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diff --git a/HOWTO/BENCHMARKS.md b/HOWTO/BENCHMARKS.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..361d99256d --- /dev/null +++ b/HOWTO/BENCHMARKS.md @@ -0,0 +1,73 @@ +Benchmarking Erlang/OTP +======================= + +The Erlang/OTP source tree contains a number of benchmarks. The same framework +is used to run these benchmarks as is used to run tests. Therefore in order to +run benchmarks you have to [release the tests][] just as you normally would. + +Note that many of these benchmarks were developed to test a specific feature +under a specific setting. We strive to keep the benchmarks up-to-date, but alas +time is not an endless resource so some benchmarks will be outdated and +irrelevant. + +Running the benchmarks +---------------------- + +As with testing, `ts` is used to run the benchmarks. Before running any +benchmarks you have to [install the tests][]. To get a listing of all +benchmarks you have available call `ts:benchmarks()`. + +To run all benchmarks call `ts:bench()`. This will run all benchmarks using +the emulator which is in you `$PATH` (Note that this does not have to be the +same as from which the benchmarks were built from). All the results of the +benchmarks are put in a folder in `$TESTROOT/test_server/` called +`YYYY_MO_DDTHH_MI_SS`. + +Each benchmark is run multiple times and the data for all runs is collected in +the files within the benchmark folder. All benchmarks are written so that a +higher values are better. + +Writing benchmarks +------------------ + +Benchmarks are just normal testcases in Common Test suites. They are marked as +benchmarks by being included in the `AppName_bench.spec` which is located in +`lib/AppName/test/` for the applications which have benchmarks. Note that you +might want to add a skip clause to `AppName.spec` for the benchmarks if you do +not want them to be run in the nightly tests. + +Results of benchmarks are sent using the ct_event mechanism and automatically +collected and formatted by ts. + + ct_event:notify( + #event{name = benchmark_data, + data = [{value,TPS}]}). + +The application, suite and testcase associated with the value is automatically +detected. If you want to supply your own you can include `suite` andor `name` +with the data. i.e. + + ct_event:notify( + #event{name = benchmark_data, + data = [{suite,"erts_bench"}, + {name,"ets_transactions_per_sec"}, + {value,TPS}]}). + +The reason for using the internal ct_event and not ct is because the benchmark +code has to be backwards compatible with at least R14. + +The value which is reported should be as raw as possible. i.e. you should not +do any averaging of the value before reporting. The tools we use to collect the +benchmark data over time will do averages, means, stddev and more with the data. +So the more data which is sent using `ct_event` the better. + +Viewing benchmarks +------------------ + +At the moment of writing this HOWTO the tool for viewing benchmark results is +not available as opensource. This will hopefully change in the near future. + + + [release the tests]: README.testing.md#releasing-tests + [install the tests]: README.testing.md#configuring-the-test-environment + |