php-apd(1)

NAME

php4-apd - PHP code execution profiler and debugger

DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents briefly the php4-apd package

and pprofp command. This manual page was written for the Debian

distribution because the original program does not have a manual

page.

php4-apd (the Advanced PHP Debugger) is a full-featured

PHP profiler/debugger that is loaded as a zend_extension. It aims

to be an analog of C's gprof or Perl's Devel::DProf, and provides

PHP developers with a number of additional functions which can be

used to obtain internal code execution details such as timing in

formation, function call tree and stack backtrace. This is par

ticularly useful for performance profiling purposes.

Once installed, APD provides a number of additional func

tions which you can place in your PHP code for either profiling

or debugging. The debugging functions are:

array apd_callstack()

Returns the current call stack as an array (very

cool).

apd_cluck([string warning[,string line delimiter])

Behaves like perl's Carp::cluck. Throw a warning

and a callstack. The default line delimiter is "<BR />0. Depre

cated for users of PHP4.3+: use the internal debug_backtrace()

and debug_print_backtrace() instead.

apd_croak([string error[, string line delimiter]])

Behaves like perl's Carp::croak. Throw an error, a

callstack and then exit. The default line delimiter is "<BR />0.

Deprecated for users of PHP4.3+: use the internal debug_back

trace() and debug_print_backtrace() instead.

array apd_dump_regular_resources()

Return all current regular resources as an array.

array apd_dump_persistent_resources()

Return all persistent resources as an array.

override_function(string func_name, string func_args,

string func_code)

Syntax similar to create_function(). Overrides

built-in functions (replaces them in the symbol table).

rename_function(string orig_name, string new_name)

Renames orig_name to new_name in the global func

tion_table. Useful for temporarily overriding built-in func

tions.

The profiling functions can be placed at the start of your

PHP code to force APD to dump profiling information out to text

files in the directory defined in apd.dumpdir. These functions

are:

apd_set_pprof_trace()

Dumps a tracefile named "pprof.<pid>" in your

apd.dumpdir, which by default is set to /var/log/php4-apd/ on De

bian systems. The tracefile is a machine parsable output file

that can then be processed with the pprofp <tracefile> command.

Do a 'pprofp -h' for detailed help, there are lots of options for

sorting and formatting the output. Loads of fun here if your PHP

is not running as fast as you'd like!

apd_set_session_trace(N)

Dumps a human-readable session trace named

"apd_dump_<pid>" in your apd.dumpdir. This is the old way of do

ing things, noted here just because it still works (for now).

It's been deprecated, so YMMV. Better to use a pprof trace in

stead if you can. 'N' is an integer that sets what items will be

traced: just use a value of 99 for now, that'll turn on all im

plemented options.

More information can be found at http://pear.php.net/apd

OPTIONS

At present options are configured in php.ini by setting

variables that are passed to APD at startup. This may change in

future.

apd.dumpdir

The directory used to store output files. Set to

/var/log/php4-apd/ by default on Debian systems.

AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Jonathan Oxer <jon@de

bian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by

others).

January 31, 2003

PHP-APD(1)