Re: [Valgrind-users] instruction trace

[Nicholas N. <nj...@ca...>]

On 29 Apr 2003, David Brumley wrote:

> Is it possible to use valgrind to get a total number of x86 assembly
> instructions issued?  Specifically, I'm trying to see how many assembly
> instructions are issued for a given input into a crypto library.  I've
> looked and used profiling tools such as vtune and got total number of
> instructions retired, but that's not quite what I'm interested in.  I
> want the total number of assembly instructions given to the processor...

Lackey and Cachegrind (Valgrind skins, use --skin=lackey or
--skin=cachegrind in any version later than 1.0.4) both measure x86
instructions retired (I think?  I guess so) but not the number issued.

> If not valgrind, does anyone have any suggestions?  I can't find any
> good execution tracing tools for x86 and linux....

You want Rabbit: www.scl.ameslab.gov/Projects/Rabbit/.  I've used it lots,
it's very good, gives you access to all your machine's performance
counters.  I have an Athlon, I know it gives you both instructions issued
and retired, I think the Pentium counters probably give you those two.

Or if you have a P4, Brink+Abyss:
www.eg.bucknell.edu/~bsprunt/emon/brink_abyss/brink_abyss.shtm.  I haven't
tried it, but it looks very powerful.

N