MPROF(1)

📦
version 22.01.8 · 3 versions
, in alpine 3.24

💅 MPROF 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to mprof — the Mercury profiler, version 22.01.8, running on x86_64-alpine-linux-musl. this is the whole manual page experience, group-chat style, but literally every fact stays. no cap. 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

mercury_profile [<options>] [<files>]

that's it. that's the whole vibe. options first, files after, both optional. slay. 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

mprof produces execution profiles for Mercury programs. it hands you a flat profile, and optionally it also gives you a hierarchical (call graph based) profile, all built from data collected while your program was actually running. it's giving observability. it's giving main character energy. 🔥

🎀 NOTES 🎀

  • mprof is one of the development tools that ship as part of the Mercury distribution. iykyk. ✨
  • this manual page is a brief summary and nothing more. for further information, go read the Mercury User's Guide. like, actually read it. it has lore. 📖

🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

so here's the tea about <files>:

  • if you pass no <files> at all, then the --use-dynamic option is implied — meaning the call graph gets built dynamically. surprise feature, but make it fashion. 💫
  • if you do pass <files>, then the files you specify should be the .prof file for every module in the program. and yes, every single one, don't be shy.
  • those .prof files are generated automatically by the Mercury compiler, and they contain the program's static call graph. free real estate, generated for you. 🎁

💜 OPTIONS 💜

  • -h, --help — print this usage message. classic. short king behavior. 👑

🔥 PROFILER OPTIONS 🔥

  • -c, --call-graph — include the call graph profile. more data, more better. 🌈
  • -d, --use-dynamic — build the call graph dynamically. 💫
  • -p, --profile {time, memory-words, memory-cells} — pick what you're profiling: time, the amount of memory allocated (memory-words), or the number of memory allocations (memory-cells) — and yes, that last one is regardless of size. tiny allocations count too, they're valid. 💖
  • -m — same as --profile memory-words. 💫
  • -M — same as --profile memory-cells. 💫
  • -t — same as --profile time. ⏰
  • --no-demangle — outputs the mangled predicate and function names. so raw. so unprocessed. honestly kinda iconique in a feral way. 💀

🍓 FILENAME OPTIONS 🍓

  • -C <file>, --count-file <file> — name of the count file. usually Prof.Counts, Prof.MemoryWords, or Prof.MemoryCells. pick your fighter. 🎀
  • -D <file>, --declaration-file <file> — name of the declaration file. usually Prof.Decl. ✨
  • -P <file>, --call-pair-file <file> — name of the call-pair file. usually Prof.CallPair. 💅
  • -L <file>, --library-callgraph <file> — name of the file which contains the call graph for the library modules. the library's whole family tree, basically. 🌳

🧚 SNAPSHOT OPTIONS 🧚

  • -s, --snapshots — show a summary of heap objects at the times benchmarking.report_memory_attribution was called. heads up bestie: this overrides other profiler modes. it's not a team player, it's the main character. 👑
  • --snapshots-file <file> — name of the snapshots file. usually Prof.Snapshots. 💖
  • -T, --snapshots-by-type — group results by type. organize, categorize, thrive. 🦋
  • -b, --snapshots-brief — generate a brief profile. sometimes less is more, and that's iconic. ✨
  • -r, --snapshots-include-runtime — include internal Mercury runtime structures in the profile. these are excluded by default, so this is you saying "actually, i want the behind-the-scenes content too." 🙈

⭐ VERBOSITY OPTIONS ⭐

  • -v, --verbose — output progress messages at each stage. updates! we love updates! 📣
  • -V, --very-verbose — output very verbose progress messages. maximum yapping, and honestly? valid. 😭

👑 AUTHORS 👑

The Mercury team. 💖

this program and its documentation are copyright by the University of Melbourne and the Mercury team. they may be copied only under the terms of the GNU General Public License — see the file COPYING in the Mercury distribution. respecting licenses is the ultimate slay. 🫶

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

and that's the page, bestie 🎀 — brought to you by the Mercury Programmer's Manual, dated 2026-04-24, and version 22.01.8 of mprof on x86_64-alpine-linux-musl. go profile something gorgeous. periodt. 💜

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