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+Basic kernel profiling
+======================
+
+
+These instructions are deliberately very basic. If you want something clever,
+go read the real docs ;-)
+
+Please don't add more stuff, but feel free to
+correct my mistakes ;-) (mbligh@aracnet.com)
+
+Thanks to John Levon, Dave Hansen, et al. for help writing this.
+
+``<test>`` is the thing you're trying to measure.
+Make sure you have the correct ``System.map`` / ``vmlinux`` referenced!
+
+It is probably easiest to use ``make install`` for linux and hack
+``/sbin/installkernel`` to copy ``vmlinux`` to ``/boot``, in addition to
+``vmlinuz``, ``config``, ``System.map``, which are usually installed by default.
+
+Readprofile
+-----------
+
+A recent ``readprofile`` command is needed for 2.6, such as found in util-linux
+2.12a, which can be downloaded from:
+
+ http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/
+
+Most distributions will ship it already.
+
+Add ``profile=2`` to the kernel command line.
+
+Some ``readprofile`` commands::
+
+ clear readprofile -r
+ <test>
+ dump output readprofile -m /boot/System.map > captured_profile
+
+Oprofile
+--------
+
+Get the source (see Changes for required version) from
+http://oprofile.sourceforge.net/ and add ``idle=poll`` to the kernel command
+line.
+
+Configure with ``CONFIG_PROFILING=y`` and ``CONFIG_OPROFILE=y`` & reboot on new kernel::
+
+ ./configure --with-kernel-support
+ make install
+
+For superior results, be sure to enable the local APIC. If opreport sees
+a 0Hz CPU, APIC was not on. Be aware that idle=poll may mean a performance
+penalty.
+
+One time setup::
+
+ opcontrol --setup --vmlinux=/boot/vmlinux
+
+Some ``opcontrol`` commands::
+
+ clear opcontrol --reset
+ start opcontrol --start
+ <test>
+ stop opcontrol --stop
+ dump output opreport > output_file
+
+To only report on the kernel, run ``opreport -l /boot/vmlinux > output_file``
+
+A reset is needed to clear old statistics, which survive a reboot.
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