Bootchart2

This script is run instead of init during the boot process after the kernel is loaded and measures the time during this process. With the aid of an script in the project's Git repository, it generates nice charts which show when each daemon started and stopped.

Installation

You can install app-benchmarks/bootchart2 with the following command:

root #emerge --ask app-benchmarks/bootchart2

Then add the daemon to the default runlevel. This is needed to stop the bootchart process and generate the image:

root #rc-update add bootchart2 default

USE flags

USE flags for app-benchmarks/bootchart2 Performance analysis and visualization of the system boot process

+cairo Enable support for the cairo graphics library

Data provided by the Gentoo Package Database · Last update: 2023-05-06 05:20 More information about USE flags

Kernel

To get more verbose information:

KERNEL enable proc events

General setup  --->
    CPU/Task time and stats accounting -->
        -*- Export task/process statistics through netlink (EXPERIMENTAL)
Device Drivers --->
    <*> Connector - unified userspace <-> kernelspace linker  --->
        [*]   Report process events to userspace

Usage

How to enable bootchart2 during boot and access the generated charts.

Bootloader

For any GRUB based bootloader, the kernel commandline can be changed during boot by pressing e in the boot menu, then edit the kernel commandline and press F10 to boot with changed parameters. The following options should be added:

'initcall_debug' - append timing data to each initcall

'printk.time=y' - append timing data to each message during initialization

'init=/sbin/bootchartd' - replace the default command for initialization with /sbin/bootchartd to start our benchmark

Note
to use genkernel, replace init= with real_init=

To change the entry static for GRUB (bootchart on every boot):

In GRUB the parameters can be added to the variable GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in /etc/default/grub.

CODE Kernel command-line

linux initcall_debug printk.time=y init=/sbin/bootchartd

Then run:

root #grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Analyzing the output

The values are stored in /var/log/bootchart.tgz as a compressed tarball.

CODE tar tf /var/log/bootchart.tgz

header
dmesg
cmdline2.log
paternity.log
proc_cpuinfo.log
proc_diskstats.log
proc_meminfo.log
proc_stat.log
taskstats.log

A script that generates an easier-to-analyze PDF or PNG from this tarball can be found on the project's homepage, by cloning the git repository, and then running make pybootchartgui/main.py and ./pybootchartgui.py. The script requires dev-python/pycairo.

External resources

homepage