timetrace

timetrace [options] command [arguments]

-o <output_file>
    Specify the output HTML file. If not provided, a default filename is used.

-f
    Force overwrite the output file if it already exists.

-t <duration>
    Limit the tracing duration to the specified value in seconds.

-v
    Enable verbose output for debugging purposes.

-n <name>
    Set the process name filter, only trace specific processes by name

The `timetrace` command is a Linux utility that provides a detailed visualization of a program's execution timeline. It leverages the Linux `perf` tool to collect event data, specifically focusing on context switches, system calls, and other relevant performance metrics. The output is rendered as an interactive HTML page, displaying the execution flow of the program across different processes and threads. This visualization allows developers and system administrators to identify performance bottlenecks, understand the interaction between different parts of a program, and analyze the impact of system calls on overall execution time. The interactive nature of the HTML output enables zooming, panning, and detailed inspection of individual events, making it a powerful tool for performance analysis and debugging.

It is particularly useful for analyzing multithreaded and multiprocess applications where understanding the concurrency and synchronization aspects is crucial for identifying performance issues.

timetrace relies on the perf tool and requires appropriate permissions (usually root or membership in the perf group) to access system-wide performance data. The overhead of tracing can impact the performance of the traced program, so it's best used in controlled environments. The generated HTML output can be large for long-running programs. The interpretation of the visualization requires some understanding of the program's architecture and the underlying system calls.

The generated HTML page provides several interactive features, including zoom and pan capabilities, filtering by process or thread, detailed information on individual events (e.g., system call name, arguments, return value), and the ability to save the visualization as an SVG image. These features significantly enhance the usability and effectiveness of timetrace for performance analysis.

timetrace is a relatively recent addition to the performance analysis toolkit for Linux. It was developed to provide a more user-friendly and visually intuitive way to understand program execution compared to traditional tools like `perf` or `strace`. The motivation was to simplify the process of identifying performance bottlenecks and understanding the interactions between different threads and processes, particularly in complex applications. Its development addresses the need for more accessible and interactive performance analysis tools for developers.

perf(1), strace(1), ltrace(1)