Analyzers
Talk to fellow users of Intel Analyzer tools (Intel VTune™ Profiler, Intel Advisor)
4975 Discussions

When support Ubuntu 9.04?

christian_convey
Beginner
735 Views
I've got a program that runs fine on Ubuntu 9.04 (gcc 4.4), but runs into a race condition when using Ubuntu 8.04, apparently because of a bug in gcc 4.2's STL implementation.

The problem is, vtune doesn't appear to work on Ubuntu 9.04.

Does anyone know when Intel hopes to have Ubuntu 9.04 support for vtune?
0 Kudos
11 Replies
Peter_W_Intel
Employee
735 Views
I've got a program that runs fine on Ubuntu 9.04 (gcc 4.4), but runs into a race condition when using Ubuntu 8.04, apparently because of a bug in gcc 4.2's STL implementation.

The problem is, vtune doesn't appear to work on Ubuntu 9.04.

Does anyone know when Intel hopes to have Ubuntu 9.04 support for vtune?

I think if you want to detect data race issues, you should use Intel Thread Checker.

Please refer to http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/isn/downloads/softwareproducts/pdfs/300239.pdf to know system's requirements.

Regards, Peter
0 Kudos
christian_convey
Beginner
735 Views

I think if you want to detect data race issues, you should use Intel Thread Checker.

Please refer to http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/isn/downloads/softwareproducts/pdfs/300239.pdf to know system's requirements.

Regards, Peter

Thanks Peter, but I think I was mistaken in two ways. (1) I misspoke when I said, "race condition". It was a single-threaded program, and it appeared stuck in an infinite loop inside the a C++ STL method. So itwasn't a race. (2) Even after getting GCC 4.4 to run on Ubuntu 8.04, I still encountered the issue. So now I have some digging to do to figure out why it's *not* an issue on GCC 4.4 + Ubuntu 9.04.

But the more important issue is that VTune looks like it's probably a great tool, but it's over 1 year behind the current Ubuntu release. I'd really like to try it out, but I don't want to perpetually be deferring operating system upgrades for overa a year just so that one of my tools (VTune) can run.

So I'd like to strongly encourage you guys to get Vtune running on 9.04 as soon as possible, and to keep up with new Ubuntu releases in general.
0 Kudos
cngx
Beginner
735 Views
So I'd like to strongly encourage you guys to get Vtune running on 9.04 as soon as possible, and to keep up with new Ubuntu releases in general.

I second this. I'm stuck with Ubuntu 8.10 right now, dealing with certain annoying bugs and forgoeing software I want to use, just so that I can use Vtune. A colleague of mine is waiting for Intel to release a 9.04 compatible version so he can use the product as well.

Last I heard, Ubuntu was the most popular desktop linux distribution. They do make things difficult by releasing new versions so often, and I sympathize with Intel on this, but is it really that difficult to just work out any issues right when the new version is released? How long does it actually take?

0 Kudos
TimP
Honored Contributor III
735 Views
Ubuntu may be the most often sold linux installed prior to sale by OEMs in certain countries. I don't know how you could make an assertion broader than that. As you're no doubt aware, there is a standard for linux interoperability called LSB which Ubuntu chooses not to support, so this makes for difficulties, smaller return for the special effort which has to be invested. No doubt, Intel software may be tested during development on the version of Ubuntu most often sold pre-installed during the development time period, but that leaves open the possibility of problems should Ubuntu change something afterwards. There's no good reason why a new major version of Ubuntu should require modification of VTune other than rebuilding the driver; you could ask them which 3rd party applications they intend to allow to operate.
In my slight acquaintance with Ubuntu, installation of 3rd party software is not the only aspect in which its divergence from other operating systems becomes a handicap.

0 Kudos
joex26
Beginner
735 Views
I don't know if often sold, but very often chosen. Because it's simple to maintain.

You are right Tim that they should support the standard but,
the changes are not so critical (I managed to do it myself with the help of the Oracle at some parts of the Earth called Google).
Could you change configuration script for us, Ubuntu users, please?
For us it is easier change the profiler then the system.
But let us try your software, please.

I know it's some time hard to cooperate between big companies but could you do it for us
?
I managed to install VTune yesterday evening but I am also testing some other solutions.
Maybe if the installation would be easier it could be a nice pro to encourage rest of my colleagues to go for it (not the only one but still)

I will post some howto install VTune 9.1 on Ubuntu 9.04 here, later today.
0 Kudos
chester_grimmes
Beginner
735 Views
Quoting - joex26
I don't know if often sold, but very often chosen. Because it's simple to maintain.

You are right Tim that they should support the standard but,
the changes are not so critical (I managed to do it myself with the help of the Oracle at some parts of the Earth called Google).
Could you change configuration script for us, Ubuntu users, please?
For us it is easier change the profiler then the system.
But let us try your software, please.

I know it's some time hard to cooperate between big companies but could you do it for us
?
I managed to install VTune yesterday evening but I am also testing some other solutions.
Maybe if the installation would be easier it could be a nice pro to encourage rest of my colleagues to go for it (not the only one but still)

I will post some howto install VTune 9.1 on Ubuntu 9.04 here, later today.

I managed to install VTune 9.1 on the latest version of Ubuntu. Let me know if you need help.
0 Kudos
joex26
Beginner
735 Views
Thank you. I also managed to install it. I will check if it works correctly and then post consistent howto because I lost some time to install it.
So if you want to contribute feel free to add comments later on. Or if you have already some short article written please post it.
0 Kudos
david_joynerspirent_
735 Views
Quoting - chester_grimmes

I managed to install VTune 9.1 on the latest version of Ubuntu. Let me know if you need help.

The last time I tried to get the kernel module to compile for Ubuntu 9.04 I wasn't successful. If you were able to make this work I'd like to see a write-up.

Thanks.
0 Kudos
joex26
Beginner
735 Views
This is the copy of the original post by Federico Ficarelli from:
http://www.uluga.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8102505

It worked like a charm for me.

How to build the driver for >=2.6.24 :

It seems that 2.6.28 series (or a version greater than 2.6.24 that, according to Intel notes, is the greatest one supported by VTune) lacks ${your kernel source}/include/asm/*.h links to ${kernel source}/arch/${your arch}/include/asm/*.h headers.

Be sure that:
1) the link /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build points to your kernel sources (if you need them you can run "apt-get install linux-source-2.6.28 && cd /usr/src && tar xjf linux-source-2.6.28.tar.bz2")
2) you have built your sources at least one time to generate some needed files

After 1 and 2, you can run the following as root:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
set_variables()
{
VTUNE_MOD_SRC=/opt/intel/vtune/vdk/src
KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION=$(uname -r)
KERNEL_SRC=/lib/modules/${KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION}/build
KERNEL_VERSION=$(grep UTS_RELEASE ${KERNEL_SRC}/include/linux/utsrelease.h | cut -f2 -d")
ARCH=$(readlink ${KERNEL_SRC}/include/asm | cut -f2 -d-)
}

echo "Setting variables..."
set_variables
echo "KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION=${KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION}"
echo "KERNEL_SRC=${KERNEL_SRC}"
echo "KERNEL_VERSION=${KERNEL_VERSION}"

echo "Creating fixed include/asm link..."
cd ${KERNEL_SRC}/include
rm -f asm
ln -s ../arch/${ARCH}/include/asm asm

echo "Restoring original include/asm files..."
cp ${KERNEL_SRC}/include/asm-${ARCH}/*.h ${KERNEL_SRC}/include/asm/

echo "Building vtune module..."
cd $VTUNE_MOD_SRC
./build-driver --kernel-version=${KERNEL_VERSION}

echo "Fixing module name..."
module=$(ls *.ko)
ln -s ${module} $(echo ${module} | sed -e "s|${KERNEL_VERSION}|${KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION}|")

echo "Done."

This will rebuild the missing links.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PREVIOUS CODE WILL MESS UP YOU SOURCES, so be sure to have a backup of the kernel source tree.
This worked like a charm for me, now running VTune.


0 Kudos
joex26
Beginner
735 Views
Please, let me know if that worked also for you.
0 Kudos
david_joynerspirent_
735 Views
Quoting - joex26
Please, let me know if that worked also for you.

It worked like a charm. Thanks much.
0 Kudos
Reply