Attached is a modified version of the cPython profiler file 
Modules/_lsprof.c using a high-resolution timer where available.

The enhancement has been tested on 32- and 64-bit Linux (x86 and x86_64) 
and on 32-bit MacOS X Tiger (Intel) and Panther (PPC).

No other platforms have been tested but as before the profiler will 
fallback to using gettimeofday() on non-Windows version, except the 64-
bit PPC build will issue a compile-time warning.

This enhancement applies to Python 2.5.2 only.

Attached are 2 Modules/_lsprof.c files, one for Python 2.5.2 and 2.6a1 
and the other for Python 3.0a3.  Discard the previously posted one.

Both contain the same enhancements to use the high-resolution timer 
where available.

These versions catch wrap around of the timer and clock and adjust 
accordingly.  In the hpTimerUnit function only and not for profile 
times.

Lastly, instead of malloc and free functions PyObject_MALLOC and 
PyObject_FREE are called making profiler memory usage the same as for 
other objects created.

I don't think this should be added to 2.5. Only bugfixes are admissible
to the backporting process (see PEP 6).

Finally, could you post the diff of your changes as described at
http://www.python.org/dev/patches/. Thanks!

Here are 2 forward diff files against _lspprof.c rev 59564.  One 
_lsprof2.6.diff for Python 2.6a1 and _lsprof3.0.diff for 3.0.

Interesting patch, but there are lots of spurious #if's and #ifdef's
which could be simplified. Also, some changes look slightly unrelated
(e.g. the switch from malloc/free to PyObject_Malloc/PyObject_Free).

Attached is another version of the Modules/_lsprof.c source file.

This _lsprof3.c uses the hires time base on Mac OS X, Solaris and HP-UX 
(plus MS Windows like before) and does not require any asm code.

Also, there are no changes other than the very top of the file.  The 
forward diff with rev 66700 from the trunk is included.

Attached is yet another version of the Modules/_lsprof.c source, called 
_lsprof4.c.

This one adds support for the hires timer on 32- and 64-bit Intel and 
PowerPC processors iff compiled with GNU C.

With _lsprof4.c, the high precision profile is available on Linux, Mac 
OS X, Solaris, HP-UX and MS Windows.

Included is the forward diff with _lsprof.c rev 66700 from the trunk.  
The changes are only at the very top and in the initialization function 
at the bottom.

There were two problems with _lsprof4.c.  Attached is the corrected file 
and the forward diff with _lsprof.c rev 6670.

Here a small, standalone test program of the hires timer code from 
_lsprof4.c.

The results from 10 different builds are included in the comment.

Both the hires_lsprof4.tgz and hpTime.c files have been updated with a 
change in the PowerPC asm code.

The previous implementation used a loop: label and that may cause 
duplicate symbols when compiled at optimization levels of -O3 and above 
with older GNU C compilers.

Another test build and result has been added to the hpTime.c comment.

Another thought on the hires timer to make the hires time and hires time 
units available as 2 other functions in the time module.

For example, function time.ticks() returns the hires time stamp as an 
int.  Function time.ticks2secs(t) converts a given number of ticks to 
seconds.

To avoid duplicating the hires time code in both the time and profile 
modules, it would be necessary to move the hpTimer and hpTimerUnit 
functions to some place inside the Python core accessible for the time 
and profile modules.  Perhaps to a new file, say Python/gethptime.c.

That new file can handle other platform-specific idiosyncrasies with 
respect to hires time.  In particular, it could implement a different 
(and better) way to determine the resolution of a hires tick, e.g. on 
Linux and BSD Unix.