Android platform profiling

Here are some tips for Android platform developers, who build and flash system images on rooted devices:

After running adb root, simpleperf can be used to profile any process or system wide.
It is recommended to use the latest simpleperf available in AOSP master, if you are not working on the current master branch. Scripts are in system/extras/simpleperf/scripts, binaries are in system/extras/simpleperf/scripts/bin/android.
It is recommended to use app_profiler.py for recording, and report_html.py for reporting. Below is an example.

# Record surfaceflinger process for 10 seconds with dwarf based call graph. More examples are in
# scripts reference in the doc.
$ python app_profiler.py -np surfaceflinger -r "-g --duration 10"

# Generate html report.
$ python report_html.py

Since Android >= O has symbols for system libraries on device, we don't need to use unstripped binaries in $ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT/symbols to report call graphs. However, they are needed to add source code and disassembly (with line numbers) in the report. Below is an example.

# Doing recording with app_profiler.py or simpleperf on device, and generates perf.data on host.
$ python app_profiler.py -np surfaceflinger -r "--call-graph fp --duration 10"

# Collect unstripped binaries from $ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT/symbols to binary_cache/.
$ python binary_cache_builder.py -lib $ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT/symbols

# Report source code and disassembly. Disassembling all binaries is slow, so it's better to add
# --binary_filter option to only disassemble selected binaries.
$ python report_html.py --add_source_code --source_dirs $ANDROID_BUILD_TOP --add_disassembly \
  --binary_filter surfaceflinger.so

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Android platform profiling

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