massif-visualizer(1)

📦
version 26.08.1 · 6 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

✨ massif-visualizer — the massif glow-up 💅

okay bestie, so you know how there's a manual page for massif-visualizer(1) in the General Commands Manual? yeah. this is that, but make it make sense. 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

massif-visualizer — a visualizer for the Valgrind Massif memory-usage tracking tool ✨

it's giving "your memory usage but pretty." no cap.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

massif-visualizer [massif-data-file]

that's it. that's the whole vibe. optionally hand it a massif-data-file and it's off to the races. 🏁

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Massif Visualizer is a tool that visualizes massif data, periodt. so here's the routine: you run your application in Valgrind with --tool=massif, and then you open the generated massif.out.%pid in the visualizer. and the icon behavior? Gzip or Bzip2 compressed massif files can also be opened transparently. we love a flexible queen. 👑

the application consists of three parts, and yes we're covering all three because nothing gets skipped in this house:

📊 The Overview Chart

the first thing you'll notice is a nice chart that displays the same as e.g. ms_print does in Ascii-Art: total memory consumption over time. iconic honestly.

but Massif-Visualizer goes beyond that 💅 by additionally showing the top most cost-intensive locations in your code as a stacked graph below the total cost. and the graph also reacts on user-interaction. she's interactive, she's alive, she's the main character.

this view you can use for:

  • checking whether your application has memory leaks 🔍
  • finding expensive peaks 📈
  • finding locations that significantly contribute to the overall memory consumption of your application 🧠

🌳 The Snapshot Data Tree

directly next to the above chart, you'll see a tree with all of the massif data. the tree items are colored depending on their cost, with red opaque being the most interesting (peak) elements. green/transparent items are negligible and don't add significant cost to your application. so like, red = scream, green = shrug. 🚦

you can also search the tree — and when you select something in it, the snapshot gets highlighted in the overview chart and the call graph gets updated. everything's connected bestie, it's a whole ecosystem. 🫶

🕸️ The Call Graph for Detailed Snapshots

Massif generates a few detailed snapshots that essentially make up the tree. if you want to get an overview in a more comfortable way than the simple tree view, switch over to the detailed snapshot tab and see the tree visualized as a call graph. zoom in, zoom out, use the birds eye view and see what contributes to a given snapshot. take it all in, literal bird's-eye cinematic moment. 🦅

heads up: note that function calls with the same memory cost are grouped to easily find the interesting parts. grouping slay.

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • --help — show help about options. your first stop, always. 🙈
  • --help-all — show all options. the deluxe version, every option in the building.
  • --author — show author information. give credit where credit is due. 👑
  • -v, --version — show version information. which era of this girl are we on?
  • --license — show license information. the legal paperwork, but make it a flag. 📜

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

Written by Milian Wolff. ty for your service. 🫡

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

please report bugs on <https://bugs.kde.org> under the massif-visualizer product. not me being a little bug reporter but like, kindly. 💖

Copyright © 2011 Milian Wolff. License GPLv2+: GNU GPL version 2 or later <<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>>. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

ok so real talk: free software, yes, but NO WARRANTY fr fr. know what you're getting into. 💀

🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

🌈 Author 🌈

Milian Wolff <mail@milianw.de> 💌

okay that's the whole page bestie, you ate that. 💅✨🌷 this little love letter is from 2011-11-21, and it lives under massif-visualizer(1) in the General Commands Manual. go visualize some memory, you've got this. 🦋💖🎀

📦 where this page comes from