Man Page spot_diff.1




NAME

     spot_diff - compare the output of two or more spot	runs  and
     write results to a	HTML file to be	viewed in a browser.



SYNOPSIS

     spot_diff [-h -V] [-a -c -f -q -s]	[-d directory name ]  [-e
     experiment	name ] [-o file	name ]



DESCRIPTION

     The spot_diff command reads the  output  from  user-selected
     spot  experiments and creates a HTML document that	lists and
     compares important	metrics	for each  experiment  in  dynami-
     cally sortable tables.  Differences exceeding set thresholds
     are highlighted to	bring attention	to possible  performance-
     related  problems.	  The  following  sections of a	spot_diff
     report  may  appear  depending  on	 a   system's	installed
     software,	a microprocessor's debug features, and privileges
     of	the user that ran the spot experiments:



	  Key	Experiment   Metrics:	 This	table	 includes
	  elapsed/user/system	time,	instruction  count,  IPC,
	  bandwidth data (if available), memory	use  and  machine
	  name.

	  Top Stalls:  Generic stall information from ripc  typi-
	  cally	 includes  the	derived	 metrics  "D-Cache",  "E-
	  Cache", "FPU use", "IU use", "Instruction Issue",  "RAW
	  Miss"	and "Store Queue".

	  BIT Instruction Counts:  If instruction frequency  data
	  was  gathered	 by spot, a table of top opcode	counts is
	  printed.

	  Flags	report:	 This table lists compilation flags  used
	  with each compiler (e.g. cc, CC, f90).  Flags	that were
	  not used in every invocation of a  particular	 compiler
	  appear highlighted in	bold red text.

	  Traps:  Top OS traps that show large	variance  between
	  experiments are listed.

	  Time	Spent  in  Top	Functions:   The  functions  with
	  highest exclusive user time in each selected experiment
	  appear in this table in alphanumeric order.



OPTIONS

     If	invoked	with no	arguments, all valid spot experiments  in
     the  current  directory  will be compared and output will be
     written to	the file ./spot_diff.html.

     The following options are supported:

     -a	  The last column in the Key Metrics  and  Function  Pro-
	  files	 tables	 will be an average of the values in each
	  row.


     -c	  Generate spot_diff.csv spreadsheet in	current	directory
	  in  addition	to the HTML output.  The file name may be
	  changed with the -o flag.


     -d	directory
	  Every	valid spot experiment in the specified	directory
	  will	be  compared.	Multiple  -d  flags  are allowed.
	  Default is current directory.


     -e	experiment name
	  Specifies an experiment's directory name to include  in
	  the	spot_diff  comparison.	 Multiple  -e  flags  are
	  allowed and can be used with or without -d.


     -f	  Fast run (flags and traps reports are	not generated).


     -h	  Print	help information.


     -o	 output	file name
	  Default is spot_diff.[html|csv] in  current  directory.
	  The  proper  extension  (.html  or  .csv) will be added
	  automatically.  Absolute paths may be	given  to  change
	  the location of the output.


     -q	  Quiet	run (STDOUT messages suppressed).


     -s	  Snip (as opposed to wrap) long names in the HTML report
	  to  fit  in  narrow  columns	Ex.:  abcdefghijk becomes
	  abc..hijk as opposed to the default abcdefghi<break>jk


     -V	  Print	version	information.




EXAMPLES

      Consider the following directory structure:

	/tmp/d1/exp1
	/tmp/d1/exp2
	/tmp/d2/exp1

     The following three invocations compare all  experiments  in
     /tmp/d1:
       1) cd /tmp/d1; spot_diff
       2) spot_diff -d /tmp/d1
       3) spot_diff -e /tmp/d1/exp1 -e /tmp/d1/exp2


     The following two invocations compare all three  experiments
     in	/tmp:
       1) spot_diff -d /tmp/d1 -e /tmp/d2/exp1
       2)  spot_diff   -e   /tmp/d1/exp1   -e	/tmp/d1/exp2   -e
     /tmp/d2/exp1

     The only  invocation  that	 compares  just	 the  experiments
     /tmp/d1/exp1 and /tmp/d2/exp1 is:
       spot_diff -e /tmp/d1/exp1 -e /tmp/d2/exp1



SEE ALSO

     spot(1), er_html(1), ripc(1),  and	 the  Spot  User's  Guide
     manual.