|  | perf-diff(1) | 
|  | ============ | 
|  |  | 
|  | NAME | 
|  | ---- | 
|  | perf-diff - Read perf.data files and display the differential profile | 
|  |  | 
|  | SYNOPSIS | 
|  | -------- | 
|  | [verse] | 
|  | 'perf diff' [baseline file] [data file1] [[data file2] ... ] | 
|  |  | 
|  | DESCRIPTION | 
|  | ----------- | 
|  | This command displays the performance difference amongst two or more perf.data | 
|  | files captured via perf record. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If no parameters are passed it will assume perf.data.old and perf.data. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The differential profile is displayed only for events matching both | 
|  | specified perf.data files. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If no parameters are passed the samples will be sorted by dso and symbol. | 
|  | As the perf.data files could come from different binaries, the symbols addresses | 
|  | could vary. So perf diff is based on the comparison of the files and | 
|  | symbols name. | 
|  |  | 
|  | OPTIONS | 
|  | ------- | 
|  | -D:: | 
|  | --dump-raw-trace:: | 
|  | Dump raw trace in ASCII. | 
|  |  | 
|  | --kallsyms=<file>:: | 
|  | kallsyms pathname | 
|  |  | 
|  | -m:: | 
|  | --modules:: | 
|  | Load module symbols. WARNING: use only with -k and LIVE kernel | 
|  |  | 
|  | -d:: | 
|  | --dsos=:: | 
|  | Only consider symbols in these dsos. CSV that understands | 
|  | file://filename entries.  This option will affect the percentage | 
|  | of the Baseline/Delta column.  See --percentage for more info. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -C:: | 
|  | --comms=:: | 
|  | Only consider symbols in these comms. CSV that understands | 
|  | file://filename entries.  This option will affect the percentage | 
|  | of the Baseline/Delta column.  See --percentage for more info. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -S:: | 
|  | --symbols=:: | 
|  | Only consider these symbols. CSV that understands | 
|  | file://filename entries.  This option will affect the percentage | 
|  | of the Baseline/Delta column.  See --percentage for more info. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -s:: | 
|  | --sort=:: | 
|  | Sort by key(s): pid, comm, dso, symbol, cpu, parent, srcline. | 
|  | Please see description of --sort in the perf-report man page. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -t:: | 
|  | --field-separator=:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | Use a special separator character and don't pad with spaces, replacing | 
|  | all occurrences of this separator in symbol names (and other output) | 
|  | with a '.' character, that thus it's the only non valid separator. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -v:: | 
|  | --verbose:: | 
|  | Be verbose, for instance, show the raw counts in addition to the | 
|  | diff. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -q:: | 
|  | --quiet:: | 
|  | Do not show any message.  (Suppress -v) | 
|  |  | 
|  | -f:: | 
|  | --force:: | 
|  | Don't do ownership validation. | 
|  |  | 
|  | --symfs=<directory>:: | 
|  | Look for files with symbols relative to this directory. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -b:: | 
|  | --baseline-only:: | 
|  | Show only items with match in baseline. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -c:: | 
|  | --compute:: | 
|  | Differential computation selection - delta, ratio, wdiff, delta-abs | 
|  | (default is delta-abs).  Default can be changed using diff.compute | 
|  | config option.  See COMPARISON METHODS section for more info. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -p:: | 
|  | --period:: | 
|  | Show period values for both compared hist entries. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -F:: | 
|  | --formula:: | 
|  | Show formula for given computation. | 
|  |  | 
|  | -o:: | 
|  | --order:: | 
|  | Specify compute sorting column number.  0 means sorting by baseline | 
|  | overhead and 1 (default) means sorting by computed value of column 1 | 
|  | (data from the first file other base baseline).  Values more than 1 | 
|  | can be used only if enough data files are provided. | 
|  | The default value can be set using the diff.order config option. | 
|  |  | 
|  | --percentage:: | 
|  | Determine how to display the overhead percentage of filtered entries. | 
|  | Filters can be applied by --comms, --dsos and/or --symbols options. | 
|  |  | 
|  | "relative" means it's relative to filtered entries only so that the | 
|  | sum of shown entries will be always 100%.  "absolute" means it retains | 
|  | the original value before and after the filter is applied. | 
|  |  | 
|  | COMPARISON | 
|  | ---------- | 
|  | The comparison is governed by the baseline file. The baseline perf.data | 
|  | file is iterated for samples. All other perf.data files specified on | 
|  | the command line are searched for the baseline sample pair. If the pair | 
|  | is found, specified computation is made and result is displayed. | 
|  |  | 
|  | All samples from non-baseline perf.data files, that do not match any | 
|  | baseline entry, are displayed with empty space within baseline column | 
|  | and possible computation results (delta) in their related column. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Example files samples: | 
|  | - file A with samples f1, f2, f3, f4,    f6 | 
|  | - file B with samples     f2,     f4, f5 | 
|  | - file C with samples f1, f2,         f5 | 
|  |  | 
|  | Example output: | 
|  | x - computation takes place for pair | 
|  | b - baseline sample percentage | 
|  |  | 
|  | - perf diff A B C | 
|  |  | 
|  | baseline/A compute/B compute/C  samples | 
|  | --------------------------------------- | 
|  | b                    x          f1 | 
|  | b          x         x          f2 | 
|  | b                               f3 | 
|  | b          x                    f4 | 
|  | b                               f6 | 
|  | x         x          f5 | 
|  |  | 
|  | - perf diff B A C | 
|  |  | 
|  | baseline/B compute/A compute/C  samples | 
|  | --------------------------------------- | 
|  | b          x         x          f2 | 
|  | b          x                    f4 | 
|  | b                    x          f5 | 
|  | x         x          f1 | 
|  | x                    f3 | 
|  | x                    f6 | 
|  |  | 
|  | - perf diff C B A | 
|  |  | 
|  | baseline/C compute/B compute/A  samples | 
|  | --------------------------------------- | 
|  | b                    x          f1 | 
|  | b          x         x          f2 | 
|  | b          x                    f5 | 
|  | x          f3 | 
|  | x         x          f4 | 
|  | x          f6 | 
|  |  | 
|  | COMPARISON METHODS | 
|  | ------------------ | 
|  | delta | 
|  | ~~~~~ | 
|  | If specified the 'Delta' column is displayed with value 'd' computed as: | 
|  |  | 
|  | d = A->period_percent - B->period_percent | 
|  |  | 
|  | with: | 
|  | - A/B being matching hist entry from data/baseline file specified | 
|  | (or perf.data/perf.data.old) respectively. | 
|  |  | 
|  | - period_percent being the % of the hist entry period value within | 
|  | single data file | 
|  |  | 
|  | - with filtering by -C, -d and/or -S, period_percent might be changed | 
|  | relative to how entries are filtered.  Use --percentage=absolute to | 
|  | prevent such fluctuation. | 
|  |  | 
|  | delta-abs | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  | Same as 'delta` method, but sort the result with the absolute values. | 
|  |  | 
|  | ratio | 
|  | ~~~~~ | 
|  | If specified the 'Ratio' column is displayed with value 'r' computed as: | 
|  |  | 
|  | r = A->period / B->period | 
|  |  | 
|  | with: | 
|  | - A/B being matching hist entry from data/baseline file specified | 
|  | (or perf.data/perf.data.old) respectively. | 
|  |  | 
|  | - period being the hist entry period value | 
|  |  | 
|  | wdiff:WEIGHT-B,WEIGHT-A | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  | If specified the 'Weighted diff' column is displayed with value 'd' computed as: | 
|  |  | 
|  | d = B->period * WEIGHT-A - A->period * WEIGHT-B | 
|  |  | 
|  | - A/B being matching hist entry from data/baseline file specified | 
|  | (or perf.data/perf.data.old) respectively. | 
|  |  | 
|  | - period being the hist entry period value | 
|  |  | 
|  | - WEIGHT-A/WEIGHT-B being user supplied weights in the the '-c' option | 
|  | behind ':' separator like '-c wdiff:1,2'. | 
|  | - WEIGHT-A being the weight of the data file | 
|  | - WEIGHT-B being the weight of the baseline data file | 
|  |  | 
|  | SEE ALSO | 
|  | -------- | 
|  | linkperf:perf-record[1], linkperf:perf-report[1] |