From: Robert Klemme <bob.news@...>
Date: 2005-11-05T06:42:16+09:00
Subject: Re: Getting a stack trace of a running Ruby program.

Ron M <rm_rails@cheapcomplexdevices.com> wrote:
> Is there a way of displaying the stack trace of a running ruby
> program without killing it?
> Java virtual machines(*) will show the stack trace(s) of a running
> program if you send them a QUIT signal (or on windows <ctrl><break>) 
> without
> stopping the program.   On Linux, the "pstack" program gives you the same
> capabilities for C programs.
>
> This is useful when a program runs for days and gets gradually
> slower.  By periodically sending QUIT signals you can essentally poll the
> program's stack to see where it's getting slow.
>
> Is there any way to do similar in Ruby?   Even if I need to attach
> using GDB, it would help me - but I'd need someone to point me to what 
> data
> structures I should look at with the debugger.  Otherwise, I think
> it'd be a really nice feature if, like java, a QUIT signal could show the
> stack trace(s) of the existing nthread(s) without killing an
> application
>
>    Ron
>
> *
> http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/Programming/Stacktrace/
> * http://linuxcommand.org/man_pages/pstack1.html

I prefer to use real profiling tools instead of looking at a single 
stacktrace.  In Java that would be -Xrunhprof, OptimizeIt et al.  In Ruby 
you can use -r profile for profiling.  Also, there's module Benchmark which 
is less intrusive than the profiler.  Finally there's set_trace_func which 
can be used to generate call stacks for each thread and print them to 
console on a signal similarly to your Java approach.

HTH

    robert