"txn" feature not usable due to integrated Perfspect

[hsane-dev]

The "txn" feature which is meant to normalize data by txn, now requires it to be given at collection time due to integrated nature of Perfspect (as opposed to collect and process later). This means that a "txn" value has to be provided ahead of time or a prior value has to be used, which may be inaccurate.
Can Perfspect still do later post-processing OR allow reading the "txn" value from a pipe which can essentially be an API endpoint frm some application reading its "txn" value through the time its collecting?

[harp-intel]

Agree this is a limitation to the integrated collection/reporting design.

[harp-intel]

I have an idea for how to address this, but it will take some time. In general, the idea is similar to functionality in some of the other commands, e.g., report, flame, telemetry. They accept an 'input' flag that points to a file or directory containing the raw data. They use the 'input' data instead of collecting new data.

The 'metrics' command currently supports the --raw flag which writes the perf events and metadata to files in the output directory. These could be used as 'input'.

[hsane-dev]

That would work, essentially performing post-processing later. Another idea would be to provide a filename or some form of pointer instead of the "txn value." Once it becomes available from the app, the post-processing continues—though admittedly, this increases dependency and the possibility of errors.