
samples|      %|
------------------
25926 97.5212 no-vmlinux
359  1.3504 pi
65  0.2445 Xorg
62  0.2332 libvte.so.4.4.0
56  0.2106 libc-2.3.4.so
34  0.1279 libglib-2.0.so.0.400.7
19  0.0715 libXft.so.2.1.2
17  0.0639 bash
8  0.0301 ld-2.3.4.so
8  0.0301 libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0.400.13
6  0.0226 libgobject-2.0.so.0.400.7
5  0.0188 oprofiled
4  0.0150 libpthread-2.3.4.so
4  0.0150 libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0.400.13
3  0.0113 libXrender.so.1.2.2
3  0.0113 du
1  0.0038 libcrypto.so.0.9.7a
1  0.0038 libpam.so.0.77
1  0.0038 libtermcap.so.2.0.8
1  0.0038 libX11.so.6.2
1  0.0038 libgthread-2.0.so.0.400.7
1  0.0038 libwnck-1.so.4.9.0
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Each executable is listed on its own line. The first column is the number of samples recorded for the executable. The second column is the percentage of samples relative to the total number of samples. The third column is the name of the executable.
See the opreport man page for a list of available command-line options, such as the -r option used to sort the output from the executable with the smallest number of samples to the one with the largest number of samples.
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