Can valgrind/callgrind work on a release executable C++ program?
c++, linux, profiling, valgrind
Solution
From Official Valgrind documentation link, following information can be found:
2.2. Getting started
First off, consider whether it might be beneficial to recompile your application and supporting libraries with debugging info enabled (the -g option).
Without debugging info, the best Valgrind tools will be able to do is guess which function a particular piece of code belongs to, which makes both error messages and profiling output nearly useless. With -g, you'll get messages which point directly to the relevant source code lines.
Another option you might like to consider, if you are working with C++, is -fno-inline. That makes it easier to see the function-call chain, which can help reduce confusion when navigating around large C++ apps. For example, debugging OpenOffice.org with Memcheck is a bit easier when using this option. You don't have to do this, but doing so helps Valgrind produce more accurate and less confusing error reports. Chances are you're set up like this already, if you intended to debug your program with GNU GDB, or some other debug.
Hence the recommended step is to recompile your program with -g option to get maximum information from the Valgrind.
Problem
I understand that valgrind can call memcheck to perform memory leak check, and in this case the compiled C++ executable program must contain debug information. Then, if I want to use valgrind/callgrind to perform profiling, must the executable contain debug information? I have run a small test, and it seems that valgrind/callgrind can work on release executable programs without debug information. Can anyone confirm it?