Install "perf" on Mac

Question

I need the "perf" utility to monitor the program on my Mac. I know linux comes with it, but is it available on Mac?

I am working on a OSX 10.9 Mavericks and tried "port search" for perf or linux-tools, but I couldn't get any results.

The perf(1) is heavily dependent on Linux-specific code. Your best bet is probably to try out http://code.google.com/p/gperftools/ which should compile on Mavericks as well. — , Apr 21 '14 at 16:45

score 24 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 27 '14 at 11:55

24

As @Sami Laine said in his comment, the Linux perf tool is dependent on Linux specific code. It relies on the perf_event_open system call which is not standardized.

Note: Maybe you could search how MacOSX users are using recent hardware performance counters.

answered Apr 27 '14 at 11:55

Manuel Selva

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@thirty, MacOSX users can access hardware performance counters via `Instruments` application. There is manual how to use them: http://stackoverflow.com/a/13075880/196561 – osgx Apr 28 '14 at 02:36

score 19 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 19 '20 at 23:15

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Instruments app

On macOS you can use the Instruments application to profile your code.

I like to use the "Time Profiler" which will show you how much time your application is its various parts during execution. I haven't used perf myself, but from talks/videos that I've seen this seems to be the most common use.

To use the "Time Profiler":

Run Instruments, select Time Profiler
At the top left, select your target (executable).
Hit the Record button on the top left and let it run for a little while.
Pause or Stop the execution and drill down on your calls in the main window.

Hope this helps.

edited Dec 19 '20 at 23:15

Basil Bourque

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answered Aug 10 '17 at 23:33

nenchev

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Can it profile for any hardware events other than time? e.g. cache misses or branch mispredicts? – Peter Cordes Mar 12 '19 at 03:22

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 30 '18 at 16:21

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On OSX you can use sample together with filtercalltree.

answered Sep 30 '18 at 16:21

Gabriel

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How exactly one can do that? – jojek Feb 26 '19 at 16:02

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 12 '19 at 03:23

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Check out Google Perf Tool

If you dont have brew installed:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" < /dev/null 2> /dev/null

If you have brew installed:

brew install google-perftools

Reference: https://github.com/gperftools/gperftools

edited Mar 12 '19 at 03:23

Samuel Philipp

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answered Mar 11 '19 at 22:40

Dee Dee

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I think gperftools only does time profiling, not HW performance events like branch mispredicts or cache misses. – Peter Cordes Mar 12 '19 at 03:26

Install "perf" on Mac

4 Answers4

Instruments app