Qt: Profiling on OS X using Instruments (Mavericks)

3
votes

I've been trying to profile an application I've written under OS X Mavericks using Instruments following various bits of information I've found online but I'm not able to get any information out of it. I've tried making sure I've got the latest version of Instruments, I'm running Qt 5.1.1, and Instruments will actually work for profiling Allocations and Leaks, just not for Time Profiling.

Has anyone managed to get the CPU time profiling working with Mavericks?

EDIT: As it turns out whilst I thought installing the latest version of XCode would give me the latest version of Instruments, it had also left the previous version of Instruments installed.

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macosqtinstrumentsosx-mavericksqt5.1
Yes, I've gotten it to work just fine. Can you say specifically what you're having trouble with? When I choose "Profile" in Xcode, it launches Instruments, I click on "CPU" and select "Time Profiler". It launches my app, then shows me a realtime graph of the CPU load and a list of which functions are called the most. Please describe what happens when you try this. – user1118321
Sure, I follow those steps, I select my application from the file system tree and click record, it launches but doesn't show anything of the function list or CPU load. However, I'm running it from outside of XCode as I don't build Qt apps in XCode. – Nicholas Smith
What does it show? Can you post a screenshot so we can see what you're seeing? I don't think it should matter if you launch from Xcode or not. I can launch Instruments without an app and just select "Time Profiler" for the whole system, and I still see a graph and call stacks. – user1118321
I could screenshot it, but it'd be redundant as it shows nothing in the data area. It only creates the time bar next to the Time Profiler instrument, no other data is logged, nothing else changes. So basically it's the Instruments window with a time bar and nothing else. – Nicholas Smith
What happens when you attempt to profile the whole system? Does that work? How are you choosing the app to profile? Have you clicked on the "Time Profiler" name to select it? Does the time bar show a graph, or is it also empty? You say you're "following various bits of information I've found online." Have you read the docs? (They're accessible from the "Help" menu.) – user1118321

1 Answers

1
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As per your realization, it seems XCode will leave the previous Instruments installed. I would personally follow the following steps:

  • Remove old version.

  • Remove the data left behind.

  • Install the new version.