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This makes the rule for xmllint easier since it doesn't need to override the DTD to validate against. It also helps with other tools tryinf to process the docbookx xml files.
132 lines
5.2 KiB
XML
132 lines
5.2 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0"?> <!-- -*- sgml -*- -->
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<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
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"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd"
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[ <!ENTITY % vg-entities SYSTEM "vg-entities.xml"> %vg-entities; ]>
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<chapter id="manual-intro" xreflabel="Introduction">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<sect1 id="manual-intro.overview" xreflabel="An Overview of Valgrind">
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<title>An Overview of Valgrind</title>
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<para>Valgrind is an instrumentation framework for building dynamic analysis
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tools. It comes with a set of tools each of which performs some kind of
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debugging, profiling, or similar task that helps you improve your programs.
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Valgrind's architecture is modular, so new tools can be created easily
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and without disturbing the existing structure.</para>
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<para>A number of useful tools are supplied as standard.</para>
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<orderedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para><command>Memcheck</command> is a memory error detector. It helps
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you make your programs, particularly those written in C and C++, more
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correct.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><command>Cachegrind</command> is a cache and branch-prediction
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profiler. It helps you make your programs run faster.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><command>Callgrind</command> is a call-graph generating cache
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profiler. It has some overlap with Cachegrind, but also gathers some
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information that Cachegrind does not.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><command>Helgrind</command> is a thread error detector.
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It helps you make your multi-threaded programs more correct.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><command>DRD</command> is also a thread error detector. It is
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similar to Helgrind but uses different analysis techniques and so may
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find different problems.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><command>Massif</command> is a heap profiler. It helps you
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make your programs use less memory.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><command>DHAT</command> is a different kind of heap
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profiler. It helps you understand issues of block lifetimes,
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block utilisation, and layout inefficiencies.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><command>BBV</command> is an experimental SimPoint basic block
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vector generator. It is useful to people doing computer architecture
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research and development.</para>
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</listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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<para>There are also a couple of minor tools that aren't useful to
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most users: <command>Lackey</command> is an example tool that illustrates
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some instrumentation basics; and <command>Nulgrind</command> is the minimal
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Valgrind tool that does no analysis or instrumentation, and is only useful
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for testing purposes.</para>
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<para>Valgrind is closely tied to details of the CPU and operating
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system, and to a lesser extent, the compiler and basic C libraries.
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Nonetheless, it supports a number of widely-used platforms, listed in full
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at <ulink url="&vg-url;">&vg-url;</ulink>.</para>
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<para>Valgrind is built via the standard Unix
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<computeroutput>./configure</computeroutput>,
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<computeroutput>make</computeroutput>, <computeroutput>make
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install</computeroutput> process; full details are given in the
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README file in the distribution.</para>
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<para>Valgrind is licensed under the <xref linkend="license.gpl"/>,
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version 2. The <computeroutput>valgrind/*.h</computeroutput> headers
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that you may wish to include in your code (eg.
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<filename>valgrind.h</filename>, <filename>memcheck.h</filename>,
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<filename>helgrind.h</filename>, etc.) are
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distributed under a BSD-style license, so you may include them in your
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code without worrying about license conflicts. Some of the PThreads
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test cases, <filename>pth_*.c</filename>, are taken from "Pthreads
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Programming" by Bradford Nichols, Dick Buttlar & Jacqueline Proulx
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Farrell, ISBN 1-56592-115-1, published by O'Reilly & Associates,
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Inc.</para>
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<para>If you contribute code to Valgrind, please ensure your
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contributions are licensed as "GPLv2, or (at your option) any later
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version." This is so as to allow the possibility of easily upgrading
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the license to GPLv3 in future. If you want to modify code in the VEX
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subdirectory, please also see the file VEX/HACKING.README in the
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distribution.</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="manual-intro.navigation" xreflabel="How to navigate this manual">
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<title>How to navigate this manual</title>
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<para>This manual's structure reflects the structure of Valgrind itself.
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First, we describe the Valgrind core, how to use it, and the options
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it supports. Then, each tool has its own chapter in this manual. You
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only need to read the documentation for the core and for the tool(s) you
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actually use, although you may find it helpful to be at least a little
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bit familiar with what all tools do. If you're new to all this, you probably
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want to run the Memcheck tool and you might find the <xref
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linkend="quick-start"/> useful.</para>
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<para>Be aware that the core understands some command line options, and
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the tools have their own options which they know about. This means
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there is no central place describing all the options that are
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accepted -- you have to read the options documentation both for
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<xref linkend="manual-core"/> and for the tool you want to use.</para>
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</sect1>
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</chapter>
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