KProf 1.3 README file
Release date: June 29th, 2001.

SUMMARY
-------
KProf is a tool for developers. It lets you examine the
output of code profilers to help you understand where the
bottlenecks and slowdowns are in your code.

KProf supports analysis of the output generated by the
following profilers:

- GNU gprof, available on most UNIX systems

- Function Check, a recent and better profiler available
  from http://sourceforge.net/projects/fnccheck

- Palm OS Emulator, a tool from Palm which lets emulates
  a PalmOS device and can profile the execution of the
  application running in the emulator.


INSTALLING KPROF
----------------
To install KProf, simply do:

	$ ./configure --prefix=<where your kde installation is, usually /usr or /opt>
	$ make
	$ make install

You must be root to do the 'make install'. In case you
have problems building the software, do:

	$ make -f Makefile.cvs

prior to the ./configure step. I suggest you specify the
location where KDE3 is installed (for example, /usr or
/opt/kde2) using the '--prefix=' directive. Here is how
I configure KProf on my machine:

	$ ./configure --prefix=/usr

because KDE3 is installed in /usr. On some distributions,
KDE3 is installed in /opt or in /opt/kde3.


USING KPROF
-----------
Here are the possible ways to use KProf:

- RECOMMENDED: A binary program. In this case, KProf will try
  to locate a file named `gmon.out' in the same directory.
  This file is generated automatically when a program compiled with
  profiling turned on is executed. If 'gmon.out' is not found,
  KProf will try to find 'fnccheck.out', the binary
  profiling output generated when running a program with
  Function Check profiling (see information about Function
  Check above).

  Whichever profiler you use (gprof or Function Check), this
  is the best way to use KProf because it will automatically
  recognize and call the right profiler.

- A text profile results generated by `gprof' after the
  binary program has been executed and the `gmon.out' file
  has been created as a result of the execution. To create
  the text profile results file, do the following:

	$ gprof -b myprogram > results.txt

  Then open the `results.txt' file with KProf. Please note
  that KProf has only been tested with the output files produced
  by GNU gprof 2.9.5 and up. Your mileage may vary if you are
  using an earlier version.

  Make sure that the "gprof" radio button is checked in the
  Open File dialog box.

- A text profile results generated by 'Function Check' after
  the binary program has been executed and the 'fnccheck.out'
  file has been created as a result of the execution. To
  create the text profile results file, do the following:

    $ fncdump +calls -no-decoration myprogram > results.txt

  Then open the 'results.txt' file with KProf. Note that you'll
  have to check the 'Function Check' radio-button at bottom of
  the File Selector dialog for KProf to recognize the file as
  the output of the Function Check profiler.

  Make sure that the "Function Check" radio button is checked
  in the Open File dialog box.

- A text profile results generated by `pose', the Palm OS Emulator.
  This file is generated automatically by the "profiling" version
  of the emulator (compiled with --enable-palm-profile when you
  ./configure'd it). The file is named "Profile Results.txt".

EXTENDED FEATURES
-----------------
KProf offers a number of tools to help you profile your code. It
can optionally hide the contents of template-functions for
readability, display a subset of the complete list when you type
part of a function name in the entry field on top of the "flat"
list, print your results, diff two result files, etc. Please read
the online manual to learn more about these features.

Feel free to send bugs and patches to fpillet@users.sourceforge.net

Share and enjoy,
Florent Pillet.

<mailto:fpillet@users.sourceforge.net>