Can Instruments be used using the command line?

Question

Can Instruments be used as a replacement for

valgrind

If one wants to check for memory leaks using instruments can it be used from the terminal?

Eyesight

I'm also interested in the XCode 13 answer to this same question. We basically want to supervise a program run to get data like the cpu cycles used in the execution. – Ropy

Answer 1

Instruments used to have a command line interface:

$ instruments -h

Example usage:

$ instruments -t mytemplate -a myapp.app

For leaks, try the Leaks.tracetemplate. To see all available templates, use -s.

There is another executable, just called leaks. You can inspect any running application by giving leaks its PID:

$ echo $$
620

$ leaks 620
leaks Report Version:  2.0 
Process:         bash [620]
Path:            /bin/bash
Load Address:    0x100000000
...
Process 620: 37983 nodes malloced for 1123 KB
Process 620: 0 leaks for 0 total leaked bytes.

Read more about leaks in the Apple developer reference library.

Paestum

Do you know if it is possible to launch or attach UIAutomation tool to a process on the actual iOS device using Instruments command line interface ? – Mannes

instruments -t /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/Library/Instruments/PlugIns/AutomationInstrument.bundle/Contents/Resources/Automation.tracetemplate <full_path_to_application> -e UIASCRIPT <script.js> -e UIARESULTSPATH <output_results_path> Found on lemonjar.com/blog/?p=69 – Hairdo

-a options no longer exists. instruments, version 9.0 (63198) usage: instruments [-t template] [-D document] [-l timeLimit] [-i #] [-w device] [[-p pid] | [application [-e variable value] [argument ...]]] – Fetiparous

This seems to be no longer true nowadays, at least I can't find this tool on a monterey macbook. – Digress

Answer 2

For Xcode 9, if you want to profile a iOS app, an example command like this:

instruments -t Zombies -w 'iPhone SE (11.0.1) [XXX] (Simulator)' MyApp.app

instruments command ref:

https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/InstrumentsUserGuide/Recording,Pausing,andStoppingTraces.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40004652-CH12-SW3

Fetiparous