Use VTune to profile the kernel boot process?

[dizaster]

Hi folks,
I want to profile the kernel boot process so that I can see how long it takes for each part of the kernel's processing to complete. Then I can fool around with the .config file and make some improvements.

So can VTune do this for me?

(If not, any advice on other methods would be helpful)

[jeffrey-gallagher]

Hey dizaster,

Typically we can sample the kernel (but we can't callgraph it; would mean reinstrumenting the kernel and running that copy, which isn't currently possible).

However, boot is a unique time (not in multiuser mode, not all necessary processes started up yet, etc.) and VTune won't be of any help to you then. Just like you guessed.

Anybody out there have some favorite tools for kernel analysis during boot??

cheers

jdg