TUI (text user interface) support using ncurses library

[namhyung]

Add a new command "tui" to implement user interface on a text console. This new command can do same thing with "graph" and "report" command. Also it can change the mode, fold/unfold graph nodes, and search functions dynamically. Following keys are used:

• UP/DOWN, PAGE-UP/-DOWN, HOME/END - navigation
• n/p - move to next or previous sibling (in graph mode)
• u - move to parent node (in graph mode)
• ENTER - fold/unfold current node (in graph mode), or show function call graph (in report mode)
• c/e - recursively fold/unfold child node (in graph mode)
• g/r - change to graph or report mode respectively
• / - start search
• </> - move next/previous node searched
• ESC - end search
• v - toggle debug mode
• q - quit the tui

Here's a screenshot:

The code is available on the review/tui-support-v1 branch. Please give it a try! :)

[honggyukim]

It looks great. Thanks for doing this work! But I wonder why my terminal shows the lines in a strange way.

  TOTAL TIME : FUNCTION
    2.048  m : (1) webkit_unit_tests
    2.048  m : (1) main
   16.011  s :  M-b~T~\M-b~T~@(1) base::TestSuite::TestSuite
  872.563 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~\M-b~T~@(1) base::TestSuite::PreInitialize
  179.911 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) malloc
  179.721 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) ShimMalloc
  179.349 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) _GLOBAL__N_1::TCMalloc
  179.148 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) tc_malloc
  177.974 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) do_debug_malloc_or_debug_cpp_alloc
  177.766 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) DebugAllocate
  177.370 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) MallocBlock::Allocate
  171.487 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) _GLOBAL__N_1::do_malloc
  164.353 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) tcmalloc::ThreadCache::Allocate
  163.540 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) tcmalloc::ThreadCache::FetchFromCentralCache
  152.227 us :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B (1) tcmalloc::CentralFreeList::RemoveRange
             :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B
   16.009  s :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~\M-b~T~@(1) base::TestSuite::InitializeFromCommandLine
    1.044 ms :  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~B  M-b~T~\M-b~T~@(1) base::CommandLine::Init
        ...

[honggyukim]

Could you please make vim users happy by adding j for down and k for up? :)

[honggyukim]

I found the reason of broken output. I need to use libncursesw instead of libncurses so have to modify it as follows:

diff --git a/check-deps/Makefile b/check-deps/Makefile
index 59ce19c..44dba78 100644
--- a/check-deps/Makefile
+++ b/check-deps/Makefile
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ CHECK_LIST += have_libpython2.7
 CHECK_LIST += perf_clockid
 CHECK_LIST += perf_context_switch
 CHECK_LIST += arm_has_hardfp
+CHECK_LIST += have_libncursesw
 CHECK_LIST += have_libncurses

 #
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ LDFLAGS_cxa_demangle = -lstdc++
 LDFLAGS_have_libelf = -lelf
 CFLAGS_cc_has_mno_sse2 = -mno-sse2
 LDFLAGS_have_libpython2.7 = -lpython2.7
+LDFLAGS_have_libncursesw = -lncursesw
 LDFLAGS_have_libncurses = -lncurses

 check-build: check-tstamp $(CHECK_LIST)
diff --git a/check-deps/Makefile.check b/check-deps/Makefile.check
index 23241d6..20ca1b7 100644
--- a/check-deps/Makefile.check
+++ b/check-deps/Makefile.check
@@ -31,7 +31,12 @@ ifneq ($(wildcard $(srcdir)/check-deps/arm_has_hardfp),)
   COMMON_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_ARM_HARDFP
 endif

+ifneq ($(wildcard $(srcdir)/check-deps/have_libncursesw),)
+  COMMON_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBNCURSESW
+  UFTRACE_LDFLAGS += -lncursesw -ltinfo
+else
 ifneq ($(wildcard $(srcdir)/check-deps/have_libncurses),)
   COMMON_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBNCURSES
   UFTRACE_LDFLAGS += -lncurses -ltinfo
 endif
+endif
diff --git a/check-deps/__have_libncursesw.c b/check-deps/__have_libncursesw.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4bbaedd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/check-deps/__have_libncursesw.c
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#include <ncursesw/curses.h>
+
+int main(void)
+{
+       initscr();
+       endwin();
+       return 0;
+}
diff --git a/cmd-tui.c b/cmd-tui.c
index 022b135..a99c78c 100644
--- a/cmd-tui.c
+++ b/cmd-tui.c
@@ -1,13 +1,18 @@
-#ifdef HAVE_LIBNCURSES
+#if defined(HAVE_LIBNCURSESW) || defined(HAVE_LIBNCURSES)

 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>
-#include <ncurses.h>
 #include <locale.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>

+#ifdef HAVE_LIBNCURSESW
+#include <ncursesw/curses.h>
+#elif HAVE_LIBNCURSES
+#include <ncurses.h>
+#endif
+
 #include "uftrace.h"
 #include "utils/utils.h"
 #include "utils/fstack.h"

Now it works fine.

[elfring]

The screenshot looks mostly nice. I have spot areas where further fine-tuning is possible.

• Would you like to offer any additional menu items in the header bar?
• How do you think about to omit the column which contains the colon? (Can the field separation approach be reconsidered?)
• How can the colour combination be adjusted for this text user interface?

I am also curious on further software evolution around implementation details.

[namhyung]

@honggyukim thanks, my system uses ncursesw by default. Maybe I need to change it link with ncursesw explicitly. And my system doesn't have the <ncursesw/curses.h> header - probably due to the version difference (I'm using 6.1)

@elfring I don't plan to add menu bar but popup menu can be added later. AFAIK there's no column contains colon. And I'm thinking of color customization as a low-priority work item.

[honggyukim]

@namhyung I also think that ncurses has some version difference in terms of header path.
I've got the below code snippet in tig project for handling such problem.

#if defined HAVE_NCURSESW_CURSES_H
#  include <ncursesw/curses.h>
#elif defined HAVE_NCURSESW_H
#  include <ncursesw.h>
#elif defined HAVE_NCURSES_CURSES_H
#  include <ncurses/curses.h>
#elif defined HAVE_NCURSES_H
#  include <ncurses.h>
#elif defined HAVE_CURSES_H
#  include <curses.h>
#else
#ifdef WARN_MISSING_CURSES_CONFIGURATION
#  warning SysV or X/Open-compatible Curses installation is required.
#  warning Will assume Curses is found in default include and library path.
#  warning To fix any build issues please use autotools to configure Curses.
#  warning See INSTALL.adoc file for instructions.
#endif
#  include <curses.h>
#endif

So we can handle it in a similar way.

[namhyung]

OMG what a mess..

[elfring]

AFAIK there's no column contains colon.

I suggest to check the relevance of the identifier “FIELD_SEP” once more.

---

How do you think about to move the time unit display below the column header so that it would be printed only once?

[namhyung]

The FIELD_SEP is to separate fields from function graph so it's not a part of column header.

And time unit can be different for each line, why do you want to print it only once?

[elfring]

… so it's not a part of column header.

Do you prefer any other description for the display “…TIME : FU…” in the screenshot?

---

And time unit can be different for each line,

This can be the default configuration.

why do you want to print it only once?

I propose to offer a slightly different report layout when the duration values can fit to a single time unit.

[namhyung]

@honggyukim maybe we can use pkg-config like below:

diff --git a/check-deps/Makefile b/check-deps/Makefile
index 59ce19c..9c57702 100644
--- a/check-deps/Makefile
+++ b/check-deps/Makefile
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ LDFLAGS_cxa_demangle = -lstdc++
 LDFLAGS_have_libelf = -lelf
 CFLAGS_cc_has_mno_sse2 = -mno-sse2
 LDFLAGS_have_libpython2.7 = -lpython2.7
-LDFLAGS_have_libncurses = -lncurses
+CFLAGS_have_libncurses = $(shell pkg-config --cflags ncursesw)
+LDFLAGS_have_libncurses = $(shell pkg-config --libs ncursesw)
 
 check-build: check-tstamp $(CHECK_LIST)
 
diff --git a/check-deps/Makefile.check b/check-deps/Makefile.check
index 23241d6..ee3b935 100644
--- a/check-deps/Makefile.check
+++ b/check-deps/Makefile.check
@@ -32,6 +32,6 @@ ifneq ($(wildcard $(srcdir)/check-deps/arm_has_hardfp),)
 endif
 
 ifneq ($(wildcard $(srcdir)/check-deps/have_libncurses),)
-  COMMON_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBNCURSES
-  UFTRACE_LDFLAGS += -lncurses -ltinfo
+  COMMON_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBNCURSES $(shell pkg-config --cflags ncursesw)
+  UFTRACE_LDFLAGS += $(shell pkg-config --libs ncursesw)
 endif
diff --git a/check-deps/__have_libncurses.c b/check-deps/__have_libncurses.c
index 0c1ef2d..499f79f 100644
--- a/check-deps/__have_libncurses.c
+++ b/check-deps/__have_libncurses.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#include <ncurses.h>
+#include <curses.h>
 
 int main(void)
 {
diff --git a/cmd-tui.c b/cmd-tui.c
index 022b135..236e100 100644
--- a/cmd-tui.c
+++ b/cmd-tui.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>
-#include <ncurses.h>
+#include <curses.h>
 #include <locale.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
 

[honggyukim]

Thanks @namhyung! It has been a lot simpler now. :)

[namhyung]

Pushed review/tui-support-v2

Changelog:

• use pkg-config to find ncursesw
• add k/j key for up/down

[elfring]

add k/j key for up/down

• How is the status for the keys “H” and “L”?
• Will scrolling be supported in any other directions for the affected display?

[namhyung]

Yep it's on the todo list.

[honggyukim]

Thanks a lot for the update. I have a few more requests.

• Support stack structure when changing the view across graph and report modes.
  • Someone may want to go back to the previous view by using ESC key, for example.
• Support search and sort feature in report mode.
• Support to show self time in graph mode.
• Make g key to change the graph target even in graph mode as if a specific function is chosen in report mode.
• When the target function is chosen, backtrace can show its direct caller function only and folds its parents. I found too many repeating and too long backtrace info, so better to show it simpler. The example is as follows:

             :=== Function Call Graph for 'blink::V8ScriptRunner::CompileScript' ===
             :========== Back-trace ==========
   15.021 ms :  ├─(1) blink::V8ScriptRunner::CompileScript
   15.021 ms :  │▶(1) blink::ScriptController::ExecuteScriptAndReturnValue
             :  │
    3.940 ms :  ├─(1) blink::V8ScriptRunner::CompileScript
    3.940 ms :  │▶(1) blink::ScriptController::ExecuteScriptAndReturnValue
             :  │
    7.762 ms :  ├─(2) blink::V8ScriptRunner::CompileScript
    7.762 ms :  │▶(2) blink::ScriptController::ExecuteScriptAndReturnValue
             :  │
    4.292 ms :  └─(1) blink::V8ScriptRunner::CompileScript
    4.292 ms :   ▶(1) blink::ScriptController::ExecuteScriptAndReturnValue
             :
             :========== Call Graph ==========
   31.017 ms : (5) blink::V8ScriptRunner::CompileScript
    9.381 ms :  ├─(4) blink::V8String
    9.370 ms :  │ (4) blink::StringCache::V8ExternalString
    9.367 ms :  │ (4) blink::StringCache::V8ExternalStringSlow
    9.311 ms :  │ (4) blink::StringCache::CreateStringAndInsertIntoCache
  148.117 us :  │  ├─(1) blink::MakeExternalString
        ...

[namhyung]

Pushed review/tui-support-v3

Changelog:

• support (partial) graph display even in graph mode
• fold backtrace at the first parent like above
• change some key mappings
  • N/P - move to next/previous search result (as well as </> keys)
  • R - display report output (same as r)
  • G - display full graph output (previously g key did)
  • g - display partial graph output for the selected function

[honggyukim]

Thanks a lot for doing this. I have one more favor on it.

N/P - move to next/previous search result (as well as </> keys)

It's a matter of preference, but can it be n/N to search forward and backward instead of N/P? It will be same as search keys in vim and even in less as well.

Except for that, it's really great so I would like to use it very soon. So would it be possible to merge it soon then enhance it one by one later?

[namhyung]

It's a matter of preference, but can it be n/N to search forward and backward instead of N/P? It will be same as search keys in vim and even in less as well.

I know but I'd keep as is since I see a value in moving to next/prev siblings. I think it's good to have same keys ('n' and 'p') for same directions. And I'm an emacs user. :)

[honggyukim]

Ah.. There are p/n keys already for sibling search. I just wanted to make search related keys same as in replay command with pager but it's okay so. I didn't know that N/P are emacs keys. Thanks :)

[namhyung]

Just FYI, emacs search keys are different but it uses C-n/C-p for navigation. :)

[honggyukim]

Thanks a lot!