Poco Benchmark

Performance benchmarks for Poco components using Google Benchmark.

Dependencies

Poco Foundation
Poco Util
Google Benchmark library

Installing Google Benchmark

macOS (Homebrew):

bash

brew install google-benchmark

Debian/Ubuntu:

bash

apt install libbenchmark-dev

Fedora/RHEL:

bash

dnf install google-benchmark-devel

Windows (vcpkg):

bash

vcpkg install benchmark:x64-windows

From source (Linux/macOS):

bash

git clone https://github.com/google/benchmark.git
cd benchmark
cmake -DBENCHMARK_DOWNLOAD_DEPENDENCIES=on -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -S . -B build
cmake --build build --config Release
sudo cmake --install build

From source (Windows):

powershell

git clone https://github.com/google/benchmark.git
cd benchmark
cmake -DBENCHMARK_DOWNLOAD_DEPENDENCIES=on -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=C:\local -S . -B build
cmake --build build --config Release
cmake --install build --config Release

Building

Using Make (Linux/macOS):

bash

cd poco
make -C Benchmark

Using CMake (Linux/macOS):

bash

cmake -B build -DENABLE_BENCHMARK=ON
cmake --build build --target Benchmark

Using CMake (Windows):

powershell

cmake -B build -G Ninja -DENABLE_BENCHMARK=ON -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=C:\local
cmake --build build --target Benchmark

Note: On Windows, use Ninja generator for reliable target builds. The CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH should point to where Google Benchmark was installed.

Usage

bash

./Benchmark/bin/$(uname)/$(arch)/benchmark [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Description
`-h, --help`	Display help information
`-l, --list`	List all available benchmarks
`-f, --filter=<regex>`	Run only benchmarks matching regex
`-t, --min-time=<seconds>`	Minimum time to run each benchmark
`-r, --repetitions=<num>`	Number of times to repeat each benchmark
`-a, --aggregates-only`	Report only aggregates (mean, median, stddev)
`--format=<fmt>`	Output format: console, json, or csv
`-o, --output=<file>`	Write results to file
`--output-format=<fmt>`	Format for output file
`--tabular`	Display counters in tabular format

Examples

List all benchmarks:

bash

./benchmark --list

Run specific benchmarks:

bash

./benchmark --filter="PatternFormatter.*"

Run with repetitions and show statistics:

bash

./benchmark --repetitions=5 --aggregates-only

Export results to JSON:

bash

./benchmark --format=json --output=results.json

Writing Benchmarks

Create a new .cpp file in src/ with your benchmarks:

cpp

// src/MyComponentBench.cpp

#include <benchmark/benchmark.h>
#include "Poco/MyComponent.h"

using Poco::MyComponent;

static void BM_MyOperation(benchmark::State& state)
{
    MyComponent component;

    for (auto _ : state)
    {
        // Code to benchmark - runs many iterations
        auto result = component.doSomething();
        benchmark::DoNotOptimize(result);
    }

    // Optional: report throughput
    state.SetBytesProcessed(state.iterations() * sizeof(result));
}
BENCHMARK(BM_MyOperation);

// Parameterized benchmark
static void BM_MyOperationSized(benchmark::State& state)
{
    int size = state.range(0);
    std::vector<int> data(size);

    for (auto _ : state)
    {
        // Benchmark with different sizes
        processData(data);
    }
}
BENCHMARK(BM_MyOperationSized)->Range(8, 8<<10);

Then add the file to CMakeLists.txt and Makefile:

CMakeLists.txt:

cmake

set(SRCS
    src/BenchmarkApp.cpp
    src/PatternFormatterBench.cpp
    src/MyComponentBench.cpp  # Add this
)

Makefile:

make

objects = BenchmarkApp PatternFormatterBench MyComponentBench

Tips

Use benchmark::DoNotOptimize() to prevent the compiler from optimizing away results
Use benchmark::ClobberMemory() if you need to force memory writes to be visible
Keep setup code outside the for (auto _ : state) loop
Use state.PauseTiming() / state.ResumeTiming() for expensive setup within the loop
Report throughput with state.SetBytesProcessed() or state.SetItemsProcessed()