A lightweight, zero-instrumentation CPU profiler for Python applications. It uses bpftrace and FlameGraphs to visualize performance bottlenecks in real-time with negligible overhead (<1%).

1. Install Dependencies You need a Linux environment with root access.

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y bpftrace apache2-utils git bc
   

2. Clone the Repo

   git clone https://github.com/cnu1812/eBPF.git
   git submodule update --init --recursive
   cd ebpf
   

3. Run the Demo Open 3 separate terminals:

• Terminal 1 (Target App):

  python3 slow_app.py
  

  

• Terminal 2 (Profiler):

  chmod +x realtime.sh
  ./realtime.sh
  

  

• Terminal 3 (Dashboard):

  python3 -m http.server --directory ./www/html 8080
  

  

4. View the Dashboard Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser. Generate load in a 4th terminal to see the graph populate:

   ab -n 100 -c 10 http://127.0.0.1:5000/slow
   

   

   Result

   

This tool works by sampling stack traces from the kernel, meaning no code changes are required in your application.

Probe: profile:hz:99 (Samples 99 times/sec)

Filter: Filters by PID to isolate the target application.

Visualization: Uses Brendan Gregg's FlameGraph scripts.

If needed edit realtime.sh to adjust parameters:

• "Permission Denied" / "Operation not permitted"

  eBPF requires root privileges. Ensure you are running ./realtime.sh as a user with sudo access.

  If running in a container, you must run with --privileged.

• "No stacks captured"

  Idle App: The profiler only captures active CPU cycles. If the app is idle, the graph will be empty. Run ab to generate load.

  Missing Frame Pointers: If your Python binary was compiled without frame pointers (common in Alpine Linux), eBPF cannot walk the stack. Use a standard glibc-based Python (Debian/Ubuntu).

• Browser shows 404

  The profile.svg file is only generated after the first successful capture cycle (5 seconds). Wait for the script to say "Updated profile.svg".