I have an issue with Instruments (Version 11.3.1 (11C505)) where it doesn't record signposts correctly, even in windowed mode. I'm trying to record a large number (hundreds of thousands, possibly over a million, but hard to tell since I cannot get the data) of interval signposts plus some event signposts using the Objective-C macros.
I seem to be running into some sort of limit, since even though I’m telling Instruments to record the last 60 seconds in windowed mode (see screen shot), signpost data only exists for the last roughly five seconds. Other instruments, such as Time Profiler, are not affected (see screen shot).
Using deferred mode does not work very well at all, since the app is stuck modelling the data stream after data acquisition while using around 100% CPU and nothing is actually happening. I’ve tried waiting for a couple of hours, but the bar didn’t move further. I can provide a spin dump if needed. Also, the app is a LOT more sluggish in this recording mode.
If I disable one of my signpost categories, I appear to get enough data for the entire run of around 35 seconds.
Am I hitting some sort of invisible wall? If so, what are my options other than disabling entire categories of signposts or keeping the test run shorter? I’d appreciate any kind of suggestion or suspicion as to what might be going on here and how I could mitigate this.