xref: /netbsd/external/gpl3/binutils/dist/gprof/TODO (revision 6550d01e)
1
2- add support for prof file format so that prof files can be displayed
3  at the line-level (this is useful for the uprofile tool under DEC's
4  OSF/1)
5- take a hard look at --file-ordering (broken) and --function-ordering
6
7+ documentation
8+ optimize bfd_find_nearest_line_num() (or replace by different interface)
9+ cleanup _bfd_ecoff_find_nearest_line_num() fixes & description
10+ ensure "cc -pg" produces good files under OSF/1 v3.0
11+ make sure gprof works together with OSF/1 v3.0's profiling libraries
12+ implement symtab_parse(); modify sym_lookup() to consider addr_high
13+ change gprof.c to collect lists, then invoke symtab_parse() for
14  each list
15+ Questions:
16	o is -c (--static-call-graph) useful at all?  i can't see
17	  how; if it were deleted, gprof would be completely machine
18	  independent => yup, it is
19	o are (long) option names appropriate?
20	o -k (--exclude-arc) cannot be implemented with getopt();
21	  is new syntax (-k from/to) acceptable?  If not, how to
22	  fix it?
23	o in the FSF output, the call-graph index now prints
24	  the filename of static functions in parentheses; e.g.,
25	  static function foo() that is defined in file bar.c
26	  would be printed as:
27
28			[4] foo (bar.c)
29
30	  is this acceptable?  should it be done only optionally?
31	o symbols with addresses that map back to a different
32	  name are suppressed (happens with labels, for example);
33	  is this acceptable?  should it be done only optionally?
34+ generalize to allow arbitrary histograms (not just time histograms)
35+ basic-block information currently replaces all symbols created from
36  the core because of an ugly ordering conflict---for now, the current
37  solution works, but something cleaner is desirable ==> cleaned up,
38  but it's slower now
39+ convert to very new file format (back to trivial format, that is :)
40+ replace "dummy.h" for Alpha (if there is any use to it)
41+ add support for execution time profiling at a basic-block level
42+ fix filename-off-by-one bug for Alpha (see ~/tmp/d.[ch])---no longer
43  relevant
44+ "-pg -a" doesn't work as expected because mcleanup() will overwrite
45  the file generated by __bb_exit_func() (or vice versa)
46+ first basic-block of fac() seems to get credited to last basic-block
47  of previous function => bug in basic_blocks.c
48+ flat profile should provide automatic scaling for per-call times because
49  otherwise they'll always be zero on a fast machine with tons of small
50  functions
51+ make "-a" imply to retain line number info (without actually generating
52  the debugging information (unless -g is specified)---no, this is a
53  bad idea, because it is not clear what level of debugging info should
54  be requested (e.g., -g vs. -g3); leaving it up to the user seems best
55+ add long options support (or at least use getopt instead of ad-hoc
56  implementation)
57+ split into files according to abstract objects that are manipulated
58+ replace sccsid by rcsid & add "end of ..." to every .c file
59+ use DBG() everywhere
60+ fix spacing (" ," -> "," etc.)
61+ use DEFUNs everywhere
62+ make compile cleanly with -Wall
63+ "gcc -pg -O2" doesn't work on tecc.c unless -fno-omit-frame-pointer is
64  specified; find out why
65+ make things portable (prototypes, const, etc.)
66+ if NEW_GMON_OUT is not defined, have a flag that will allow to
67  read new gmon.out style files.  The idea being that everyone
68  will use the new format for basic-block style profiling but
69  the old format for regular gpprofiling
70