About gprof2dot

This is a Python script to convert the output from python's profiles into a dot graph. It is forked from the original version of the library to address Yelp's specific needs for finer-grained control over display of python profiles.

It has the following features:

reads output from:
- python profilers
prunes nodes and edges below a certain threshold;
uses an heuristic to propagate time inside mutually recursive functions;
uses color efficiently to draw attention to hot-spots;
works on any platform where Python and graphviz is available, i.e, virtually anywhere.

If you want an interactive viewer for gprof2dot output graphs, check xdot.py.

Example

This is the result from the example data in the Linux Gazette article with the default settings:

Requirements

Python: known to work with version 2.7 and 3.3; it will most likely not work with earlier releases.
Graphviz: tested with version 2.26.3, but should work fine with other versions.

Windows users

Download and install Python for Windows
Download and install Graphviz for Windows

Debian/Ubuntu users

Run:
```
apt-get install python graphviz
```

Download

PyPI
```
pip install gprof2dot
```
Standalone script
Git repository

Documentation

Usage

Usage:
        gprof2dot.py [options] [file] ...

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o FILE, --output=FILE
                        output filename [stdout]
  -n PERCENTAGE, --node-thres=PERCENTAGE
                        eliminate nodes below this threshold [default: 0.5]
  -e PERCENTAGE, --edge-thres=PERCENTAGE
                        eliminate edges below this threshold [default: 0.1]
  --total=TOTALMETHOD   preferred method of calculating total time: callratios
                        or callstacks (currently affects only perf format)
                        [default: callratios]
  -c THEME, --colormap=THEME
                        color map: color, pink, gray, bw, or print [default:
                        color]
  -s, --strip           strip function parameters, template parameters, and
                        const modifiers from demangled C++ function names
  -w, --wrap            wrap function names
  --show-samples        show function samples
  -z ROOT, --root=ROOT  prune call graph to show only descendants of specified
                        root function
  -l LEAF, --leaf=LEAF  prune call graph to show only ancestors of specified
                        leaf function
  --skew=THEME_SKEW     skew the colorization curve.  Values < 1.0 give more
                        variety to lower percentages.  Values > 1.0 give less
                        variety to lower percentages

Examples

python profile

python -m profile -o output.pstats path/to/your/script arg1 arg2
gprof2dot.py -f pstats output.pstats | dot -Tpng -o output.png

python cProfile (formerly known as lsprof)

python -m cProfile -o output.pstats path/to/your/script arg1 arg2
gprof2dot.py -f pstats output.pstats | dot -Tpng -o output.png

python hotshot profiler

The hotshot profiler does not include a main function. Use the hotshotmain.py script instead.

hotshotmain.py -o output.pstats path/to/your/script arg1 arg2
gprof2dot.py -f pstats output.pstats | dot -Tpng -o output.png

Output

A node in the output graph represents a function and has the following layout:

+------------------------------+
|        function name         |
|       total time % (ms)      |
|       self time % (ms)       |
|         total calls          |
+------------------------------+

where:

total time % is the percentage of the running time spent in this function and all its children;
self time % is the percentage of the running time spent in this function alone;
(ms) are the actual milliseconds spent in the function
total calls is the total number of times this function was called (including recursive calls).

An edge represents the calls between two functions and has the following layout:

           total time %
              calls
parent --------------------> children

Where:

total time % is the percentage of the running time transfered from the children to this parent (if available);
calls is the number of calls the parent function called the children.

Note that in recursive cycles, the total time % in the node is the same for the whole functions in the cycle, and there is no total time % figure in the edges inside the cycle, since such figure would make no sense.

The color of the nodes and edges varies according to the total time % value. In the default temperature-like color-map, functions where most time is spent (hot-spots) are marked as saturated red, and functions where little time is spent are marked as dark blue. Note that functions where negligible or no time is spent do not appear in the graph by default.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I generate a complete call graph?

By default gprof2dot.py generates a partial call graph, excluding nodes and edges with little or no impact in the total computation time. If you want the full call graph then set a zero threshold for nodes and edges via the -n / --node-thres and -e / --edge-thres options, as:

gprof2dot.py -n0 -e0

The node labels are too wide. How can I narrow them?

The node labels can get very wide when profiling C++ code, due to inclusion of scope, function arguments, and template arguments in demangled C++ function names.

If you do not need function and template arguments information, then pass the -s / --strip option to strip them.

If you want to keep all that information, or if the labels are still too wide, then you can pass the -w / --wrap, to wrap the labels. Note that because dot does not wrap labels automatically the label margins will not be perfectly aligned.

Why there is no output, or it is all in the same color?

Likely, the total execution time is too short, so there is not enough precision in the profile to determine where time is being spent.

You can still force displaying the whole graph by setting a zero threshold for nodes and edges via the -n / --node-thres and -e / --edge-thres options, as: