Tier of Support: V8 --interpreted-frames-native-stack current state

[Drieger]

I tried to summarize current state of requisites for V8 --interpreted-frames-native-stack. Requisites are taken from Tier 1 (most complete set of requirements).

There are some requirements that seem to be subjective (at least to me), which means it's not clear if a tool fulfills it or not.

Requisites

• Must always be working (CI tests passing) for all LTS Node.js
• Have a good test suite
• Test suite job must exist in Node.js CI
• The maintainers of the tool must remain responsive when there are problems (Subjective)
• The tool must be actively used by the ecosystem (Subjective)
• The tool must be heavily depended on (Subjective)
• The tool must have a guide or other documentation in the Node.js GitHub organization or website
• The tool must be working on all supported platforms
• The tool must only be using APIs exposed by Nodejs as opposed to its dependencies
• The tool must be open source.

Tool Analysis

Name	V8 --interpreted-frames-native-stack
Type	Profiling
Current Tier	3 (according to guide)
Target Tier	2

Requisite	Status	Observation
Must always be working (CI tests passing) for all LTS Node.js	Maybe	Flag was added on Node.js v10.x. So since that version, all LTS Node.js should be ok
Have a good test suite	Maybe	Test exists for the feature. I'm not sure if test coverage enough
Test suite job must exist in Node.js CI	Maybe	Tests are run based on V8 (test/v8-updates/test-linux-perf.js)
The maintainers of the tool must remain responsive when there are problems	Ok	This is mantained as part of V8, so should be ok
The tool must be actively used by the ecosystem	Maybe	No metrics available to define this
The tool must be heavily depended on	Maybe	It is hard to define it, specially if we think that the ecosystem could be only people interested in diagnostics/profiling/...
The tool must have a guide or other documentation in the Node.js GitHub organization or website	Fail	Tool doesn't have any guide in the Node.js Github organization or website.README file in its own repository with a some usage explanation
The tool must be working on all supported platforms	True	Works on all platforms where V8 is also working
The tool must only be using APIs exposed by Nodejs as opposed to its dependencies	Fail	Tool must use some of its dependencies. But it is necessary for this kind of tool
The tool must be open source	Ok	Tool is part of V8

Based on this it is possible to have a more clear view of the current state and what is necessary to work on to move V8 --interpreted-frames-native-stack to target tier. It is also an opportunity to debate if requirements are correct. Any ideas and opinions are welcome.

[mcollina]

I think this tool is a must-use in combination with perf #261, and I do not think we should evaluate this separately from perf.

[Drieger]

@mcollina I will close this issue and move it to the same one where perf is being discussed. I believe this will make it clearer as pointed in your comment.

Link: Linux Perf Issue

If someone thinks this topic worth continue open, we could reopen it later and bring discussions to here.