Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has any ideas or knows of any applications
that could be used to locate the hot paths in a kernel driver without
having to look through the code or do much modification to it.
Basically, we are looking for a way to profile where the kernel code
spends its time so we may concentrate on certain areas if we need to.
I would also be interested in finding out how much time is spent trying
to Access IO Mode and Memory Mode Devices to see if we can also speed
that up.
I am using a StrongARM Processor with Linux Kernel 2.4.0 with Russell
Kings (rmk2) patch and Nicolas Pitre's np2 patch. Changing kernels
is not a desired option (avoided if possible). (2.4.0-rmk2-np2).
We do have access to the Data and Address Bus externally, along with
some of the GPIO pins. The only real way I can see being able to do
the tests is by making certain GPIO pins go high during certain parts
of the code as we would be able to time how long it was asserted for
but would rather a better, solution if possible.
Thanks for your time.
Brad Remedios (bremedios@intrinsyc.com)
