Seems like a minor documentation issue in 2.x became more significant 
one in 3.x.

In Python 2.6 (and lower), the documentation on Profile objects 
discussed them as a part of hotshot module, while omitting the fact 
that any profiler module, either of profile/cProfile/hotshot, supports 
them (though in fact, hotshot Profile objects have an api a bit 
different from profile/cProfile Profile objects). Note http://
docs.python.org/2.6/library/hotshot.html#profile-objects - there is no 
separate documentation of non-hotshot Profile objects, though they are 
largely similar. This is a minor issue which could probably be fixed in 
2.7 as a separate problem - otherwise it is pretty unclear from the 
documentation, what methods do cProfile Profile objects support (eg, 
they support enable()/disable() and runcall() methods, which is pretty 
useful for profiling, but impossible to find in documentation).

In Python 3.1, looks like everything related to hotshot was removed 
from the documents, including the documentation on Profile objects - 
which should not have been. This means, that now the documentation on 
profilers does not cover any Profile classes at all - see http://
docs.python.org/3.1/library/profile.html . For example, the official 
documentation doesn't say any way to profile a function passing 
arguments to it and receiving its result - while profile/cProfile 
Profile objects still do support runcall() method.

I am just responding so this will not show up on the 'unanswered issues' list. It appears that GB has accepted this as something that needs to be done.

Looking at the current docs for 3.3, it looks like there are a bunch of other ways that the docs could be clarified:

1) Proper documentation of the complete profile.Profile() and cProfile.Profile() interfaces. 

2) Adding other examples to the quick start section at the top for how to process the resulting stats without printing them to stdout or writing them to a file.

I'll take a stab at this.

I took a stab at updating the docs based on the current profiler source. See attached patch for a first draft. 

This is my first doc patch so would appreciate any feedback on style and substance of my changes.

I tried to document more of the modules (for example the internal Profile object), logically arrange things a better better IMHO, and generally be more precise about what is happening.

Can someone review Thomas's patch?  It's nearly a year old...  I just discovered this same issue.

I learned a lot of that stuff recently thanks to a tutorial from Greg Ward.  Reviewing the patch now.

Tom, I’m sory your contribution was ignored, and I hope you still get Python bugs email.  The patch is great.  I made comments about contents and form on the code review site; you can follow the “review” link in the list of files on the top of this page if you didn’t get an email from the review app.

Eric, you could also check it in with your own changes added.

How far can we backport docs?

2.7 and 3.2.

I’ll wait a few days to let Thomas get the email and reply if he wants.

Thanks for the feedback!

I'll incorporate it this weekend and make a new patch, though also feel free to just go ahead and make the changes yourself if you'd rather not wait for me.

There is no rush, even if this doesn’t get into the docs distributed with the releases that are due next week-end, people will see it in the online docs a day after it’s committed.

Draft of new updates based on Eric's feedback. I haven't done a final proof-reading over this patch as I wanted to upload it and see if I'm heading in the right direction first.

Ezio, would you like to commit this?

Updated based on Ezio's comments.

Another update based on comments. Removed links to cProfile.py and _lsof.c.

Last patch LGTM (except a couple of minor whitespace issues).
Tom, can you sign the contributor agreement (http://www.python.org/psf/contrib/contrib-form/)?

Great!

Just signed the contributor agreement.

On Apr 10, 2013, at 1:06 PM, Ezio Melotti <report@bugs.python.org> wrote:

> 
> Ezio Melotti added the comment:
> 
> Last patch LGTM (except a couple of minor whitespace issues).
> Tom, can you sign the contributor agreement (http://www.python.org/psf/contrib/contrib-form/)?
> 
> ----------
> stage: patch review -> commit review
> versions:  -Python 3.2
> 
> _______________________________________
> Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
> <http://bugs.python.org/issue6696>
> _______________________________________

New changeset cd785c9d26c2 by Ezio Melotti in branch '3.3':
#6696: add documentation for the Profile objects, and improve profile/cProfile docs.  Patch by Tom Pinckney.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/cd785c9d26c2

New changeset 81dabc1feb52 by Ezio Melotti in branch 'default':
#6696: merge with 3.3.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/81dabc1feb52

New changeset b57245574717 by Ezio Melotti in branch '2.7':
#6696: add documentation for the Profile objects, and improve profile/cProfile docs.  Patch by Tom Pinckney.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/b57245574717

Fixed, thanks for the patch!

Cool! Thanks.

Thanks everyone for helping me through my first python patch submission.