* visualize and edit trace files.
-Basic usage
-===========
+Obtaining **apitrace**
+======================
+To obtain apitrace either [download the latest
+binaries](https://github.com/apitrace/apitrace/downloads) for your platform if
+available, or follow the instructions in INSTALL.markdown to build it yourself.
+On 64bits Linux and Windows platforms you'll need apitrace binaries that match
+the architecture (32bits or 64bits) of the application being traced.
-Linux and Mac OS X
-------------------
+
+Basic usage
+===========
Run the application you want to trace as
- apitrace trace /path/to/application [args...]
+ apitrace trace --api API /path/to/application [args...]
and it will generate a trace named `application.trace` in the current
-directory. You can specify the written trace filename by setting the
-`TRACE_FILE` environment variable before running.
+directory. You can specify the written trace filename by passing the
+`--output` command line option.
+
+Problems while tracing (e.g, if the application uses calls/parameters
+unsupported by apitrace) will be reported via stderr output on Unices. On
+Windows you'll need to run
+[DebugView](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896647) to view
+these messages.
+
+Follow the "Tracing manually" instructions below if you cannot obtain a trace.
View the trace with
- apitrace dump --color application.trace
+ apitrace dump application.trace
Replay an OpenGL trace with
Pass the `-sb` option to use a single buffered visual. Pass `--help` to
glretrace for more options.
-Start the GUI as
-
- qapitrace application.trace
-
-
-Windows
--------
-* Copy `opengl32.dll`, `d3d8.dll`, or `d3d9.dll` from build/wrappers directory
- to the directory with the application you want to trace.
+Basic GUI usage
+===============
-* Run the application.
-
-* View the trace with
+Start the GUI as
- \path\to\apitrace dump application.trace
+ qapitrace application.trace
-* Replay the trace with
+You can also tell the GUI to go directly to a specific call
- \path\to\glretrace application.trace
+ qapitrace application.trace 12345
Advanced command line usage
### Linux ###
+On 64 bits systems, you'll need to determine ether the application is 64 bits
+or 32 bits. This can be done by doing
+
+ file /path/to/application
+
+But beware of wrapper shell scripts -- what matters is the architecture of the
+main process.
+
Run the application you want to trace as
LD_PRELOAD=/path/to/apitrace/wrappers/glxtrace.so /path/to/application
`DYLD_FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE=1` which breaks most applications. See the `dyld` man
page for more details about these environment flags.
+### Windows ###
+
+When tracing third-party applications, you can identify the target
+application's main executable, either by:
+
+* right clicking on the application's icon in the _Start Menu_, choose
+ _Properties_, and see the _Target_ field;
+
+* or by starting the application, run Windows Task Manager (taskmgr.exe), right
+ click on the application name in the _Applications_ tab, choose _Go To Process_,
+ note the highlighted _Image Name_, and search it on `C:\Program Files` or
+ `C:\Program Files (x86)`.
+
+On 64 bits Windows, you'll need to determine ether the application is a 64 bits
+or 32 bits. 32 bits applications will have a `*32` suffix in the _Image Name_
+column of the _Processes_ tab of _Windows Task Manager_ window.
+
+Copy the appropriate `opengl32.dll`, `d3d8.dll`, or `d3d9.dll` from the
+wrappers directory to the directory with the application you want to trace.
+Then run the application as usual.
+
+You can specify the written trace filename by setting the `TRACE_FILE`
+environment variable before running.
+
Emitting annotations to the trace
---------------------------------
* obtain a trace
-* obtain reference snapshots, by doing:
+* obtain reference snapshots, by doing on a reference system:
- mkdir /path/to/snapshots/
+ mkdir /path/to/reference/snapshots/
glretrace -s /path/to/reference/snapshots/ application.trace
- on reference system.
-
* prune the snapshots which are not interesting
* to do a regression test, do:
Alternatively, for a HTML summary, use `apitrace diff-images`:
- glretrace -s /path/to/current/snapshots/ application.trace
- apitrace diff-images --output summary.html /path/to/reference/snapshots/ /path/to/current/snapshots/
+ glretrace -s /path/to/test/snapshots/ application.trace
+ apitrace diff-images --output summary.html /path/to/reference/snapshots/ /path/to/test/snapshots/
Automated git-bisection
This can be achieved with retracediff.py script, which invokes glretrace with
different environments, allowing to choose the desired GL driver by
-manipulating variables such as `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` or `LIBGL_DRIVERS_DIR`.
+manipulating variables such as `LD_LIBRARY_PATH`, `LIBGL_DRIVERS_DIR`, or
+`TRACE_LIBGL`.
-For example:
+For example, on Linux:
./scripts/retracediff.py \
--ref-env LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/to/reference/GL/implementation \
- -r ./glretrace \
+ --retrace /path/to/glretrace \
--diff-prefix=/path/to/output/diffs \
application.trace
+Or on Windows:
+
+ python scripts\retracediff.py --retrace \path\to\glretrace.exe --ref-env TRACE_LIBGL=\path\to\reference\opengl32.dll application.trace
Links
* [D3DSpy](http://doc.51windows.net/Directx9_SDK/?url=/directx9_sdk/graphics/programmingguide/TutorialsAndSamplesAndToolsAndTips/Tools/D3DSpy.htm): the predecessor of PIX
+* [NVIDIA PerfKit](http://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-perfkit)
+
* [AMD GPU PerfStudio](http://developer.amd.com/gpu/PerfStudio/pages/APITraceWindow.aspx)
+* [Intel Graphics Performance Analyzers](http://www.intel.com/software/gpa/)
+
OpenGL
------
* [tracy](https://gitorious.org/tracy): OpenGL ES and OpenVG trace, retrace, and state inspection
+* [WebGL-Inspector](http://benvanik.github.com/WebGL-Inspector/)
+
Closed-source:
-* [gDEBugger](http://www.gremedy.com/products.php)
+* [gDEBugger](http://www.gremedy.com/products.php) and [AMD gDEBugger](http://developer.amd.com/tools/gDEBugger/Pages/default.aspx)
* [glslDevil](http://cumbia.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/glsldevil/index.html)
projects / apitrace / blobdiff