10.3. Controlling OProfile

OProfile runs as a daemon and must be running while profiling data is collected. The command-line utility opcontrol is used to manage OProfile's state.

opcontrol --start-daemon

Starts the OProfile daemon. This can be done at any time prior to collecting profile data.

opcontrol --start

Starts the collection of profiling data. This command must be given before starting the workload to be profiled.

opcontrol --stop

Stops the collection of profiling data.

opcontrol --dump

Dumps the profiling data to the default file.

opcontrol --shutdown

Shuts down the OProfile daemon.