2007-04-16 20:49:32 +00:00
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="designstyle.css">
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<title>Google Heap Profiler</title>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<p align=right>
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<i>Last modified
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<script type=text/javascript>
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var lm = new Date(document.lastModified);
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document.write(lm.toDateString());
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</script></i>
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</p>
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<p>This is the heap profiler we use at Google, to explore how C++
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programs manage memory. This facility can be useful for</p>
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<ul>
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<li> Figuring out what is in the program heap at any given time
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<li> Locating memory leaks
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<li> Finding places that do a lot of allocation
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</ul>
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<p>The profiling system instruments all allocations and frees. It
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keeps track of various pieces of information per allocation site. An
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allocation site is defined as the active stack trace at the call to
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<code>malloc</code>, <code>calloc</code>, <code>realloc</code>, or,
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<code>new</code>.</p>
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<p>There are three parts to using it: linking the library into an
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application, running the code, and analyzing the output.</p>
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<h1>Linking in the Library</h1>
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<p>To install the heap profiler into your executable, add
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<code>-ltcmalloc</code> to the link-time step for your executable.
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Also, while we don't necessarily recommend this form of usage, it's
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possible to add in the profiler at run-time using
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<code>LD_PRELOAD</code>:
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2008-03-19 23:35:27 +00:00
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<pre>% env LD_PRELOAD="/usr/lib/libtcmalloc.so" <binary></pre>
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<p>This does <i>not</i> turn on heap profiling; it just inserts the
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code. For that reason, it's practical to just always link
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<code>-ltcmalloc</code> into a binary while developing; that's what we
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do at Google. (However, since any user can turn on the profiler by
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setting an environment variable, it's not necessarily recommended to
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install profiler-linked binaries into a production, running
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system.) Note that if you wish to use the heap profiler, you must
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also use the tcmalloc memory-allocation library. There is no way
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currently to use the heap profiler separate from tcmalloc.</p>
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<h1>Running the Code</h1>
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<p>There are several alternatives to actually turn on heap profiling
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for a given run of an executable:</p>
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<ol>
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<li> <p>Define the environment variable HEAPPROFILE to the filename
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to dump the profile to. For instance, to profile
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<code>/usr/local/bin/my_binary_compiled_with_tcmalloc</code>:</p>
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<pre>% env HEAPPROFILE=/tmp/mybin.hprof /usr/local/bin/my_binary_compiled_with_tcmalloc</pre>
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<li> <p>In your code, bracket the code you want profiled in calls to
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<code>HeapProfilerStart()</code> and <code>HeapProfilerStop()</code>.
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(These functions are declared in <code><google/heap-profiler.h></code>.)
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<code>HeapProfilerStart()</code> will take
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the profile-filename-prefix as an argument. You can then use
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<code>HeapProfilerDump()</code> or
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<code>GetHeapProfile()</code> to examine the profile.
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In case it's useful, IsHeapProfilerRunning() will tell you
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whether you've already called HeapProfilerStart() or not.</p>
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</ol>
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<p>For security reasons, heap profiling will not write to a file --
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and is thus not usable -- for setuid programs.</p>
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<H2>Modifying Runtime Behavior</H2>
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<p>You can more finely control the behavior of the heap profiler via
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environment variables.</p>
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<table frame=box rules=sides cellpadding=5 width=100%>
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<tr valign=top>
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<td><code>HEAP_PROFILE_ALLOCATION_INTERVAL</code></td>
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<td>default: 1073741824 (1 Gb)</td>
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<td>
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Dump heap profiling information once every specified number of
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bytes has been allocated by the program.
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign=top>
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<td><code>HEAP_PROFILE_INUSE_INTERVAL</code></td>
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<td>default: 104857600 (100 Mb)</td>
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<td>
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Dump heap profiling information whenever the high-water memory
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usage mark increases by the specified number of bytes.
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign=top>
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<td><code>HEAP_PROFILE_MMAP</code></td>
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<td>default: false</td>
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<td>
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2008-04-22 01:47:16 +00:00
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Profile <code>mmap</code>, <code>mremap</code>, and <code>sbrk</code>
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calls in addition to
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<code>malloc</code>, <code>calloc</code>, <code>realloc</code>,
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and <code>new</code>.
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</td>
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</tr>
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2008-04-22 01:47:16 +00:00
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<tr valign=top>
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<td><code>HEAP_PROFILE_MMAP_ONLY</code></td>
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<td>default: false</td>
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<td>
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Only profile <code>mmap</code>, <code>mremap</code>, and <code>sbrk</code>
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calls; do not profile
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<code>malloc</code>, <code>calloc</code>, <code>realloc</code>,
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or <code>new</code>.
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</td>
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</tr>
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2007-04-16 20:49:32 +00:00
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<tr valign=top>
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<td><code>HEAP_PROFILE_MMAP_LOG</code></td>
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<td>default: false</td>
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<td>
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Log <code>mmap</code>/<code>munmap</code> calls.
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<H2>Checking for Leaks</H2>
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<p>You can use the heap profiler to manually check for leaks, for
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instance by reading the profiler output and looking for large
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allocations. However, for that task, it's easier to use the <A
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HREF="heap_checker.html">automatic heap-checking facility</A> built
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into tcmalloc.</p>
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<h1><a name="pprof">Analyzing the Output</a></h1>
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<p>If heap-profiling is turned on in a program, the program will
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periodically write profiles to the filesystem. The sequence of
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profiles will be named:</p>
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<pre>
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<prefix>.0000.heap
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<prefix>.0001.heap
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<prefix>.0002.heap
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...
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</pre>
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<p>where <code><prefix></code> is the filename-prefix supplied
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when running the code (e.g. via the <code>HEAPPROFILE</code>
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environment variable). Note that if the supplied prefix
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does not start with a <code>/</code>, the profile files will be
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written to the program's working directory.</p>
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<p>The profile output can be viewed by passing it to the
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<code>pprof</code> tool -- the same tool that's used to analyze <A
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HREF="cpuprofile.html">CPU profiles</A>.
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<p>Here are some examples. These examples assume the binary is named
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<code>gfs_master</code>, and a sequence of heap profile files can be
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found in files named:</p>
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<pre>
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/tmp/profile.0001.heap
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/tmp/profile.0002.heap
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...
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/tmp/profile.0100.heap
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</pre>
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<h3>Why is a process so big</h3>
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<pre>
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% pprof --gv gfs_master /tmp/profile.0100.heap
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</pre>
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<p>This command will pop-up a <code>gv</code> window that displays
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the profile information as a directed graph. Here is a portion
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of the resulting output:</p>
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<p><center>
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<img src="heap-example1.png">
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</center></p>
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A few explanations:
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<ul>
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<li> <code>GFS_MasterChunk::AddServer</code> accounts for 255.6 MB
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of the live memory, which is 25% of the total live memory.
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<li> <code>GFS_MasterChunkTable::UpdateState</code> is directly
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accountable for 176.2 MB of the live memory (i.e., it directly
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allocated 176.2 MB that has not been freed yet). Furthermore,
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it and its callees are responsible for 729.9 MB. The
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labels on the outgoing edges give a good indication of the
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amount allocated by each callee.
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</ul>
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<h3>Comparing Profiles</h3>
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<p>You often want to skip allocations during the initialization phase
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of a program so you can find gradual memory leaks. One simple way to
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do this is to compare two profiles -- both collected after the program
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has been running for a while. Specify the name of the first profile
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using the <code>--base</code> option. For example:</p>
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<pre>
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% pprof --base=/tmp/profile.0004.heap gfs_master /tmp/profile.0100.heap
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</pre>
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<p>The memory-usage in <code>/tmp/profile.0004.heap</code> will be
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subtracted from the memory-usage in
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<code>/tmp/profile.0100.heap</code> and the result will be
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displayed.</p>
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<h3>Text display</h3>
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<pre>
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% pprof --text gfs_master /tmp/profile.0100.heap
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255.6 24.7% 24.7% 255.6 24.7% GFS_MasterChunk::AddServer
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184.6 17.8% 42.5% 298.8 28.8% GFS_MasterChunkTable::Create
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176.2 17.0% 59.5% 729.9 70.5% GFS_MasterChunkTable::UpdateState
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169.8 16.4% 75.9% 169.8 16.4% PendingClone::PendingClone
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76.3 7.4% 83.3% 76.3 7.4% __default_alloc_template::_S_chunk_alloc
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49.5 4.8% 88.0% 49.5 4.8% hashtable::resize
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...
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</pre>
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<p>
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<ul>
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<li> The first column contains the direct memory use in MB.
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<li> The fourth column contains memory use by the procedure
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and all of its callees.
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<li> The second and fifth columns are just percentage
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representations of the numbers in the first and fourth columns.
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<li> The third column is a cumulative sum of the second column
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(i.e., the <code>k</code>th entry in the third column is the
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sum of the first <code>k</code> entries in the second column.)
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</ul>
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<h3>Ignoring or focusing on specific regions</h3>
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<p>The following command will give a graphical display of a subset of
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the call-graph. Only paths in the call-graph that match the regular
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expression <code>DataBuffer</code> are included:</p>
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<pre>
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% pprof --gv --focus=DataBuffer gfs_master /tmp/profile.0100.heap
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</pre>
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<p>Similarly, the following command will omit all paths subset of the
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call-graph. All paths in the call-graph that match the regular
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expression <code>DataBuffer</code> are discarded:</p>
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<pre>
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% pprof --gv --ignore=DataBuffer gfs_master /tmp/profile.0100.heap
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</pre>
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<h3>Total allocations + object-level information</h3>
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<p>All of the previous examples have displayed the amount of in-use
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space. I.e., the number of bytes that have been allocated but not
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freed. You can also get other types of information by supplying a
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flag to <code>pprof</code>:</p>
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<center>
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<table frame=box rules=sides cellpadding=5 width=100%>
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<tr valign=top>
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<td><code>--inuse_space</code></td>
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<td>
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Display the number of in-use megabytes (i.e. space that has
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been allocated but not freed). This is the default.
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign=top>
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<td><code>--inuse_objects</code></td>
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<td>
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Display the number of in-use objects (i.e. number of
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objects that have been allocated but not freed).
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign=top>
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<td><code>--alloc_space</code></td>
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<td>
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Display the number of allocated megabytes. This includes
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the space that has since been de-allocated. Use this
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if you want to find the main allocation sites in the
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program.
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign=top>
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<td><code>--alloc_objects</code></td>
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<td>
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Display the number of allocated objects. This includes
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the objects that have since been de-allocated. Use this
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if you want to find the main allocation sites in the
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program.
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</td>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h3>Interactive mode</a></h3>
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<p>By default -- if you don't specify any flags to the contrary --
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pprof runs in interactive mode. At the <code>(pprof)</code> prompt,
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you can run many of the commands described above. You can type
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<code>help</code> for a list of what commands are available in
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interactive mode.</p>
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<h1>Caveats</h1>
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<ul>
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<li> Heap profiling requires the use of libtcmalloc. This
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requirement may be removed in a future version of the heap
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profiler, and the heap profiler separated out into its own
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library.
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<li> If the program linked in a library that was not compiled
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with enough symbolic information, all samples associated
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with the library may be charged to the last symbol found
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in the program before the libary. This will artificially
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inflate the count for that symbol.
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<li> If you run the program on one machine, and profile it on
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another, and the shared libraries are different on the two
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machines, the profiling output may be confusing: samples that
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fall within the shared libaries may be assigned to arbitrary
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procedures.
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<li> Several libraries, such as some STL implementations, do their
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own memory management. This may cause strange profiling
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results. We have code in libtcmalloc to cause STL to use
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tcmalloc for memory management (which in our tests is better
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than STL's internal management), though it only works for some
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STL implementations.
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<li> If your program forks, the children will also be profiled
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(since they inherit the same HEAPPROFILE setting). Each
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process is profiled separately; to distinguish the child
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profiles from the parent profile and from each other, all
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children will have their process-id attached to the HEAPPROFILE
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name.
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<li> Due to a hack we make to work around a possible gcc bug, your
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profiles may end up named strangely if the first character of
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your HEAPPROFILE variable has ascii value greater than 127.
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|
This should be exceedingly rare, but if you need to use such a
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|
name, just set prepend <code>./</code> to your filename:
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<code>HEAPPROFILE=./Ägypten</code>.
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</ul>
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<hr>
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<address>Sanjay Ghemawat<br>
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<!-- Created: Tue Dec 19 10:43:14 PST 2000 -->
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<!-- hhmts start -->
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Last modified: Sat Feb 24 14:33:15 PST 2007 (csilvers)
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<!-- hhmts end -->
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</address>
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</body>
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</html>
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