GNU gprof

Spec sheet

Purpose

GNU gprof analyzes profiling data to show which parts of a program take the most execution time.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Platforms

The Binutils project says its tools have been ported to most major Unix variants and Wintel systems.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

License

The gprof manual is distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Alternative in suite

The manual describes gprofng as a more modern profiler in Binutils that can read gmon files and provides more functionality.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Build requirement

Programs must be compiled and linked with profiling enabled, typically using the compiler option -pg.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Combine profiles

gprof can sum statistics from multiple profile data files.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Data collection

The profiled program writes its data to gmon.out when it exits normally.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Download

GNU Binutils releases are available from ftp.gnu.org and sourceware.org.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Instrumentation overhead

Profiling adds overhead to function calls, which the manual says can create artificial hot spots.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Line profiling

The -l line profiling feature works only with programs compiled by older GCC versions; newer GCC versions use gcov for line-by-line information.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Outputs

It can print a flat profile and call graph, and provide annotated source output.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Sampling limits

Its time measurements do not account for time when a program is not running, such as time limited by I/O or swapping.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Support channels

The project lists Bugzilla for bug reports and mailing lists for bug reporting and discussion.Read 4 Oct 2026 · sourceware.org

Plans and prices

Every GNU gprof plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Profiling Software#12 of 297.8