Python support for the Linux perf

profiler
Release 3.12.0

Guido van Rossum and the Python development team

October 06, 2023

Python Software Foundation
Email: [email protected]

Contents

1 How to enable perf profiling support 4

2 How to obtain the best results 5

Index 6

author Pablo Galindo

The Linux perf profiler is a very powerful tool that allows you to profile and obtain information about the performance of
your application. perf also has a very vibrant ecosystem of tools that aid with the analysis of the data that it produces.
The main problem with using the perf profiler with Python applications is that perf only gets information about native
symbols, that is, the names of functions and procedures written in C. This means that the names and file names of Python
functions in your code will not appear in the output of perf.
Since Python 3.12, the interpreter can run in a special mode that allows Python functions to appear in the output of
the perf profiler. When this mode is enabled, the interpreter will interpose a small piece of code compiled on the fly
before the execution of every Python function and it will teach perf the relationship between this piece of code and the
associated Python function using perf map files.

Note: Support for the perf profiler is currently only available for Linux on select architectures. Check the output of the
configure build step or check the output of python -m sysconfig | grep HAVE_PERF_TRAMPOLINE
to see if your system is supported.

For example, consider the following script:

def foo(n):
result = 0
for _ in range(n):
result += 1
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1
 (continued from previous page)
return result

def bar(n):
foo(n)

def baz(n):
bar(n)

if __name__ == "__main__":
baz(1000000)

We can run perf to sample CPU stack traces at 9999 hertz:

$ perf record -F 9999 -g -o perf.data python my_script.py

Then we can use perf report to analyze the data:

$ perf report --stdio -n -g

# Children Self Samples Command Shared Object Symbol

# ........ ........ ............ .......... .................. ..................
,→........................

#
91.08% 0.00% 0 python.exe python.exe [.] _start
|
---_start
|
--90.71%--__libc_start_main
Py_BytesMain
|
|--56.88%--pymain_run_python.constprop.0
| |
| |--56.13%--_PyRun_AnyFileObject
| | _PyRun_SimpleFileObject
| | |
| | |--55.02%--run_mod
| | | |
| | | --54.65%--PyEval_EvalCode
| | | _PyEval_
,→EvalFrameDefault

| | | PyObject_
,→Vectorcall

| | | _PyEval_Vector
| | | _PyEval_
,→EvalFrameDefault

| | | PyObject_
,→Vectorcall

| | | _PyEval_Vector
| | | _PyEval_
,→EvalFrameDefault

| | | PyObject_
,→Vectorcall

| | | _PyEval_Vector
| | | |
| | | |--51.67%--_
,→PyEval_EvalFrameDefault

| | | | |
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2
 (continued from previous page)
| | | | |--11.
,→ 52%--_PyLong_Add
| | | | | ␣
,→ |
| | | | | ␣
,→ |--2.97%--_PyObject_Malloc
...

As you can see, the Python functions are not shown in the output, only _Py_Eval_EvalFrameDefault (the function
that evaluates the Python bytecode) shows up. Unfortunately that’s not very useful because all Python functions use the
same C function to evaluate bytecode so we cannot know which Python function corresponds to which bytecode-evaluating
function.
Instead, if we run the same experiment with perf support enabled we get:
$ perf report --stdio -n -g

# Children Self Samples Command Shared Object Symbol

# ........ ........ ............ .......... .................. ..................
,→...................................................

#
90.58% 0.36% 1 python.exe python.exe [.] _start
|
---_start
|
--89.86%--__libc_start_main
Py_BytesMain
|
|--55.43%--pymain_run_python.constprop.0
| |
| |--54.71%--_PyRun_AnyFileObject
| | _PyRun_SimpleFileObject
| | |
| | |--53.62%--run_mod
| | | |
| | | --53.26%--PyEval_EvalCode
| | | py::<module>:/src/
,→script.py

| | | _PyEval_
,→EvalFrameDefault

| | | PyObject_
,→Vectorcall

| | | _PyEval_Vector
| | | py::baz:/src/
,→script.py

| | | _PyEval_
,→EvalFrameDefault

| | | PyObject_
,→Vectorcall

| | | _PyEval_Vector
| | | py::bar:/src/
,→script.py

| | | _PyEval_
,→EvalFrameDefault

| | | PyObject_
,→Vectorcall

| | | _PyEval_Vector
(continues on next page)

3
 (continued from previous page)
| | | py::foo:/src/
,→ script.py
| | | |
| | | |--51.81%--_
,→PyEval_EvalFrameDefault

| | | | |
| | | | |--13.
,→77%--_PyLong_Add

| | | | | ␣
,→ |
| | | | | ␣
,→ |--3.26%--_PyObject_Malloc

1 How to enable perf profiling support

perf profiling support can be enabled either from the start using the environment variable PYTHONPERFSUPPORT
or the -X perf option, or dynamically using sys.activate_stack_trampoline() and sys.
deactivate_stack_trampoline().
The sys functions take precedence over the -X option, the -X option takes precedence over the environment variable.
Example, using the environment variable:

$ PYTHONPERFSUPPORT=1 python script.py

$ perf report -g -i perf.data

Example, using the -X option:

$ python -X perf script.py

$ perf report -g -i perf.data

Example, using the sys APIs in file example.py:

import sys

sys.activate_stack_trampoline("perf")
do_profiled_stuff()
sys.deactivate_stack_trampoline()

non_profiled_stuff()

…then:

$ python ./example.py
$ perf report -g -i perf.data

4
2 How to obtain the best results

For best results, Python should be compiled with CFLAGS="-fno-omit-frame-pointer

-mno-omit-leaf-frame-pointer" as this allows profilers to unwind using only the frame pointer and
not on DWARF debug information. This is because as the code that is interposed to allow perf support is dynamically
generated it doesn’t have any DWARF debugging information available.
You can check if your system has been compiled with this flag by running:

$ python -m sysconfig | grep 'no-omit-frame-pointer'

If you don’t see any output it means that your interpreter has not been compiled with frame pointers and therefore it may
not be able to show Python functions in the output of perf.

5
Index
E
environment variable
PYTHONPERFSUPPORT, 4

P
PYTHONPERFSUPPORT, 4