gperftools/INSTALL

Copyright 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software
Foundation, Inc.

   This file is free documentation; the Free Software Foundation gives
unlimited permission to copy, distribute and modify it.


Perftools-Specific Install Notes
================================

Perftools right now has only been tested on linux systems, both 32-bit
and 64-bit.  tcmalloc_minimal, the basic memory-allocation library,
may also work on *BSD systems.  However, the advanced tools, including
the cpu-profiler, heap-profiler, and heap-checker, have quite a bit of
linux- and x86-specific code, and are unlikely to work on other
architectures.


*** NOTE FOR 64-BIT LINUX SYSTEMS

   The glibc built-in stack-unwinder on 64-bit systems has some
problems with the perftools libraries.  (In particular, the cpu/heap
profiler may be in the middle of malloc, holding some malloc related
locks when they invoke the stack unwinder.  The built-in
stack-unwinder may call malloc recursively, which may require the
thread to acquire a lock it already holds: deadlock.)

   For that reason, if you use a 64-bit system, we strongly recommend
you install libunwind before trying to configure or install google
perftools.  libunwind can be found at

   http://download.savannah.nongnu.org/releases/libunwind/libunwind-snap-070410.tar.gz

   Even if you already have libunwind installed, you will probably
still need to install from the snapshot to get the latest version.

   CAUTION: if you install libunwind from the url above, be aware that
you may have trouble if you try to statically link your binary with
pertools: that is, if you link with 'gcc -static -lgcc_eh ...'.  This
is because both libunwind and libgcc implement the same C++ exception
handling APIs, but they implement them differently on some platforms.
This is not likely to be a problem on ia64, but may be on x86-64.
Using -static is rare, though, so unless you know this will affect you
it probably won't.

   If you cannot or do not wish to install libunwind, you can still
try to use the built-in stack-unwinder.  The built-in stack-unwinder
requires that your application, the tcmalloc library, and system
libraries like libc, all be compiled with a frame pointer.  This is
*not* the default for x86-64.

   If you are on x86-64 system, know that you have a set of system
libraries with frame-pointers enabled, and compile all your
applications with -fno-omit-frame-pointer, then you can enable the
built-in perftools stack-unwinder by passing the
--enable-frame-pointers flag to configure.

   Even with the use of libunwind, there are still known problems
with stack-unwinding on 64-bit systems, particularly x86-64.  See
the "64-BIT ISSUES" section in README.


*** NOTE FOR *BSD SYSTEMS

   This code does not yet run fully on *BSD systems such as FreeBSD,
but it may not be that far away.  We've gotten the basic tcmalloc
library, tcmalloc_minimal, to compile and run on a FreeBSD 6.0 system.
To compile only tcmalloc_minimal:
   % make tcmalloc_minimal_unittest tcmalloc_minimal_large_unittest
   % ./tcmalloc_minimal_unittest    # should say PASS if all goes well!
   % ./tcmalloc_minimal_large_unittest

   The cpu-profiler, heap-profiler, and heap-checker all depend on
Linux kernel-specific syscalls, and will be harder to port.  However,
tcmalloc_minimal.so itself is perfectly usable as a malloc/new
replacement.


*** NOTE FOR SOLARIS SYSTEMS

   This code does not yet run fully on Solaris systems such as Solaris
10, but we've gotten the basic tcmalloc library, tcmalloc_minimal,
to compile and run on a Solaris 10 6/06 system.  Note that this uses
g++ rather than the Sun C++ compiler; porting to Sun's cc may be a
significantly more difficult task.  To compile only tcmalloc_minimal:
   % PATH=${PATH}:/usr/sfw/bin/:/usr/ccs/bin ./configure LDFLAGS="-Lsrc/solaris -lrt"
   % PATH=${PATH}:/usr/sfw/bin/:/usr/ccs/bin make -k tcmalloc_minimal_unittest tcmalloc_minimal_large_unittest
   % ./tcmalloc_minimal_unittest    # should say PASS if all goes well!
   % ./tcmalloc_minimal_large_unittest

   If you're curious in the details of these commands: the PATH allows
use of gcc, and the LDFLAGS both works around a Solaris 10 bug (see
src/solaris/libstdc++.la for more info) and does a cheap hack to
introduce a needed solaris library.  (This *should* be done as inside
configure.am.  Maybe one day.)

   The cpu-profiler, heap-profiler, and heap-checker all depend on
Linux kernel-specific syscalls, and will be harder to port.  However,
tcmalloc_minimal.so itself is perfectly usable as a malloc/new
replacement.


Basic Installation
==================

   These are generic installation instructions.

   The `configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for
various system-dependent variables used during compilation.  It uses
those values to create a `Makefile' in each directory of the package.
It may also create one or more `.h' files containing system-dependent
definitions.  Finally, it creates a shell script `config.status' that
you can run in the future to recreate the current configuration, and a
file `config.log' containing compiler output (useful mainly for
debugging `configure').

   It can also use an optional file (typically called `config.cache'
and enabled with `--cache-file=config.cache' or simply `-C') that saves
the results of its tests to speed up reconfiguring.  (Caching is
disabled by default to prevent problems with accidental use of stale
cache files.)

   If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, please try
to figure out how `configure' could check whether to do them, and mail
diffs or instructions to the address given in the `README' so they can
be considered for the next release.  If you are using the cache, and at
some point `config.cache' contains results you don't want to keep, you
may remove or edit it.

   The file `configure.ac' (or `configure.in') is used to create
`configure' by a program called `autoconf'.  You only need
`configure.ac' if you want to change it or regenerate `configure' using
a newer version of `autoconf'.

The simplest way to compile this package is:

  1. `cd' to the directory containing the package's source code and type
     `./configure' to configure the package for your system.  If you're
     using `csh' on an old version of System V, you might need to type
     `sh ./configure' instead to prevent `csh' from trying to execute
     `configure' itself.

     Running `configure' takes awhile.  While running, it prints some
     messages telling which features it is checking for.

  2. Type `make' to compile the package.

  3. Optionally, type `make check' to run any self-tests that come with
     the package.

  4. Type `make install' to install the programs and any data files and
     documentation.

  5. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
     source code directory by typing `make clean'.  To also remove the
     files that `configure' created (so you can compile the package for
     a different kind of computer), type `make distclean'.  There is
     also a `make maintainer-clean' target, but that is intended mainly
     for the package's developers.  If you use it, you may have to get
     all sorts of other programs in order to regenerate files that came
     with the distribution.

Compilers and Options
=====================

   Some systems require unusual options for compilation or linking that
the `configure' script does not know about.  Run `./configure --help'
for details on some of the pertinent environment variables.

   You can give `configure' initial values for configuration parameters
by setting variables in the command line or in the environment.  Here
is an example:

     ./configure CC=c89 CFLAGS=-O2 LIBS=-lposix

   *Note Defining Variables::, for more details.

Compiling For Multiple Architectures
====================================

   You can compile the package for more than one kind of computer at the
same time, by placing the object files for each architecture in their
own directory.  To do this, you must use a version of `make' that
supports the `VPATH' variable, such as GNU `make'.  `cd' to the
directory where you want the object files and executables to go and run
the `configure' script.  `configure' automatically checks for the
source code in the directory that `configure' is in and in `..'.

   If you have to use a `make' that does not support the `VPATH'
variable, you have to compile the package for one architecture at a
time in the source code directory.  After you have installed the
package for one architecture, use `make distclean' before reconfiguring
for another architecture.

Installation Names
==================

   By default, `make install' will install the package's files in
`/usr/local/bin', `/usr/local/man', etc.  You can specify an
installation prefix other than `/usr/local' by giving `configure' the
option `--prefix=PATH'.

   You can specify separate installation prefixes for
architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files.  If you
give `configure' the option `--exec-prefix=PATH', the package will use
PATH as the prefix for installing programs and libraries.
Documentation and other data files will still use the regular prefix.

   In addition, if you use an unusual directory layout you can give
options like `--bindir=PATH' to specify different values for particular
kinds of files.  Run `configure --help' for a list of the directories
you can set and what kinds of files go in them.

   If the package supports it, you can cause programs to be installed
with an extra prefix or suffix on their names by giving `configure' the
option `--program-prefix=PREFIX' or `--program-suffix=SUFFIX'.

Optional Features
=================

   Some packages pay attention to `--enable-FEATURE' options to
`configure', where FEATURE indicates an optional part of the package.
They may also pay attention to `--with-PACKAGE' options, where PACKAGE
is something like `gnu-as' or `x' (for the X Window System).  The
`README' should mention any `--enable-' and `--with-' options that the
package recognizes.

   For packages that use the X Window System, `configure' can usually
find the X include and library files automatically, but if it doesn't,
you can use the `configure' options `--x-includes=DIR' and
`--x-libraries=DIR' to specify their locations.

Specifying the System Type
==========================

   There may be some features `configure' cannot figure out
automatically, but needs to determine by the type of machine the package
will run on.  Usually, assuming the package is built to be run on the
_same_ architectures, `configure' can figure that out, but if it prints
a message saying it cannot guess the machine type, give it the
`--build=TYPE' option.  TYPE can either be a short name for the system
type, such as `sun4', or a canonical name which has the form:

     CPU-COMPANY-SYSTEM

where SYSTEM can have one of these forms:

     OS KERNEL-OS

   See the file `config.sub' for the possible values of each field.  If
`config.sub' isn't included in this package, then this package doesn't
need to know the machine type.

   If you are _building_ compiler tools for cross-compiling, you should
use the `--target=TYPE' option to select the type of system they will
produce code for.

   If you want to _use_ a cross compiler, that generates code for a
platform different from the build platform, you should specify the
"host" platform (i.e., that on which the generated programs will
eventually be run) with `--host=TYPE'.

Sharing Defaults
================

   If you want to set default values for `configure' scripts to share,
you can create a site shell script called `config.site' that gives
default values for variables like `CC', `cache_file', and `prefix'.
`configure' looks for `PREFIX/share/config.site' if it exists, then
`PREFIX/etc/config.site' if it exists.  Or, you can set the
`CONFIG_SITE' environment variable to the location of the site script.
A warning: not all `configure' scripts look for a site script.

Defining Variables
==================

   Variables not defined in a site shell script can be set in the
environment passed to `configure'.  However, some packages may run
configure again during the build, and the customized values of these
variables may be lost.  In order to avoid this problem, you should set
them in the `configure' command line, using `VAR=value'.  For example:

     ./configure CC=/usr/local2/bin/gcc

will cause the specified gcc to be used as the C compiler (unless it is
overridden in the site shell script).

`configure' Invocation
======================

   `configure' recognizes the following options to control how it
operates.

`--help'
`-h'
     Print a summary of the options to `configure', and exit.

`--version'
`-V'
     Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the `configure'
     script, and exit.

`--cache-file=FILE'
     Enable the cache: use and save the results of the tests in FILE,
     traditionally `config.cache'.  FILE defaults to `/dev/null' to
     disable caching.

`--config-cache'
`-C'
     Alias for `--cache-file=config.cache'.

`--quiet'
`--silent'
`-q'
     Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.  To
     suppress all normal output, redirect it to `/dev/null' (any error
     messages will still be shown).

`--srcdir=DIR'
     Look for the package's source code in directory DIR.  Usually
     `configure' can determine that directory automatically.

`configure' also accepts some other, not widely useful, options.  Run
`configure --help' for more details.