Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3: System Administration Guide
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# 43.8. Graphical Interface

Some OProfile preferences can be set with a graphical interface. To start it, execute the `oprof_start` command as root at a shell prompt.

After changing any of the options, they can be saved by clicking the Save and quit button. The preferences are written to `/root/.oprofile/daemonrc`, and the application exits. Exiting the application does not stop OProfile from sampling.

On the Setup tab, to set events for the processor counters as discussed in Section 43.2.2 Setting Events to Monitor, select the counter from the pulldown menu and select the event from the list. A brief description of the event appears in the text box below the list. Only events available for the specific counter and the specific architecture are displayed. The interface also displays whether or not the profiler is running and some brief statistics about it.

Figure 43-1. OProfile Setup

On the right side of the tab, select the Profile kernel option to count events in kernel mode for the currently selected event, as discussed in Section 43.2.3 Separating Kernel and User-space Profiles. This is equivalent to the `opcontrol --ctr`N`-kernel=1` command, where `N` is the counter number. If this option is unselected, it is equivalent to the `opcontrol --ctr`N`-kernel=0` command.

Select the Profile user binaries option to count events in user mode for the currently selected event, as discussed in Section 43.2.3 Separating Kernel and User-space Profiles. This is equivalent to the `opcontrol --ctr`N`-user=1` command, where `N` is the counter number. If this option is unselected, it is equivalent to the `opcontrol --ctr`N`-user=0` command.

Use the Count text field to set the sampling rate for the currently selected event as discussed in Section 43.2.2.1 Sampling Rate.

If any unit masks are available for the currently selected event, as discussed in Section 43.2.2.2 Unit Masks, they are displayed in the Unit Masks area on the right side of the Setup tab. Select the checkbox beside the unit mask to enable it for the event.

On the Configuration tab, to profile the kernel, enter the name and location of the `vmlinux` file for the kernel to monitor in the Kernel image file text field. To configure OProfile not to monitor the kernel, select No kernel image.

Figure 43-2. OProfile Configuration

If the Verbose option is selected, the `oprofiled` daemon log includes more information.

If Per-application kernel samples files is selected, OProfile generates per-application profiles for the kernel and kernel modules as discussed in Section 43.2.3 Separating Kernel and User-space Profiles. This is equivalent to the `opcontrol --separate=kernel` command. If Per-application shared libs samples files is selected, OProfile generates per-application profiles for libraries. This is equivalent to the `opcontrol --separate=library` command.

To force data to be written to samples files as discussed in Section 43.5 Analyzing the Data, click the Flush profiler data button. This is equivalent to the `opcontrol --dump` command.

To start OProfile from the graphical interface, click Start profiler. To stop the profiler, click Stop profiler. Exiting the application does not stop OProfile from sampling.

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