perfetto: Add high-performance Java data source and ProtoWriter

Add a zero-allocation Java data source API for writing custom trace
data from performance-critical code paths (e.g., frame rendering).

The core of this is ProtoWriter, a pure Java protobuf encoder that
writes directly to a pre-allocated thread-local byte buffer using
the same 4-byte redundant varint trick as C protozero for nested
message length fields. This enables single-pass encoding without
size pre-computation.

Architecture:
- ProtoWriter: zero-alloc proto encoder (varint, fixed, string,
  nested messages). ASCII fast path for strings. UTF-8 fallback
  with pre-allocated scratch buffer.
- PerfettoDataSource: base class with volatile enabled flag (~1ns
  disabled check) and ThreadLocal TraceContext.
- TraceContext: per-thread writer + optional InternPool. Single
  JNI call (nativeWritePacketToAllInstances) writes encoded bytes
  to all active tracing session instances via the C SDK stream
  writer, which handles chunk boundaries and patching.
- InternPool: optional string interning with lazy incremental
  state checking (no JNI overhead when interning is unused).

The JNI layer correctly handles:
- Multi-instance: iterates all active sessions, writes to each.
- Enabled flag: uses native enabled_ptr to avoid disabling when
  other instances remain active.
- Incremental state: tracks per-instance clear flags for interning.
- Large packets: delegates to PerfettoStreamWriterAppendBytes
  which handles cross-chunk writes and size field patching.

Benchmarks (Java program, real JNI, real Perfetto shmem, Linux):
  Full E2E encode + JNI + shmem (basic):  ~112 ns/op
  Full E2E encode + JNI + shmem (+ arg):  ~123 ns/op
  ProtoWriter encode only:                 ~14 ns/op
  JNI + shmem only (pre-encoded):          ~95 ns/op
vs C SDK raw data source (same-size pkt):  ~77 ns/op (1.45x)
vs C SDK track event LL:                  ~192 ns/op
vs existing Java track event HL:          ~179 ns/op

Bug: N/A
Test: perfetto_integrationtests --gtest_filter="JavaDataSourceTest.*"
Test: ProtoWriterTest, InternPoolTest, FullTraceE2ETest (JUnit4)
Change-Id: I0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
22 files changed
tree: 06aa37d3de2be8874e5c411a7dbe93290aab4ef6
  1. .github/
  2. bazel/
  3. build_overrides/
  4. buildtools/
  5. contrib/
  6. docs/
  7. examples/
  8. gn/
  9. include/
  10. infra/
  11. protos/
  12. python/
  13. sdk/
  14. src/
  15. test/
  16. third_party/
  17. tools/
  18. ui/
  19. .bazelignore
  20. .bazelrc
  21. .bazelversion
  22. .clang-format
  23. .clang-tidy
  24. .git-blame-ignore-revs
  25. .gitallowed
  26. .gitattributes
  27. .gitignore
  28. .gn
  29. .style.yapf
  30. Android.bp
  31. Android.bp.extras
  32. BUILD
  33. BUILD.extras
  34. BUILD.gn
  35. CHANGELOG
  36. CONTRIBUTORS.txt
  37. DIR_METADATA
  38. heapprofd.rc
  39. LICENSE
  40. meson.build
  41. METADATA
  42. MODULE.bazel
  43. MODULE.bazel.lock
  44. MODULE_LICENSE_APACHE2
  45. OWNERS
  46. OWNERS.github
  47. perfetto.rc
  48. perfetto_flags.aconfig
  49. PerfettoIntegrationTests.xml
  50. persistent_cfg.pbtxt
  51. README.chromium
  52. README.md
  53. TEST_MAPPING
  54. traced_perf.rc
  55. WORKSPACE
README.md

Perfetto - System profiling, app tracing and trace analysis

Perfetto is an open-source suite of SDKs, daemons and tools which use tracing to help developers understand the behaviour of complex systems and root-cause functional and performance issues on client and embedded systems.

It is a production-grade tool that is the default tracing system for the Android operating system and the Chromium browser.

Core Components

Perfetto is not a single tool, but a collection of components that work together:

  • High-performance tracing daemons: For capturing tracing information from many processes on a single machine into a unified trace file.
  • Low-overhead tracing SDK: A C++17 library for direct userspace-to-userspace tracing of timings and state changes in your application.
  • Extensive OS-level probes: For capturing system-wide context on Android and Linux (e.g. scheduling states, CPU frequencies, memory profiling, callstack sampling).
  • Browser-based UI: A powerful, fully local UI for visualizing and exploring large, multi-GB traces on a timeline. It works in all major browsers, requires no installation, and can open traces from other tools.
  • SQL-based analysis library: A powerful engine that allows you to programmatically query traces using SQL to automate analysis and extract custom metrics.

Why Use Perfetto?

Perfetto was designed to be a versatile and powerful tracing system for a wide range of use cases.

  • For Android App & Platform Developers: Debug and root-cause functional and performance issues like slow startups, dropped frames (jank), animation glitches, low memory kills, and ANRs. Profile both Java/Kotlin and native C++ memory usage with heap dumps and profiles.
  • For C/C++ Developers (Linux, macOS, Windows): Use the Tracing SDK to instrument your application with custom trace points to understand its execution flow, find performance bottlenecks, and debug complex behavior. On Linux, you can also perform detailed CPU and native heap profiling.
  • For Linux Kernel & System Developers: Get deep insights into kernel behavior. Perfetto acts as an efficient userspace daemon for ftrace, allowing you to visualize scheduling, syscalls, interrupts, and custom kernel tracepoints on a timeline.
  • For Chromium Developers: Perfetto is the tracing backend for chrome://tracing. Use it to debug and root-cause issues in the browser, V8, and Blink.
  • For Performance Engineers & SREs: Analyze and visualize a wide range of profiling and tracing formats, not just Perfetto's. Use the powerful SQL interface to programmatically analyze traces from tools like Linux perf, macOS Instruments, Chrome JSON traces, and more.

Getting Started

We‘ve designed our documentation to guide you to the right information as quickly as possible, whether you’re a newcomer to performance analysis or an experienced developer.

  1. New to tracing? If you're unfamiliar with concepts like tracing and profiling, start here:

  2. Ready to dive in? Our “Getting Started” guide is the main entry point for all users. It will help you find the right tutorials and documentation for your specific needs:

  3. Want the full overview? For a comprehensive look at what Perfetto is, why it's useful, and who uses it, see our main documentation page:

Debian Distribution

For users interested in the Debian distribution of Perfetto, the official source of truth and packaging efforts are maintained at Debian Perfetto Salsa Repository

Community & Support

Have questions? Need help?

We follow Google's Open Source Community Guidelines.