diff --git a/rev_news/drafts/edition-52.md b/rev_news/drafts/edition-52.md index cb2e73f255..ff9cded2a9 100644 --- a/rev_news/drafts/edition-52.md +++ b/rev_news/drafts/edition-52.md @@ -17,9 +17,59 @@ This edition covers what happened during the month of May 2019. ## Discussions - + +* [I made a flame graph renderer for git's trace2 output](https://public-inbox.org/git/87zhnuwdkp.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com/) + + Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason sent an email saying he developed a script that uses the + [FlameGraph tool](http://www.brendangregg.com/flamegraphs.html) + and the new + [Git Trace2 API](https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt) + to generate a + [picture](https://vm.nix.is/~avar/noindex/git-tests.svg) showing + where Git's test suite spends its time. + + He added that he plans to improve + [his script](https://github.com/avar/FlameGraph/commit/7a834718a12ed8b0d897ee90b00e2f654508cabd) + over time and maybe submit it in a Pull Request to the FlameGraph + tool, or perhaps integrate it in the Git test suite. + + The Trace2 API, has been de + + Derrick Stolee, who prefers to be called just Stolee, replied that + he liked the idea and sent the commands using Ævar's script that he used to create + [another picture](https://github.com/derrickstolee/FlameGraph/blob/git-test/git-test.svg) + from a much smaller test. + + Gábor Szeder commented on Stolee's commands to ask why "GIT_TR2" + instead of "GIT_TRACE2" was used in the environment variables + related to the Trace2 API. Gábor refered to Ken Thompson "who + (allegedly?) later regretted spelling creat()/O_CREAT without the + 'e'..." + + Jeff King, alias Peff, replied to Ævar's initial email asking + "doesn't `perf record -g make test` already give us that granular + data?" refering to the [Linux perf tool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perf_(Linux)) + which is already supported by the FlameGraph tool. Peff also + wondered about the usefulness of such a graph: + + > But having generated such a flamegraph, it's not all that helpful. It + > mainly tells us that we spend a lot of time on fork/exec. Which is no + > surprise, since the test suite is geared not towards heavy workloads, + > but lots of tiny functionality tests. + + Though he agreed that it could help in some cases: + + > I think the trace2 flamegraph would be most useful if you were + > collecting across a broad spectrum of workloads done by a user. You + > _can_ do that with perf or similar tools, but it can be a bit awkward. + + Ævar replied that his "actual use-case for this is to see what + production nodes are spending their time on, similar to what Microsoft + is doing with their use of this facility." + + Jeff Hostetler, who initialy authored the Trace2 API