is CLRIE working for x86 netfx apps?

[Slavcho Nikolov]

Consider this simple app

class Prog {
    private static void PrintStuff(int a, int b)
    {
            System.Console.WriteLine($"{a} and {b}");
            //System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(30*1000);
    }
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
            PrintStuff(1,2);
    }
}

I can profile it just fine if platform is x64 but nothing happens if the platform is set to x86.
By "nothing" I mean that at a minimum I should see some output in the file pointed to by FileLogPath, see below.
Here is how I drive app profiling from a script

function make_config_mods([string]$config, [string]$bitness)
{
    [Xml]$xml = Get-Content -Raw $config
    $mod = $xml.SelectSingleNode("/InstrumentationEngineConfiguration/InstrumentationMethod/Module")
    $mod.InnerText = [IO.Path]::Combine("..", "huh_framework_${bitness}.dll")
    $xml.Save($config)
}

function multi([string]$bitness)
{
    $env:COR_PROFILER='{A1538204-C8BF-484E-BCD3-E4587B9D3322}'
    $conf = ""
    if ($bitness -eq "x64")
    {
        $env:COR_PROFILER_PATH_64='C:\Program Files\Microsoft CLR Instrumentation Engine\Proxy\v1\InstrumentationEngine.ProfilerProxy_x64.dll'
        $env:MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_ConfigPath64_blah='C:\Program Files\Huh\BLAH\Configurations\huh.config'
        $conf = $env:MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_ConfigPath64_blah
    }
    else
    {
        $env:COR_PROFILER_PATH_32='C:\Program Files\Microsoft CLR Instrumentation Engine\Proxy\v1\InstrumentationEngine.ProfilerProxy_x86.dll'
        $env:MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_ConfigPath32_blah='C:\Program Files\Huh\BLAH\Configurations\huh.config'
        $conf = $env:MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_ConfigPath32_blah
    }
    $env:MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_DisableCodeSignatureValidation='1'
    $env:MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_LogLevel='Errors'
    $env:MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_FileLogPath='C:\tmp\netfx_app_prof\mie.log'
    make_config_mods $conf $bitness
}

$arch="x86"
iex "csc /platform:${arch} /debug testprog.cs"

$env:BLEH_LIB_BLAH='C:\Program Files\Huh\BLAH\$arch\blah.dll'
multi $arch
$env:COR_ENABLE_PROFILING='1'

iex ".\testprog.exe"

[William Xie]

Hi @sanikolov, the x86 version of the ProfilerProxy lives under C:\Program Files (x86)

[Slavcho Nikolov]

Not on my box. Maybe we're not packaging it per the recommendations but nevertheless the paths are sensible on my box.

[lssw:/mnt/c/tmp/netfx_app_prof] find /mnt/c/Program\ Files/Microsoft\ CLR\ Instrumentation\ Engine/ -type f
/mnt/c/Program Files/Microsoft CLR Instrumentation Engine/1.0.36/Instrumentation32/MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_x86.dll
/mnt/c/Program Files/Microsoft CLR Instrumentation Engine/1.0.36/Instrumentation64/MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_x64.dll
/mnt/c/Program Files/Microsoft CLR Instrumentation Engine/Proxy/v1/InstrumentationEngine.ProfilerProxy_x64.dll
/mnt/c/Program Files/Microsoft CLR Instrumentation Engine/Proxy/v1/InstrumentationEngine.ProfilerProxy_x86.dll

This path structure works ok for arch x64, btw, even if it deviates from the recommendations.

[Slavcho Nikolov]

To rule out profiler proxy is messing things up due to dir/file structure I referenced the instrumentation engine directly. Still doesn't work.
$env:COR_PROFILER_PATH_32='C:\Program Files\Microsoft CLR Instrumentation Engine\1.0.36\Instrumentation32\MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_x86.dll'

[Del Myers]

The profiler proxy looks in specific locations to find the current version of the CLRIE profiler. For x86 processes, it looks in the Program Files (x86) directory:

#ifndef _WIN64
        // WoW64 = Windows (32bit) on Windows 64bit
        BOOL bIsWow64 = FALSE;
        IfFailRet_Proxy(IsWow64(eventLogger, &bIsWow64));
        if (bIsWow64)
        {
            programFilesVar = _T("ProgramFiles(x86)");
        }
#endif

So, not setting up you layout in that manner is likely the cause of the issue. This is by design. It is to ensure that people can use the most up-to-date version of CLRIE by looking in a particular path on the system. It is part of the contract.

@WilliamXieMSFT, do we publish the MSI to the public? If yes, @sanikolov could you install the proxy using the MSI?

[Del Myers]

To rule out profiler proxy is messing things up due to dir/file structure I referenced the instrumentation engine directly. Still doesn't work.
$env:COR_PROFILER_PATH_32='C:\Program Files\Microsoft CLR Instrumentation Engine\1.0.36\Instrumentation32\MicrosoftInstrumentationEngine_x86.dll'

Have you checked the Windows Event Log to see if there are any problems loading the dll? The CLR should either tell you it was successful, or it should report an error.

[Slavcho Nikolov]

There was a typo in the most recent edit.
In fact, referencing the instrumentation engine directly did work.
So your explanation about the contract makes sense.... I should update how CLRIE is redistributed by us.
Thanks

[Del Myers]

There was a typo in the most recent edit.
In fact, referencing the instrumentation engine directly did work.
So your explanation about the contract makes sense.... I should update how CLRIE is redistributed by us.
Thanks

Glad to hear it. Let us know if there is anything else we can do to help.