can I profile on basic block level for nios

[Altera_Forum]

I can see -a option in nios-elf-gcc, but I failed in using -a option. 

 could anybody help me? thx!

[Altera_Forum]

Hi cloud, 

  Extracted from the gprof manual (which was not included in Nios II 1.0, but it is in 1.0 SP1 and beyond).  "In addition to the -pg and -g options, older versions of GCC required you to specify the -a option when compiling in order to instrument it to perform basic-block counting. Newer versions do not require this option and will not accept it; basic-block counting is always enabled when -pg is on."  Jonah

[Altera_Forum]

Hi,Jonah, thanks! what is 1.0 SP1 ? i am using nios I, and I have not read any document about profiling basic block for nios. I can only get some information about grof from doucment:Nios Processor Software Development Reference Manual where I can only know that only procedures are profiled. My nios gnu kit verison is 3.1. What document you have for profiling for nios I? could you send me one?  

 My email address is: gezhiguo@comp.nus.edu.sg . Thanks!

[Altera_Forum]

Jonah may have knowledge about Nios I, but that's not what he works on. His info was specific to Nios II. 

You can use Nios II for free. Are you in University? If so there's a university program and you can get boards and software really inexpensively.  Kerri

[Altera_Forum]

I'm having problems with acrobat, but I found that by opening a doc in reader, searching (not find - use search) the doc directory for profile, you find some reference that says for the version of Cygwin we used for Nios I, profiling was not supported. But again, Acrobat was acting up and killing itself before i got to the other links, so that might not be the whole story. But it's a place to start.

[Altera_Forum]

try this document... 

mnl_niossft.pdf

[Altera_Forum]

nios-elf-gprof nios-elf-gprof produces an execution profile of a C program. 

Usage nios-elf-gprof [option(s)] [objfile] gmon.out Options f For more information about gprof, see http://sources.redhat.com/binutils/docs-2....info/index.html (http://sources.redhat.com/binutils/docs-2.12/gprof.info/index.html)

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, kerri,  

I have read the document mnl_niossft.pdf, and the following are excerpted from the pdf file. There are no option for basic block profiling. I use: man nios-elf-gcc and it shows that -a option is availble for nios-elf-gcc. But I failed in using this option when compiling applications.  Yes, I am using cygwin version. can I install the software in linux operationg system? I just installed all the software and the gnu tools are installed automatically. There are some functionality constrains when installing the gnu tools in cygwin?  We bought the developement board from altera company. However, for research purpose, We need to manipulate nios softcore which niosii is not very suitable.  do you work in altera company? I have may questions about nios system.   nios-elf-gprof nios-elf-gprof produces an execution profile of a C program. Usage nios-elf-gprof [option(s)] [objfile] gmon.out Options f For more information about gprof, see http://sources.redhat.com/binutils/docs-2....info/index.html (http://sources.redhat.com/binutils/docs-2.12/gprof.info/index.html) Table 16. nios-elf-gprof Options  Option Description -C This option causes gprof to print a tally of functions and the number of times each function was called. -q The call graph shows for each function; a tally of which function called nios-elf-gprof and which other functions nios-elf-gpof called. The call graph also gives an estimate of how much time was spent in the subroutines of each function. This data suggests places where functions can be eliminated because of the amount of time they take. -p The flat profile shows the amount of time a program spent in each function and the number of times each function was called. The flat profile provides concise data about which functions burn most of the cycles. -A The annotated source listing is a copy of the program¡¯s source code labeled with the number of times each line of the program was executed.

[Altera_Forum]

I do work at Altera. In Nios/Sopc Builder IP QA. 

You can use Nios I on Linux OS just as you would on windows.   I can try to answer your questions, but I have a feeling that the only way you will be able to profile the way you want will be on Nios II. Sorry.