Tutorials on how to use tools like perf and valgrind to increase speed/efficiency and find bugs

[luzpaz]

• Perf¹: see example by @Flast in:

• App: Improved ParameterString::setValue performance by using std::string_view FreeCAD#18653
• Base: Improved FindElement performance by reducing call of transcode FreeCAD#18594

• Valgrind² perhaps @huguesdpdn-aerospace would be available to contribute a tutorial write-up on how to utilize within FreeCAD

Footnotes

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perf_(Linux) ↩

2. https://valgrind.org/ ↩

[huguesdpdn-aerospace]

Hi @luzpaz , I would love to contribute if this can help for the valgrind usage (I never used perf btw). Actually, it was my project 3 months ago but I completely stopped. Why ? Because of lack of documentation about how to compile FreeCAD with debug symbols (which ones and how to do it)

The current page "Compile on Linux" is a bit:

• too light
• do not include which linux packages must be installed with the debug flags
• do not show the ccmake options and usage
• do not include the compilation of third libraries in debug mode (Coin, OndselSolver, etc.)
• do not include QT in debug mode
• do not show a full command line compilation dedicated for debug (okay, there is only one for the default install, which is -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug , but still no options or explanation and may only include -g instead of -g3, especially interesting for macros and others features and I still do not know what the Debug mode includes as compiling option)
  and all of this make it a mess to currently use valgrind properly.
  Otherwise valgrind will be useless by prompting a lot of ?????????? everywhere in the output :(

Also, I would suggest:

• add gdb to the tools ?

• to create a new CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE build type named Valgrind

• to add a Linux debug release in the FreeCAD Weekly Builds page ready for to be use by any user to run the binary with valgrind

• Create a new wiki page (on GIT, not yet to be released on Internet) to try to compile FreeCAD with all valgrind options

[luzpaz]

Very valuable feedback @huguesdpdn-aerospace
I've opened an FR

• Add a Debug release to weekly (in order to conveniently diagnose issues with Valgrind) FreeCAD-Bundle#361

Lets see what can be done about the wiki documentation