A simple utility to collect GObject signals
If you wish to trace the signal emitted by gobjects, try my g-signal-collector (Linux only).
First, you have to clone the source tree from github
$ git clone git@github.com:derekdai/g-signal-collector.git
Generate makefiles and build (cmake must be installed prior this step)
$ mkdir g-signal-collector-build
$ cmake ../g-signal-collector -- The C compiler identification is GNU 4.7.2 -- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 4.7.2 -- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/gcc -- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/gcc -- works -- Detecting C compiler ABI info -- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done -- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++ -- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++ -- works -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done -- Found PkgConfig: /usr/bin/pkg-config (found version "0.26") -- checking for module 'gobject-2.0' -- found gobject-2.0, version 2.34.1 -- checking for module 'clutter-1.0' -- found clutter-1.0, version 1.12.0 -- checking for module 'gtk+-3.0' -- found gtk+-3.0, version 3.6.0 -- Configuring done -- Generating done -- Build files have been written to: /home/derekdai/Projects/g-signal-collector-build
$ make Scanning dependencies of target g-signal-collector [ 16%] Building C object src/CMakeFiles/g-signal-collector.dir/collector.c.o [ 33%] Building C object src/CMakeFiles/g-signal-collector.dir/signal-info.c.o [ 50%] Building C object src/CMakeFiles/g-signal-collector.dir/signal-info-pool.c.o [ 66%] Building C object src/CMakeFiles/g-signal-collector.dir/signal-info-pool-dumper.c.o Linking C shared library libg-signal-collector.so [ 66%] Built target g-signal-collector Scanning dependencies of target clutter-rectangles [ 83%] Building C object test/CMakeFiles/clutter-rectangles.dir/clutter-rectangles.c.o Linking C executable clutter-rectangles [ 83%] Built target clutter-rectangles Scanning dependencies of target gtk-rectangles [100%] Building C object test/CMakeFiles/gtk-rectangles.dir/gtk-rectangles.c.o Linking C executable gtk-rectangles [100%] Built target gtk-rectangles
If build successively, you can find a .so in the src/ named libg-signal-collector.so
$ ls src CMakeFiles cmake_install.cmake libg-signal-collector.so Makefile
Now, you can run any application based on gobject to capture signals $ LD_PRELOAD=$PWD/src/libg-signal-collector.so gedit
The command above run gedit with g-signal-collector, now you can close gedit and found the result in current directory.
$ ls gedit* gedit.0.gsc
.gsc file is the text file. You can view it with any text editor you want. File content looks like 0 0x8489500 0.013648 0.000017 0x84a6040 GdkX11Display::opened 1 0x8489500 0.013666 0.019902 0x847e930 GdkX11DisplayManager::display-opened 2 0x8489500 0.014341 0.000001 0x847eb60 >GtkStyleCascade::-gtk-private-changed 3 0x8489500 0.014345 0.000000 0x847eb60 >GtkStyleCascade::-gtk-private-changed 4 0x8489500 0.015162 0.000001 0x84bc2e8 >GSocketClient::event 5 0x8489500 0.015163 0.000001 0x84bc2e8 >GSocketClient::event 6 0x8489500 0.015265 0.000000 0x84bc2e8 >GSocketClient::event
1st column is serial number, 2nd column is the thread ID, 3rd column is timestamp, 4th column is elapsed time, 5th column is the signal description (nest leve>class-name::sign-name).