# ocount

## NAME



           ocount - Event counting tool for Linux
    


## SYNOPSIS



           **ocount**[ _options_ ] [ --system-wide | --process-list <pids> |
           --thread-list <tids> | --cpu-list <cpus> | [ command [ args ] ] ]
    


## DESCRIPTION



           **ocount** is an OProfile tool that can be used to count native
           hardware events occurring in either a given application, a set of
           processes or threads, a subset of active system processors, or the
           entire system. The data collected during a counting session is
           displayed to stdout by default or, optionally, to a file.
    
           When counting multiple events, the kernel may not be able to count
           all events simultaneously and, thus, may need to multiplex the
           counting of the events.  If this happens, the "Percent time
           enabled" column in the **ocount** output will be less than 100, but
           counts are scaled up to a 100% estimated value.
    


## RUN MODES



           One (and only one) of the following **run modes** must be specified.
           If you run **ocount** using a run mode other than **command** _[args]_ ,
           press Ctrl-c to stop **ocount** when finished counting (e.g., when the
           monitored process ends).  If you background **ocount**(i.e., with
           '&') while using one these run modes, you **must** stop it in a
           controlled manner so that the data collection process can be shut
           down cleanly and final results can be displayed. Use **kill -SIGINT**
           **< ocount-PID> **for this purpose.
    
           **command** _[args]_
                  The _command_ is the application for which to count events.
                  _args_ are the input arguments required by the application.
                  The _command_ and its arguments **must** be positioned at the end
                  of the command line, after all ocount options.
    
           **--process-list / -p** _pids_
                  Use this option to count events for one or more already-
                  running applications, specified via a comma-separated list
                  ( _pids_ ). Event counts will be collected for all children
                  of the passed process(es) as well. You must have privileges
                  for the user ID under which the specified process(es) are
                  running; e.g., for a non-root user, the user ID of the
                  process(es) is the same as that used for running ocount. A
                  lack of privileges will result in the following failure
                  message:
                          perf_event_open failed with Permission denied
    
           **--thread-list / -r** _tids_
                  Use this option to count events for one or more already-
                  running threads, specified via a comma-separated list (
                  _tids_ ). Event counts will **not** be collected for any children
                  of the passed thread(s). See the description of _--process-_
                  _list_ concerning required privileges.
    
           **--system-wide / -s**
                  This option is for counting events for all processes
                  running on your system.  You must have root authority to
                  run ocount in this mode.
    
           **--cpu-list / -C** _cpus_
                  This option is for counting events on a subset of
                  processors on your system. You must have root authority to
                  run ocount in this mode. This is a comma-separated list,
                  where each element in the list may be either a single
                  processor number or a range of processor numbers; for
                  example: '-C 2,3,4-11,15'.
    


## OTHER OPTIONS



           **--events / -e** _event1[,event2[,...]]_
                  This option is for passing a comma-separated list of event
                  specifications for counting. Each event spec is of the
                  form:
                     _name[:unitmask[:kernel[:user]]]_
                  **Note:** Do **not** include a _count_ value in the event spec, as
                  that parameter is only needed when profiling.
    
                  You can specify _unitmask_ values using either a numerical
                  value (hex values _must_ begin with "0x") or a symbolic name
                  (if the _name= <um_name>_ field is shown in the **ophelp**
                  output). For some named unit masks, the hex value is not
                  unique; thus, OProfile tools enforce specifying such unit
                  masks value by name.  If no unit mask is specified, the
                  default unit mask value for the event is used.
    
                  The _kernel_ and _user_ parts of the event specification are
                  binary values ('1' or '0') indicating whether or not to
                  count events in kernel space and user space.
                  **Note:** In order to specify the _kernel/user_ bits, you must
                  also specify a _unitmask_ value, even if the running
                  processor type does not use unit masks — in which case, use
                  the value '0' to signify a null unit mask; for example:
                     -e INST_RETIRED_ANY_P:0:1:0
                                           ^ ^ ^
                                           | | |--- '0': do not count user
                  space events
                                           | |-- '1': count kernel space
                  events
                                           |-- '0': the null unit mask
    
                  Event names for certain processor types include a __GRP <n>_
                  suffix.  For such cases, the _--events_ option may be
                  specified with or without the __GRP <n>_ suffix.
    
                  When no event specification is given, the default event for
                  the running processor type will be used for counting.  Use
                  **ophelp** to list the available events for your processor
                  type.
    
           **--separate-thread / -t**
                  This option can be used in conjunction with either the
                  _--process-list_ or _--thread-list_ option to display event
                  counts on a per-thread (per-process) basis.  Without this
                  option, all counts are aggregated.
    
                  **NOTE:** If new threads are started by the process(es) being
                  monitored after counting begins, the counts for those
                  threads are aggregated with their parent's counts.
    
           **--separate-cpu / -c**
                  This option can be used in conjunction with either the
                  _--system-wide_ or _--cpu-list_ option to display event counts
                  on a per-cpu basis.  Without this option, all counts are
                  aggregated.
    
           **--time-interval / -i** _interval_length[:num_intervals]_
    
                  **Note:** The _interval_length_ is given in milliseconds.
                  However, the current implementation only supports 100 ms
                  granularity, so the given _interval_length_ will be rounded
                  to the nearest 100 ms.  Results collected for each time
                  interval are printed immediately instead of the default of
                  one dump of cumulative event counts at the end of the run.
                  Counters are reset to zero at the start of each interval.
    
                  If _num_intervals_ is specified, **ocount** exits after the
                  specified number of intervals occur.
    
           **--brief-format / -b**
                  Use this option to print results in the following brief
                  format:
                      [cpu or
                  thread,]<event_name>[:umask[:K:U]],<count>,<percent_time_enabled>
                      [    <u32>    ,]<  string  >[< u32>[<bb>]],< u64 >,<
                  double       >
    
                  The umask, **K** ernel and **U** ser modes are only printed if the
                  values were specified as part of the event.  The 'K' and
                  'U' fields are binary fields separated by colons, where the
                  value for each binary field may be either '0' or '1'.
    
                  If _--timer-interval_ is specified, a separate line formatted
                  as
                      timestamp,<num_seconds_since_epoch>[.n]
                  is printed ahead of each dump of event counts. If the time
                  interval specified is less than one second, the timestamp
                  will have 1/10 second precision.
    
           **--output-file / -f** _outfile_name_
                  Results are written to _outfile_name_ instead of
                  interactively to the terminal.
    
           **--verbose / -V**
                  Use this option to increase the verbosity of the output.
    
           **--version / -v**
                  Show ocount version.
    
           **--help / -h**
                  Display brief usage message.
    
           **--usage / -u**
                  Display brief usage message.
    


## EXAMPLE



           $ ocount make
    


## VERSION



           This man page is current for oprofile-1.5.0git.
    


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