Module: nupp.profile
Profiling, in two channels.
profile.sampleis the statistical sampler. A timer interrupts the program and writes down where it was; what comes back is collapsed-stack text, the format speedscope.app, FlameGraph.pl and inferno all read. It answers where the time went.profile.tracewatches the JIT give up. It aggregates trace aborts, so blacklisted hot code, a bytecode the compiler will not record, and traces that grew past a limit all become rows rather than silence. It answers whether the time went there compiled or interpreted.
The second question is the one a sampler cannot answer and the one that usually matters here: code the JIT refused is an order of magnitude slower than code it took, and nothing says so out loud.
Both channels attribute work through nupp.zone, so a sample or an abort carries the zone path that was open when it happened. Both are process-wide rather than per-coroutine, and at most one session of each kind runs at a time.
Neither is free. A sample session pays a timer interrupt, a stack walk and a table write at every interval; a trace session pays a callback at every abort, inside the compiler. Stop a session once the question it was opened for has an answer.
local profile = require("nupp.profile")
local session = profile.sample({intervalMs = 5})
render()
local report = session:stop("profile.out")
print(report.samples, report.stacks)
Module contents
Types
| Type | Kind | Description |
|---|---|---|
AbortSite | record | One place the JIT gave up, and how often it did. |
Sample | record | One distinct stack, and what landed on it. |
SampleOptions | type | What profile.sample collects, and how much of it. |
SampleReport | record | What a sample session saw, as SampleSession:stop returns it. |
SampleSession | record | A running sampler, as profile.sample returns it. |
Session | interface | A running profiling session whose declaration chooses the report stop returns. |
Severity | type | How much an abort is worth reading. |
TraceOptions | type | What profile.trace counts. |
TraceReport | record | What a trace session saw, as TraceSession:stop returns it. |
TraceSession | record | A running trace-abort collector, as profile.trace returns it. |
Functions
| Function | Kind | Description |
|---|---|---|
sample | function | Starts sampling. |
SampleSession:pause | method | Stops recording without ending the session. |
SampleSession:resume | method | Resumes recording. |
SampleSession:stop | method | Ends the session and reports what it saw. |
trace | function | Starts collecting trace aborts. |
TraceSession:pause | method | Stops counting without ending the session. |
TraceSession:resume | method | Resumes counting. |
TraceSession:stop | method | Ends the session and reports what it saw. |
Types#
AbortSiterecord#
One place the JIT gave up, and how often it did.
A row of a TraceReport, built at stop.
record profile.AbortSite
severity: profile.Severity
count: integer
reason: string
location: string
zonePath: string
endFields
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
severity | profile.Severity | How much it is worth reading. |
count | integer | Times this exact severity, reason, location and zone fired. |
reason | string | The reason, from |
location | string | " |
zonePath | string | The zone path that was open, "" when none was. |
Samplerecord#
One distinct stack, and what landed on it.
A row of a SampleReport, built at stop. The five state counts sum to count.
record profile.Sample
zonePath: string
stack: string
count: integer
compiled: integer
interpreted: integer
cCode: integer
collecting: integer
compiling: integer
endFields
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
zonePath | string | The zone path the samples were taken under, "" when none was open. |
stack | string | The stack as |
count | integer | Samples on this stack, in every VM state. |
compiled | integer | Samples running compiled machine code. |
interpreted | integer | Samples in the interpreter. |
cCode | integer | Samples inside a C function. |
collecting | integer | Samples in the garbage collector. |
compiling | integer | Samples inside the JIT compiler itself. |
SampleOptionstype#
What profile.sample collects, and how much of it. Every field is optional.
type profile.SampleOptions = {
--- Milliseconds between samples; 10 by default, which is 100 a second. Below about
--- 10 the timer starts taking real time away from the thread it is measuring, so
--- lower it for a short window and read the result knowing that it was paid for.
intervalMs: integer?,
--- How many frames to walk per sample; 16 by default. The walk is linear in this
--- and it happens on the interrupted thread, so raise it only when a specific
--- question needs the depth.
stackDepth: integer?,
--- Keep only the samples taken under a zone path starting with this, so
--- "frame/render" reads as that subtree alone.
---
--- Applied at `stop` rather than while sampling: narrowing it costs nothing at
--- runtime, and widening it afterwards is not possible, because the prefix is fixed
--- when the session starts.
zone: string?,
--- The module the program starts at, as a stack frame names it. Everything below
--- the outermost frame from it is dropped.
---
--- A profiler samples the whole stack it is embedded in, and what is under the
--- program — the loader that read it, the pcall that guards it — is not the
--- program. Naming its module cuts the report back to it.
---
--- Frames read "<module>:<name>", so the module is the part to give. A stack with
--- no frame from it is kept whole rather than emptied, and two stacks that differ
--- only below the root become one, their counts summed.
root: string?
}SampleReportrecord#
What a sample session saw, as SampleSession:stop returns it.
tostring on it is the collapsed-stack text, so it prints and pipes directly.
record profile.SampleReport
intervalMs: integer
samples: integer
stacks: integer
text: string
__tostring: function(self): string
endFields
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
intervalMs | integer | The interval the session ran at, so the sample counts can be read as time. |
samples | integer | Samples recorded, after the zone filter. |
stacks | integer | Distinct stacks they fell on. |
text | string | One line per stack: semicolon-separated frames, a space, then the sample count. Ordered by count descending. Empty when nothing was sampled, which a short session and a zone prefix that matched nothing both produce. |
SampleSessionrecord#
A running sampler, as profile.sample returns it.
Live until stop, and there is at most one at a time. Dropping the handle without stopping leaves the timer running for the rest of the process.
record profile.SampleSession is profile.Session
associated type Report = profile.SampleReport
intervalMs: integer
zoneFilter: string?
root: string?
paused: boolean
stopped: boolean
aggregate: {[string]: {[string]: profile.Sample}}
pause: function(self)
resume: function(self)
stop: function(self, filename: string?): self.Report
endMethods
pause
pause: function(self)Arguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
? | self |
resume
resume: function(self)Arguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
? | self |
stop
stop: function(self, filename: string?): self.ReportArguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
? | self | |
filename | string? |
Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
self.Report |
Fields
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
Report | associatedDecl | |
intervalMs | integer | The interval it was started at. |
zoneFilter | string? | The zone prefix |
root | string? | The module |
paused | boolean | Whether recording is suspended. The timer keeps firing. |
stopped | boolean | Whether |
aggregate | {[string]: {[string]: profile.Sample}} | Samples so far, by zone path and then by stack. Two levels rather than one joined key, so a sample taken in a zone that has not changed since the last one costs a single table lookup. |
Sessioninterface#
A running profiling session whose declaration chooses the report stop returns.
Sampling and trace-abort sessions share this lifecycle. Generic helpers can use S.Report to preserve the concrete report chosen by a session declaration.
interface profile.Session
associated type Report
pause: function(self)
resume: function(self)
stop: function(self, filename: string?): self.Report
endMethods
pause
pause: function(self)Arguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
? | self |
resume
resume: function(self)Arguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
? | self |
stop
stop: function(self, filename: string?): self.ReportArguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
? | self | |
filename | string? |
Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
self.Report |
Fields
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
Report | associatedDecl |
Severitytype#
How much an abort is worth reading.
blacklist is always actionable: the code is demoted to the interpreter for the rest of the process. warn is a refusal that may or may not sit on a hot path. info is trace formation working as designed.
type profile.Severity = "blacklist" | "warn" | "info"TraceOptionstype#
What profile.trace counts. Every field is optional.
type profile.TraceOptions = {
--- Include the aborts that are ordinary trace formation rather than a refusal —
--- leaving a loop, recursion, an inner loop. False by default; turn it on when the
--- question is why a particular trace never formed.
includeBenign: boolean?
}TraceReportrecord#
What a trace session saw, as TraceSession:stop returns it.
tostring on it renders sites as RFC 4180 CSV, so it prints, sorts and diffs directly.
record profile.TraceReport
durationSec: integer
totalAborts: integer
blacklisted: integer
sites: {profile.AbortSite}
__tostring: function(self): string
endFields
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
durationSec | integer | Wallclock seconds the session was active, in whole seconds: it comes from |
totalAborts | integer | Abort events recorded. Excludes the benign ones unless |
blacklisted | integer | Blacklist events among them. Always actionable. |
sites | {profile.AbortSite} | One row per distinct severity, reason, location and zone. Ordered by severity, then by count descending. |
TraceSessionrecord#
A running trace-abort collector, as profile.trace returns it.
Live until stop, and there is at most one at a time. Dropping the handle without stopping leaves the event hook attached for the rest of the process.
record profile.TraceSession is profile.Session
associated type Report = profile.TraceReport
includeBenign: boolean
startedAt: integer
paused: boolean
stopped: boolean
sites: {[string]: profile.AbortSite}
totalAborts: integer
blacklisted: integer
callback: function(...: any)
pause: function(self)
resume: function(self)
stop: function(self, filename: string?): self.Report
endMethods
callback
The handler to hand back to jit.attach to detach it. Dropping the last reference to a handler does not remove it.
callback: function(...: any)Arguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
... | any |
pause
pause: function(self)Arguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
? | self |
resume
resume: function(self)Arguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
? | self |
stop
stop: function(self, filename: string?): self.ReportArguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
? | self | |
filename | string? |
Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
self.Report |
Fields
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
Report | associatedDecl | |
includeBenign | boolean | Whether the benign trace-formation events are being counted. |
startedAt | integer |
|
paused | boolean | Whether aggregation is suspended. The hook stays attached. |
stopped | boolean | Whether |
sites | {[string]: profile.AbortSite} | Aborts so far, by severity, reason, location and zone joined. |
totalAborts | integer | Aborts counted so far. |
blacklisted | integer | Blacklist events among them. |
Functions#
profile.samplefunction#
Starts sampling.
function profile.sample(options: profile.SampleOptions?): profile.SampleSessionArguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
options | profile.SampleOptions? | omitted samples every zone at 10 ms to a depth of 16 |
Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
profile.SampleSession | the handle whose |
Raises
when a sample session is already running
profile.SampleSession:pausemethod#
Stops recording without ending the session. The timer keeps firing, at the cost of one test per sample, and what was recorded on either side of the pause is kept — which is how a benchmark leaves its setup out.
Idempotent.
function profile.SampleSession:pause()Raises
once the session has stopped
profile.SampleSession:resumemethod#
Resumes recording. Idempotent.
function profile.SampleSession:resume()Raises
once the session has stopped
profile.SampleSession:stopmethod#
Ends the session and reports what it saw.
function profile.SampleSession:stop(filename: string?): profile.SampleReportArguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
filename | string? | also write the collapsed-stack text there, replacing whatever was in it |
Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
profile.SampleReport | the report, whose |
Raises
once the session has stopped, so it cannot be called twice
profile.tracefunction#
Starts collecting trace aborts.
function profile.trace(options: profile.TraceOptions?): profile.TraceSessionArguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
options | profile.TraceOptions? | omitted leaves the benign trace-formation events out |
Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
profile.TraceSession | the handle whose |
Raises
when a trace session is already running
profile.TraceSession:pausemethod#
Stops counting without ending the session. The hook stays attached, at the cost of one test per abort, and what was counted on either side of the pause is kept.
Idempotent.
function profile.TraceSession:pause()Raises
once the session has stopped
profile.TraceSession:resumemethod#
Resumes counting. Idempotent.
function profile.TraceSession:resume()Raises
once the session has stopped
profile.TraceSession:stopmethod#
Ends the session and reports what it saw.
function profile.TraceSession:stop(filename: string?): profile.TraceReportArguments
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
filename | string? | also write the CSV there, replacing whatever was in it |
Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
profile.TraceReport | the report, whose |
Raises
once the session has stopped, so it cannot be called twice