MONITOR(3C)MONITOR(3C)NAMEmonitor - prepare process execution profile
SYNOPSIS
#include <mon.h>
void monitor(int (*lowpc(), int (*highpc)(), WORD *buffer, size_t bufsize,
size_t nfunc);
DESCRIPTION
The monitor() function is an interface to the profil(2) function and is
called automatically with default parameters by any program created by
the cc utility with the -p option specified. Except to establish fur‐
ther control over profiling activity, it is not necessary to explicitly
call monitor().
When used, monitor() is called at least at the beginning and the end of
a program. The first call to monitor() initiates the recording of two
different kinds of execution-profile information: execution-time dis‐
tribution and function call count. Execution-time distribution data is
generated by profil() and the function call counts are generated by
code supplied to the object file (or files) by cc -p. Both types of
information are collected as a program executes. The last call to moni‐
tor() writes this collected data to the output file mon.out.
The name of the file written by monitor() is controlled by the environ‐
ment variable PROFDIR. If PROFDIR does not exist, the file mon.out is
created in the current directory. If PROFDIR exists but has no value,
monitor() does no profiling and creates no output file. If PROFDIR is
dirname, and monitor() is called automatically by compilation with cc
-p, the file created is dirname/pid.progname where progname is the name
of the program.
The lowpc and highpc arguments are the beginning and ending addresses
of the region to be profiled.
The buffer argument is the address of a user-supplied array of WORD
(defined in the header <mon.h>). The buffer argument is used by moni‐
tor() to store the histogram generated by profil() and the call counts.
The bufsize argument identifies the number of array elements in buffer.
The nfunc argument is the number of call count cells that have been
reserved in buffer. Additional call count cells will be allocated auto‐
matically as they are needed.
The bufsize argument should be computed using the following formula:
size_of_buffer =
sizeof(struct hdr) +
nfunc * sizeof(struct cnt) +
((highpc-lowpc)/BARSIZE) * sizeof(WORD) +
sizeof(WORD) − 1 ;
bufsize = (size_of_buffer / sizeof(WORD));
where:
o lowpc, highpc, nfunc are the same as the arguments to moni‐
tor();
o BARSIZE is the number of program bytes that correspond to
each histogram bar, or cell, of the profil() buffer;
o the hdr and cnt structures and the type WORD are defined in
the header <mon.h>.
The default call to monitor() is as follows:
monitor (&eprol, &etext, wbuf, wbufsz, 600);
where:
o eprol is the beginning of the user's program when linked
with cc -p (see end(3C));
o etext is the end of the user's program (see end(3C));
o wbuf is an array of WORD with wbufsz elements;
o wbufsz is computed using the bufsize formula shown above
with BARSIZE of 8;
o 600 is the number of call count cells that have been
reserved in buffer.
These parameter settings establish the computation of an execution-time
distribution histogram that uses profil() for the entire program, ini‐
tially reserves room for 600 call count cells in buffer, and provides
for enough histogram cells to generate significant distribution-mea‐
surement results. For more information on the effects of bufsize on
execution-distribution measurements, see profil(2).
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Example to stop execution monitoring and write the results to
a file.
To stop execution monitoring and write the results to a file, use the
following:
monitor((int (*)())0, (int (*)())0, (WORD *)0, 0, 0);
Use prof to examine the results.
USAGE
Additional calls to monitor() after main() has been called and before
exit() has been called will add to the function-call count capacity,
but such calls will also replace and restart the profil() histogram
computation.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌───────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├───────────────┼─────────────────┤
│MT-Level │ Safe │
└───────────────┴─────────────────┘
SEE ALSOprofil(2), end(3C), attributes(5), prof(5)
Dec 29, 1996 MONITOR(3C)
