HEAPTRACK(1)

✨ NAME ✨

okay so heaptrack is a heap memory profiler for linux, and this one is the command line utility version of it. that's the whole vibe, no cap. 🫶

also hiii, you're on the heaptrack(1) page — section one, User Commands, the iconic one. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

like, here's how you actually run it:

heaptrack [--debug|-d] DEBUGGEE [ARGUMENT]...
heaptrack [--debug|-d] -p PID

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

bestie. listen. it's a heap memory usage profiler. the way it works is it uses LD_PRELOAD to track literally every single call to the core memory allocation functions, and it logs all of those occurrences. 📝

on top of that, backtraces get obtained and logged too. put those two things together and suddenly you have interesting answers to questions like:

• How much heap memory is my application using?
• Where is heap memory being allocated, and how often?
• How much space are heap individual allocations requesting?

then, to actually go evaluate the heaptrack data you generated, you reach for heaptrack_print or heaptrack_gui. that's the duo. 👑

💖 Mandatory arguments to heaptrack 💖

• DEBUGGEE — the name or the path to the application that should be run with heaptrack analyzation enabled. you need this one, it's not optional, periodt.

🦋 Alternatively, to attach to a running process 🦋

• -p, --pid PID — the process ID of a running process that heaptrack will get injected into. important caveat bestie: this only works with applications that already link against libdl. so check that first, don't come crying to me. 😭

🌈 Optional arguments to heaptrack 🌈

• -d, --debug — runs the debuggee inside GDB and heaptrack. double the chaos, double the fun. 🔥
• ARGUMENT — any number of arguments, and they get passed verbatim to the debuggee. exactly as you typed them, no edits, no notes.
• -h, --help — shows this help message and then exits. classic. 💅
• -v, --version — displays version information. the "which build am i even on" button. ⭐

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

the full documentation for heaptrack is maintained as a Texinfo manual. so if the info and heaptrack programs are properly installed at your site, then this command:

info heaptrack

should give you access to the complete manual. go off, read the whole thing. 📚✨

and that's a wrap on the heaptrack(1) page, bestie — this was heaptrack 1.0.0, from March 2017, brought to you by the User Commands section. ty for coming to my ted talk, mwah 🎀💖🦋