NAME¶
scons-time - generate and display SCons timing information
SYNOPSIS¶
scons-time subcommand [
options... ] [
arguments...
]
scons-time run [
-hnqv] [
--aegis=PROJECT] [
-f
FILE] [
--number=NUMBER] [
--outdir=OUTDIR] [
-p STRING] [
--python=PYTHON] [
-s DIR] [
--scons=SCONS] [
--svn=URL] [
ARGUMENTS]
scons-time func [
-h] [
--chdir=DIR] [
-f
FILE] [
--fmt=FORMAT] [
--func=NAME] [
-p STRING] [
-t NUMBER] [
--title= TITLE] [
ARGUMENTS]
scons-time mem [
-h] [
--chdir=DIR] [
-f
FILE] [
--fmt=FORMAT] [
-p STRING] [
--stage=STAGE] [
-t NUMBER] [
--title=TITLE] [
ARGUMENTS]
scons-time obj [
-h] [
--chdir=DIR] [
-f
FILE] [
--fmt=FORMAT] [
-p STRING] [
--stage=STAGE] [
-t NUMBER] [
--title=TITLE] [
ARGUMENTS]
scons-time time [
-h] [
--chdir=DIR] [
-f
FILE] [
--fmt=FORMAT] [
-p STRING] [
-t NUMBER] [
--title=TITLE] [
--which=WHICH] [
ARGUMENTS]
Help Text¶
scons-time help SUBCOMMAND [...]
DESCRIPTION¶
The
scons-time command runs an SCons configuration through a standard set
of profiled timings and can extract and graph information from the resulting
profiles and log files of those timings. The action to be performed by the
scons-time script is specified by a subcommand, the first argument on
the command line. See the
SUBCOMMANDS section below for information
about the operation of specific subcommands.
The basic way to use
scons-time is to run the
scons-time run
subcommand (possibly multiple times) to generate profile and log file output,
and then use one of the other subcommands to display the results captured in
the profiles and log files for a particular kind of information: function
timings (the
scons-time func subcommand), total memory used (the
scons-time mem subcommand), object counts (the
scons-time obj
subcommand) and overall execution time (the
scons-time time
subcommand). Options exist to place and find the profiles and log files in
separate directories, to generate the output in a format suitable for graphing
with the
gnuplot(1) program, and so on.
There are two basic ways the
scons-time run subcommand is intended to be
used to gather timing statistics for a configuration. One is to use the
--svn= option to test a configuration against a list of revisions from
the SCons Subversion repository. This will generate a profile and timing log
file for every revision listed with the
--number= option, and can be
used to look at the impact of committed changes to the SCons code base on a
particular configuration over time.
The other way is to profile incremental changes to a local SCons code base
during a development cycle--that is, to look at the performance impact of
changes you're making in the local tree. In this mode, you run the
scons-time run subcommand
without the
--svn= option, in
which case it simply looks in the profile/log file output directory (the
current directory by default) and automatically figures out the
next
run number for the output profile and log file. Used in this way, the
development cycle goes something like: make a change to SCons; run
scons-time run to profile it against a specific configuration; make
another change to SCons; run
scons-time run again to profile it; etc.
OPTIONS¶
The
scons-time command only supports a few global options:
- -h, --help
- Displays the global help text and exits, identical to the scons-time
help subcommand.
- -V, --version
- Displays the scons-time version and exits.
Most functionality is controlled by options to the individual subcommands. See
the next section for information about individual subcommand options.
SUBCOMMANDS¶
The
scons-time command supports the following individual subcommands.
The func Subcommand¶
scons-time func [
-h] [
--chdir=DIR] [
-f
FILE] [
--fmt=FORMAT] [
--func=NAME] [
-p STRING] [
-t NUMBER] [
--title= TITLE] [
ARGUMENTS]
The
scons-time func subcommand displays timing information for a specific
Python function within SCons. By default, it extracts information about the
_main() function, which includes the Python profiler timing for all of
SCons.
The
scons-time func subcommand extracts function timing information from
all the specified file arguments, which should be Python profiler output
files. (Normally, these would be
*.prof files generated by the
scons-time run subcommand, but they can actually be generated by any
Python profiler invocation.) All file name arguments will be globbed for
on-disk files.
If no arguments are specified, then function timing information will be
extracted from all
*.prof files, or the subset of them with a prefix
specified by the
-p option.
Options include:
- -C DIRECTORY, --chdir=DIRECTORY
- Changes to the specified DIRECTORY before looking for the specified
files (or files that match the specified patterns).
- -f FILE, --file=FILE
- Reads configuration information from the specified FILE.
- -fmt=FORMAT, --format=FORMAT
- Reports the output in the specified FORMAT. The formats currently
supported are ascii (the default) and gnuplot.
- --func=NAME
- Extracts timings for the specified function NAME. The default is to
report cumulative timings for the _main() function, which contains
the entire SCons run.
- -h, --help
- Displays help text for the scons-time func subcommand.
- -p STRING, --prefix=STRING
- Specifies the prefix string for profiles from which to extract function
timing information. This will be used to search for profiles if no
arguments are specified on the command line.
- -t NUMBER, --tail=NUMBER
- Only extracts function timings from the last NUMBER files.
The help Subcommand¶
scons-time help SUBCOMMAND [...] The
help subcommand prints
help text for any other subcommands listed as later arguments on the command
line.
The mem Subcommand¶
scons-time mem [
-h] [
--chdir=DIR] [
-f
FILE] [
--fmt=FORMAT] [
-p STRING] [
--stage=STAGE] [
-t NUMBER] [
--title=TITLE] [
ARGUMENTS]
The
scons-time mem subcommand displays how much memory SCons uses.
The
scons-time mem subcommand extracts memory use information from all
the specified file arguments, which should be files containing output from
running SCons with the
--debug=memory option. (Normally, these would be
*.log files generated by the
scons-time run subcommand.) All
file name arguments will be globbed for on-disk files.
If no arguments are specified, then memory information will be extracted from
all
*.log files, or the subset of them with a prefix specified by the
-p option.
- -C DIR, --chdir=DIR
- Changes to the specified DIRECTORY before looking for the specified
files (or files that match the specified patterns).
- -f FILE, --file=FILE
- Reads configuration information from the specified FILE.
- -fmt=FORMAT, --format=FORMAT
- Reports the output in the specified FORMAT. The formats currently
supported are ascii (the default) and gnuplot.
- -h, --help
- Displays help text for the scons-time mem subcommand.
- -p STRING, --prefix=STRING
- Specifies the prefix string for log files from which to extract memory
usage information. This will be used to search for log files if no
arguments are specified on the command line.
- --stage=STAGE
- Prints the memory used at the end of the specified STAGE:
pre-read (before the SConscript files are read), post-read ,
(after the SConscript files are read), pre-build (before any
targets are built) or post-build (after any targets are built). If
no --stage option is specified, the default behavior is
post-build, which reports the final amount of memory used by SCons
during each run.
- -t NUMBER, --tail=NUMBER
- Only reports memory statistics from the last NUMBER files.
The obj Subcommand¶
scons-time obj [
-h] [
--chdir=DIR] [
-f
FILE] [
--fmt=FORMAT] [
-p STRING] [
--stage=STAGE] [
-t NUMBER] [
--title=TITLE] [
ARGUMENTS]
The
scons-time obj subcommand displays how many objects of a specific
named type are created by SCons.
The
scons-time obj subcommand extracts object counts from all the
specified file arguments, which should be files containing output from running
SCons with the
--debug=count option. (Normally, these would be
*.log files generated by the
scons-time run subcommand.) All
file name arguments will be globbed for on-disk files.
If no arguments are specified, then object counts will be extracted from all
*.log files, or the subset of them with a prefix specified by the
-p option.
- -C DIR, --chdir=DIR
- Changes to the specified DIRECTORY before looking for the specified
files (or files that match the specified patterns).
- -f FILE, --file=FILE
- Reads configuration information from the specified FILE.
- -fmt=FORMAT, --format=FORMAT
- Reports the output in the specified FORMAT. The formats currently
supported are ascii (the default) and gnuplot.
- -h, --help
- Displays help text for the scons-time obj subcommand.
- -p STRING, --prefix=STRING
- Specifies the prefix string for log files from which to extract object
counts. This will be used to search for log files if no arguments are
specified on the command line.
- --stage=STAGE
- Prints the object count at the end of the specified STAGE:
pre-read (before the SConscript files are read), post-read ,
(after the SConscript files are read), pre-build (before any
targets are built) or post-build (after any targets are built). If
no --stage option is specified, the default behavior is
post-build, which reports the final object count during each
run.
- -t NUMBER, --tail=NUMBER
- Only reports object counts from the last NUMBER files.
The run Subcommand¶
scons-time run [
-hnqv] [
--aegis=PROJECT] [
-f
FILE] [
--number=NUMBER] [
--outdir=OUTDIR] [
-p STRING] [
--python=PYTHON] [
-s DIR] [
--scons=SCONS] [
--svn=URL] [
ARGUMENTS]
The
scons-time run subcommand is the basic subcommand for profiling a
specific configuration against a version of SCons.
The configuration to be tested is specified as a list of files or directories
that will be unpacked or copied into a temporary directory in which SCons will
be invoked. The
scons-time run subcommand understands file suffixes
like
.tar,
.tar.gz,
.tgz and
.zip and will unpack
their contents into a temporary directory. If more than one argument is
specified, each one will be unpacked or copied into the temporary directory
"on top of" the previous archives or directories, so the expectation
is that multiple specified archives share the same directory layout.
Once the file or directory arguments are unpacked or copied to the temporary
directory, the
scons-time run subcommand runs the requested version of
SCons against the configuration three times:
- Startup
- SCons is run with the --help option so that just the SConscript
files are read, and then the default help text is printed. This profiles
just the perceived "overhead" of starting up SCons and
processing the SConscript files.
- Full build
- SCons is run to build everything specified in the configuration. Specific
targets to be passed in on the command l ine may be specified by the
targets keyword in a configuration file; see below for
details.
- Rebuild
- SCons is run again on the same just-built directory. If the dependencies
in the SCons configuration are correct, this should be an up-to-date,
"do nothing" rebuild.
Each invocation captures the output log file and a profile.
The
scons-time run subcommand supports the following options:
- --aegis=PROJECT
- Specifies the Aegis PROJECT from which the version(s) of
scons being timed will be extracted. When --aegis is
specified, the --number=NUMBER option specifies delta
numbers that will be tested. Output from each invocation run will be
placed in file names that match the Aegis delta numbers. If the
--number= option is not specified, then the default behavior is to
time the tip of the specified PROJECT.
- -f FILE, --file=FILE
- Reads configuration information from the specified FILE. This often
provides a more convenient way to specify and collect parameters
associated with a specific timing configuration than specifying them on
the command line. See the CONFIGURATION FILE section below for
information about the configuration file parameters.
- -h, --help
- Displays help text for the scons-time run subcommand.
- -n, --no-exec
- Do not execute commands, just printing the command-line equivalents of
what would be executed. Note that the scons-time script actually
executes its actions in Python, where possible, for portability. The
commands displayed are UNIX equivalents of what it's doing.
- --number=NUMBER
- Specifies the run number to be used in the names of the log files and
profile outputs generated by this run.
- When used in conjunction with the --aegis=PROJECT option,
NUMBER specifies one or more comma-separated Aegis delta numbers
that will be retrieved automatically from the specified Aegis
PROJECT.
- When used in conjunction with the --svn=URL option,
NUMBER specifies one or more comma-separated Subversion revision
numbers that will be retrieved automatically from the Subversion
repository at the specified URL. Ranges of delta or revision
numbers may be specified be separating two numbers with a hyphen
(-).
Example:
% scons-time run --svn=http://scons.tigris.org/svn/trunk --num=1247,1249-1252 .
- -p STRING, --prefix=STRING
- Specifies the prefix string to be used for all of the log files and
profiles generated by this run. The default is derived from the first
specified argument: if the first argument is a directory, the default
prefix is the name of the directory; if the first argument is an archive
(tar or zip file), the default prefix is the the base name of the archive,
that is, what remains after stripping the archive suffix (.tgz,
.tar.gz or .zip).
- --python=PYTHON
- Specifies a path to the Python executable to be used for the timing runs.
The default is to use the same Python executable that is running the
scons-time command itself.
- -q, --quiet
- Suppresses display of the command lines being executed.
- -s DIR, --subdir=DIR
- Specifies the name of directory or subdirectory from which the commands
should be executed. The default is XXX
- --scons=SCONS
- Specifies a path to the SCons script to be used for the timing runs. The
default is XXX
- --svn=URL, --subversion=URL
- Specifies the URL of the Subversion repository from which the
version(s) of scons being timed will be extracted. When
--svn is specified, the --number=NUMBER option
specifies revision numbers that will be tested. Output from each
invocation run will be placed in file names that match the Subversion
revision numbers. If the --number= option is not specified, then
the default behavior is to time the HEAD of the specified
URL.
- -v, --verbose
- Displays the output from individual commands to the screen (in addition to
capturing the output in log files).
The time Subcommand¶
scons-time time [
-h] [
--chdir=DIR] [
-f
FILE] [
--fmt=FORMAT] [
-p STRING] [
-t NUMBER] [
--title=TITLE] [
--which=WHICH] [
ARGUMENTS]
The
scons-time time subcommand displays SCons execution times as reported
by the
scons --debug=time option.
The
scons-time time subcommand extracts SCons timing from all the
specified file arguments, which should be files containing output from running
SCons with the
--debug=time option. (Normally, these would be
*.log files generated by the
scons-time run subcommand.) All
file name arguments will be globbed for on-disk files.
If no arguments are specified, then execution timings will be extracted from all
*.log files, or the subset of them with a prefix specified by the
-p option.
- -C DIR, --chdir=DIR
- Changes to the specified DIRECTORY before looking for the specified
files (or files that match the specified patterns).
- -f FILE, --file=FILE
- Reads configuration information from the specified FILE.
- -fmt=FORMAT, --format=FORMAT
- Reports the output in the specified FORMAT. The formats currently
supported are ascii (the default) and gnuplot.
- -h, --help
- Displays help text for the scons-time time subcommand.
- -p STRING, --prefix=STRING
- Specifies the prefix string for log files from which to extract execution
timings. This will be used to search for log files if no arguments are
specified on the command line.
- -t NUMBER, --tail=NUMBER
- Only reports object counts from the last NUMBER files.
- --which=WHICH
- Prints the execution time for the specified WHICH value:
total (the total execution time), SConscripts (total
execution time for the SConscript files themselves), SCons
(exectuion time in SCons code itself) or commands (execution time
of the commands and other actions used to build targets). If no
--which option is specified, the default behavior is total,
which reports the total execution time for each run.
CONFIGURATION FILE¶
Various
scons-time subcommands can read information from a specified
configuration file when passed the
-f or
--file options. The
configuration file is actually executed as a Python script. Setting Python
variables in the configuration file controls the behavior of the
scons-time script more conveniently than having to specify command-line
options or arguments for every run, and provides a handy way to
"shrink-wrap" the necessary information for producing (and
reporting) consistent timing runs for a given configuration.
- aegis
- The Aegis executable for extracting deltas. The default is simply
aegis.
- aegis_project
- The Aegis project from which deltas should be extracted. The default is
whatever is specified with the --aegis= command-line option.
- archive_list
- A list of archives (files or directories) that will be copied to the
temporary directory in which SCons will be invoked. .tar,
.tar.gz, .tgz and .zip files will have their contents
unpacked in the temporary directory. Directory trees and files will be
copied as-is.
- initial_commands
- A list of commands that will be executed before the actual timed
scons runs. This can be used for commands that are necessary to
prepare the source tree-for example, creating a configuration file that
should not be part of the timed run.
- key_location
- The location of the key on Gnuplot graphing information generated with the
--format=gnuplot option. The default is bottom left.
- prefix
- The file name prefix to be used when running or extracting timing for this
configuration.
- python
- The path name of the Python executable to be used when running or
extracting information for this configuration. The default is the same
version of Python used to run the SCons
- scons
- The path name of the SCons script to be used when running or extracting
information for this configuration. The default is simply
scons.
- scons_flags
- The scons flags used when running SCons to collect timing
information. The default value is --debug=count --debug=memory
--debug=time --debug=memoizer.
- scons_lib_dir
- scons_wrapper
- startup_targets
- subdir
- The subdirectory of the project into which the scons-time script
should change before executing the SCons commands to time.
- subversion_url
- The Subversion URL from
- svn
- The subversion executable used to check out revisions of SCons to be
timed. The default is simple svn.
- svn_co_flag
- tar
- targets
- A string containing the targets that should be added to the command line
of every timed scons run. This can be used to restrict what's being
timed to a subset of the full build for the configuration.
- targets0
- targets1
- targets2
- title
- unzip
- verbose
- vertical_bars
Example¶
Here is an example
scons-time configuration file for a hypothetical
sample project:
# The project doesn't use SCons natively (yet), so we're
# timing a separate set of SConscript files that we lay
# on top of the vanilla unpacked project tarball.
arguments = ['project-1.2.tgz', 'project-SConscripts.tar']
# The subdirectory name contains the project version number,
# so tell scons-time to chdir there before building.
subdir = 'project-1.2'
# Set the prefix so output log files and profiles are named:
# project-000-[012].{log,prof}
# project-001-[012].{log,prof}
# etc.
prefix = 'project'
# The SConscript files being tested don't do any SConf
# configuration, so run their normal ./configure script
# before we invoke SCons.
initial_commands = [
'./configure',
]
# Only time building the bin/project executable.
targets = 'bin/project'
# Time against SCons revisions of the branches/core branch
subversion_url = 'http://scons.tigris.org/svn/scons/branches/core'
ENVIRONMENT¶
The
scons-time script uses the following environment variables:
- PRESERVE
- If this value is set, the scons-time script will not remove
the temporary directory or directories in which it builds the specified
configuration or downloads a specific version of SCons.
SEE ALSO¶
gnuplot(1),
scons(1)
AUTHORS¶
Steven Knight <knight at baldmt dot com>