This is a sampling profiler that uses a kernel module, sysprof-module, to generate stacktraces which are then interpreted by the userspace program "sysprof". - There is no auto* stuff. Just type "make" and hope for the best - You need gtk+ 2.4.0 or better. If you are using gtk+ 2.5 or greater, you also need libglade cvs HEAD. - You need a 2.6 kernel - The programs you want to profile should have debugging symbols, or you won't get much usable information. On a Fedora Core system, installing the relevant -debuginfo packages should do the trick. - To get usable data on the X server: (1) Compile the X server to use ".so" modules: - Uncomment the line "MakeDllModules Yes" in xc/config/cf/xorgsite.def - "make World" (2) Install the X server making sure it can't see any ".a" files. If you install on top of an existing installation, just do find /usr/X11R6/lib/"*.a" | sudo xargs rm and install the newly compiled X server. If a ".so" X server finds .a files in its module path it will try to load those in preference to .so files and this causes symbol resolution problems (3) Run your new X server (4) Run sysprof as root. This is necessary because the X server binary for security reasons is not readable by regular users. I could tell you why, but then I'd have to kill you. Credits: Kristian Høgsberg for the first port to the 2.6 kernel. Owen Taylor for the symbol lookup code in memprof Søren