302 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
302 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
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Microsoft Windows NT Working Set Tuner README File
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April 15, 1998
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1. Description:
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----------------
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Windows NT (32-bit) Working Set Tuner (WST) for x86, Mips,
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Alpha, and PowerPC platforms.
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The working set of a program is a collection of those pages in the
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program's virtual address space which have recently been referenced.
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As the working set size decreases, memory demand decreases. Since
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it is advantageous to minimize the memory demand, the working set
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tuner DLL is developed to measure code working set, and produce an
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ordering of the functions (procedures) within the code which will be
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small, if not minimal, in a paging environment. In any practical case
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there are probably many optimal assignments of functions to pages.
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Although this method does not claim optimality, it will produce results
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at least as good as a programmer could achieve by hand in a reasonable
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amount of time. This method consists of two parts:
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1) Data Collection:
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Data is collected in C programs by using the attributed profiling
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hook provided by the Microsoft C/C++ Compiler (compiling with the "-Gh"
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option). Data is not collected in assembler language programs. A hook
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routine in the working set tuner DLL, WST.DLL, is called before each
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C/C++ function is called. The hook examines its environment to
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determine the identity of the called function. A bit is set in a
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bitmap every time a function is called within the specified time segment.
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A new bitmap is used (new snapshot) for each new time segment: smaller
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time segments will cause higher frequency of snapshots which will
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produce better working set (with some diminishing point of return...).
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The collected WST data is dumped upon the program's termination or via
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WST's dump facility called WstDump.exe. Functions' symbols in the
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program's symbol table are used by the WST.dll to match function names
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to bits in the bitmap.
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2) Data Reduction:
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Two post-processing tools, WstCat.exe & WsTune.exe, process the
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collected data and produce an ordering of the functions (packing list)
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which, when placed into pages, will result in a smaller working set of
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pages in memory compared to its original working set size for the
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activity measured. The packing list, created using an ordering
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algorithm, can be used by the linker to perform the actual packing
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within the executable's object modules.
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2. WST Files:
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--------------
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o wst.ini -- WST initialization file.
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o wst.dll -- WST DLL.
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o wst.lib -- WST library file containing WST entry point.
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o wstdump.exe -- Dump utility for dumping/clearing WST data, and
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stopping data collection at any time.
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o wstune.exe -- Data analysis utility for creating the packing list
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from collected data.
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o wstcat.exe -- Concatenation utility for multiple data files.
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o penter.lib -- An empty library containing a dummy WST entry point.
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This can be used instead of WST.lib to link with an
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executable object module which was compiled with the
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-Gh option, so the application can run without
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recompiling and without any of the WST overhead.
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3. Using the Working Set Tuner Dll:
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------------------------------------
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o Create the WST directory in the root directory of C: drive. (c:\wst)
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o Place WST.INI in the WST directory of C: drive and list all
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the DLL/EXE images to be tuned as follows:
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NOTE:- WST.INI must exist for WST to run.
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[EXES]
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Name(s) of module(s) to be tuned. Each name should be on a new
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line. A semicolon ';' in front of a name removes it from the
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list.
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[PATCH IMPORTS]
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obsolete - no longer used
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[TIME INTERVAL]
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Elapsed time in milliseconds between recording snapshots
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(if left blank, a default time interval of 1000 is used).
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This section may include an optional entry 'MaxSnaps=n',
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where n is the maximum number of snapshots to take
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(the default maximum is 3200).
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o Sample WST.INI file:
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[EXES]
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myapp.exe
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[TIME INTERVAL]
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1500
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MaxSnaps=256
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o Attach WST.DLL to the application process:
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- Recompile your EXE/DLL using the "-Gh" and "-Zi" or "-Z7"
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compiler options. (NOTE - on Mips platform, use "-Od" to
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disable compiler optimization.)
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- Link it with WST.LIB using the options "-debug", either
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"-debugtype:coff" or "-debugtype:both", and "-pdb:none"
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or "-pdb:<filename>".
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- This method will cause all the C functions in the recompiled
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sources to be accessible to WST.DLL.
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NOTE:- The win32.mak file in the Win32 SDK will set these
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options correctly for your application if you build it with
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the tune=1 switch. I.e. "nmake -all tune=1".
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NOTE:- If symbols have been removed from your exe or dll,
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WST will try to locate the symbols files (DBG or PDB
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files) in the current directory, then in the path specified
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by the environment variables "_nt_symbol_path",
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"_nt_alt_symbol_path", and "systemroot", in that order.
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E.G. if the DBG file of your exe is in c:\symbols\exe, set
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_nt_symbol_path to c:\symbols.
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o Place WST.DLL in your SYSTEM directory (i.e. ..\nt\system32) or in
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the same directory with the application being tuned.
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o If this is the only run that is to be considered for tuning, clear
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any existing .TMI and .WSP files in the C:\WST directory.
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o Run your application(s).
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o Data will be collected for all the modules specified in the [EXES]
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section of the WST.INI.
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o Exit the application to dump the WST data, or run WstDump.exe to
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dump the data. See section 4 "WST Data" for details.
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o If you have multiple TMI & WSP files, run WstCat.exe to concatenate
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data from multiple runs. See section 5 "Using WstCat" for details.
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o Run WsTune.exe to generate the packing list (.prf file) based on
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the collected WST data. See section 6 "Using WsTune" for details.
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o Use the packing list to direct the linker to order the modules
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as specified in the packing list (.prf file). See section 8
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"Linking with the Packing List" for details.
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4. WST Data:
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-------------
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o WST data can be captured in two ways:
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1) Upon termination of the application WST data is dumped
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automatically.
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2) Using the dump utility, WstDump.exe, WST data can be dumped
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at any time. See section 7 "Using WstDump" for details.
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o Data files are created in C:\WST directory.
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o WST data is dumped into data files using the application and its
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DLLs names with .TMI & .WSP extensions. No data is dumped for
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modules which lack symbol information in the COFF format.
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o If TMI & WSP files exist in the c:\wst directory, new data files
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with .T?? and .W?? are created where ?? is a number between
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0x01-0xff. The number indicates the run number. All the data
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files can be concatenated (using WstCat.exe) to generate a single
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packing list from the multiple run data files.
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5. Using WstCat:
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-----------------
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o WstCat.exe can be used to concatenate multiple .WSP and .TMI files
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(multiple files will be named *.T00 - *.Tff and *.W00 - *.Wff)
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into a single file for analysis. This allows the user to run
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multiple scenarios, over time, and analyze them as a single run.
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WST will also create multiple files if a scenario exceeds its
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snapshots limit.
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Usage: WSTCAT moduleName
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"moduleName" is the name of the module to combine.
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The module is the name of the DLL or EXE which is being
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tuned and data has been collected for.
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NOTE:- The original TMI & WSP files will be renamed to TXX & WXX
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by WstCat.
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6. Using WsTune:
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-----------------
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o WsTune.exe is used to analyze the data created by WST. WsTune
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will also create the packing list, .PRF file, which is used by
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the linker to pack your DLL or EXE.
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o The DATA files created by wstune are:
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- .DT (Data Tuned) contains the analysis data/bitstrings for
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all api's called in the "packing list" order.
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- .DN (Data Not tuned) contains the api's called in
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the "unpacked" order.
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- .PRF contains the packing list to be used by the linker.
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- .WSR is a worker index file created for internal use.
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Usage: WSTUNE [/O] [/D] [/N] [?] moduleName1[.WSP] [...]
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/O Dump analysis data to file (*.DT tuned, *.DN not tuned)
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/N Analyze bitstring data only, create .WSR and .PRF files
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(turns off /O)
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/D Dump analysis data only; use existing .WSR file (turns
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off /N)
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/P Display a progress indicator
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/? Display this usage message
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where "moduleNameX" is the name(s) of the module file(s) to tune.
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Each module file will result in a separate set of tuning data
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based on the input switch settings. If neither /O nor /N are
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specified, tuning data (normally the contents of the .DT file) is
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dumped to the standard output device.
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7. Using WstDump:
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------------------
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o WstDump.exe can be used to stop WST data collection and clear/dump
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WST collected data for all the applications being tuned, at any time.
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o The following options are available via WstDump.exe:
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- Stop : Stops WST data collection (applications continue to run).
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- Clear and Restart : Clears any existing WST data and restarts
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data collection.
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- Dump and Stop : Dumps any existing WST data and stops the data
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collection (applications continue to run).
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o Data is dumped to c:\wst using the names of the application and its
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DLLs with .TMI & .WSP extensions. No data is dumped for modules with
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no symbols.
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o If TMI & WSP files exist in the c:\wst directory, new data files
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with .T?? and .W?? are created, where ?? is a number between
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0x01-0xff. The number indicates the run number. All the data
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files can be concatenated (using WstCat.exe) to generate a single
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packing list from the multiple run data files.
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8. Linking with the Packing List:
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----------------------------------
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o Recompile your applications using the Microsoft C/C++ Compiler's
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"-Gy" option. (Remove the "-Gh" option to avoid extra overhead.)
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o Relink your applications using the link "-order:@filename" option
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where filename is the name of your packing list (i.e. .prf file
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generated by WsTune.exe).
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9. Caveats:
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------------
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o If a symbol is not available in an EXE/DLL that is being tuned,
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??? is displayed as the function name in data and analysis files
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(??? is not listed in the packing list, however.)
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o WST data is *NOT* collected for functions in assembler language
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programs/objects.
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o The linker currently will not reorder static functions. The
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Microsoft C/C++ Compiler automatically generates certain static
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functions (their names look like "_$Ennn", where nnn is a number
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the compiler assigns internally).
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** END OF README **
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