The following are examples of sh_flowtime.d. This is a simple script to trace the flow of Bourne shell functions, builtins and external commands. Here it traces the example program, Code/Shell/func_abc.sh. # sh_flowtime.d C TIME(us) FILE DELTA(us) -- NAME 0 3060817866026 func_abc.sh 2 -> func_a 0 3060817866086 func_abc.sh 60 > echo 0 3060818871601 func_abc.sh 1005514 | sleep 0 3060818871639 func_abc.sh 38 -> func_b 0 3060818871684 func_abc.sh 44 > echo 0 3060819881597 func_abc.sh 1009912 | sleep 0 3060819881657 func_abc.sh 60 -> func_c 0 3060819881717 func_abc.sh 60 > echo 0 3060820891613 func_abc.sh 1009896 | sleep 0 3060820891661 func_abc.sh 47 <- func_c 0 3060820891675 func_abc.sh 14 <- func_b 0 3060820891683 func_abc.sh 7 <- func_a ^C As each function is entered, the third column is indented by 2 spaces. This shows which function is calling who - the output above begins by showing that func_a() began, and then called func_b(). The DELTA(us) column is interpreted as follows, -> previous line to the start of this function <- previous line to the end of this function > previous line to the end of this builtin | previous line to the end of this command And so the above output shows that each sleep command is taking around 1.0 seconds to execute. If the output looks shuffled, check the CPU "C" and "TIME" columns, and post sort based on TIME if necessary. See Notes/ALLflow_notes.txt for important notes about reading flow outputs. The following traces the firefox start script. # sh_flowtime.d C TIME(us) FILE DELTA(us) -- NAME 0 3060994282580 firefox 2 > test 0 3060994286921 firefox 4341 > [ 0 3060994286955 firefox 34 > cd 0 3060994287014 firefox 58 > [ 0 3060994287059 firefox 45 > [ 0 3060994287227 firefox 167 > [ 0 3060994293793 firefox 2 > echo 0 3060994305759 firefox 2 > echo 0 3060994309613 firefox 22385 > [ 0 3060994309665 firefox 52 > export 0 3060994309691 firefox 25 -> moz_pis_startstop_scripts 0 3060994309752 firefox 61 > export 0 3060994310199 firefox 447 > [ 0 3060994314462 firefox 4262 -> moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994314484 firefox 22 > : 0 3060994314497 firefox 12 <- moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994322101 firefox 7604 > [ 0 3060994322134 firefox 33 -> moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994322147 firefox 12 > : 0 3060994322155 firefox 7 <- moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994322501 firefox 345 > [ 0 3060994322518 firefox 17 > [ 0 3060994322578 firefox 59 > [ 0 3060994322641 firefox 62 -> moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994322650 firefox 9 > : 0 3060994322656 firefox 6 <- moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994653794 firefox 331137 -> moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994653826 firefox 32 > : 0 3060994653839 firefox 12 <- moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994659534 firefox 2 > [ 0 3060994667539 firefox 13699 > [ 0 3060994667604 firefox 65 -> moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994667617 firefox 13 > : 0 3060994667625 firefox 8 <- moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994667653 firefox 27 -> moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994667661 firefox 7 > : 0 3060994667668 firefox 6 <- moz_spc_verbose_echo 0 3060994667675 firefox 7 > . 0 3060994667725 firefox 49 > [ 0 3060994667732 firefox 6 <- moz_pis_startstop_scripts 0 3060994667853 firefox 121 > [ 0 3060994667881 firefox 27 > [ 0 3060994804329 run-mozilla.sh 2 > [ 0 3060994804524 run-mozilla.sh 194 > break 0 3060994804560 run-mozilla.sh 36 > [ 0 3060994804580 run-mozilla.sh 20 > shift 0 3060994804649 run-mozilla.sh 68 > [ 0 3060994804710 run-mozilla.sh 61 > [ 0 3060994804747 run-mozilla.sh 36 > [ 0 3060994804889 run-mozilla.sh 142 > [ 0 3060994804915 run-mozilla.sh 26 > export 0 3060994804952 run-mozilla.sh 36 > [ 0 3060994804981 run-mozilla.sh 28 > [ 0 3060994805093 run-mozilla.sh 112 > [ 0 3060994805116 run-mozilla.sh 22 > export 0 3060994805160 run-mozilla.sh 44 > export 0 3060994805187 run-mozilla.sh 27 > [ 0 3060994805215 run-mozilla.sh 27 -> moz_run_program 0 3060994805263 run-mozilla.sh 48 > [ 0 3060994805283 run-mozilla.sh 19 -> moz_test_binary 0 3060994805314 run-mozilla.sh 31 > [ 0 3060994805346 run-mozilla.sh 31 > [ 0 3060994805358 run-mozilla.sh 12 > return 0 3060994805367 run-mozilla.sh 9 <- moz_test_binary 0 3060994805385 run-mozilla.sh 17 > [ 0 3060994964498 run-mozilla.sh 2 > type 0 3060995520942 run-mozilla.sh 715556 > [ 0 3060995520967 run-mozilla.sh 24 > [ 0 3060995520987 run-mozilla.sh 20 > [ 0 3061000622172 run-mozilla.sh 5101184 | /usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin 0 3061000622221 run-mozilla.sh 49 > [ 0 3061000622252 run-mozilla.sh 30 > [ 0 3061000622266 run-mozilla.sh 14 > [ 0 3061000622275 run-mozilla.sh 9 <- moz_run_program 0 3061000623686 firefox 5955805 | /usr/lib/firefox/run-mozilla.sh 0 3061000623793 firefox 106 -> moz_pis_startstop_scripts 0 3061000623864 firefox 71 > export 0 3061000624108 firefox 244 > [ 0 3061000624138 firefox 30 > [ 0 3061000624147 firefox 8 <- moz_pis_startstop_scripts Points of latency during startup are visible in the output. For more details, see Examples/sh_flowinfo_example.txt.