Adding upstream version 115.8.0esr.upstream/115.8.0esr

Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>

1 files changed, 46 insertions, 0 deletions

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+Profiling Memory
+================
+
+Sampling stacks from native allocations
+---------------------------------------
+
+The profiler can sample allocations and de-allocations from malloc using the
+"Native Allocations" feature. This can be enabled by going to `about:profiling` and
+enabling the "Native Allocations" checkbox. It is only available in Nightly, as it
+uses a technique of hooking into malloc that could be a little more risky to apply to
+the broader population of Firefox users.
+
+This implementation is located in: `tools/profiler/core/memory_hooks.cpp
+<https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/tools/profiler/core/memory_hooks.cpp>`_
+
+It works by hooking into all of the malloc calls. When the profiler is running, it
+performs a `Bernoulli trial`_, that will pass for a given probability of per-byte
+allocated. What this means is that larger allocations have a higher chance of being
+recorded compared to smaller allocations. Currently, there is no way to configure
+the per-byte probability. This means that sampled allocation sizes will be closer
+to the actual allocated bytes.
+
+This infrastructure is quite similar to DMD, but with the additional motiviations of
+making it easy to turn on and use with the profiler. The overhead is quite high,
+especially on systems with more expensive stack walking, like Linux. Turning off
+thee "Native Stacks" feature can help lower overhead, but will give less information.
+
+For more information on analyzing these profiles, see the `Firefox Profiler docs`_.
+
+Memory counters
+---------------
+
+Similar to the Native Allocations feature, memory counters use the malloc memory hook
+that is only available in Nightly. When it's available, the memory counters are always
+turned on. This is a lightweight way to count in a very granular fashion how much
+memory is being allocated and deallocated during the profiling session.
+
+This information is then visualized in the `Firefox Profiler memory track`_.
+
+This feature uses the `Profiler Counters`_, which can be used to create other types
+of cheap counting instrumentation.
+
+.. _Bernoulli trial: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli_trial
+.. _Firefox Profiler docs: https://profiler.firefox.com/docs/#/./memory-allocations
+.. _Firefox Profiler memory track: https://profiler.firefox.com/docs/#/./memory-allocations?id=memory-track
+.. _Profiler Counters: https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/tools/profiler/public/ProfilerCounts.h