CTF is a diagnostic tool that traces running applications and creates
trace files in one of two formats: text (the default) or binary.
Text format trace files have the advantage that you can view them in a
text editor, but there are a number of disadvantages:
- Trace files can get very large very quickly.
- The trace record format needs to be specified before tracing begins
(e.g. when tracing a multi-threaded application, the $(THREAD) pseudo-variable
needs to be specified to ensure that the thread id appears in each trace
record).
- Trace events are meaningless to nearly everyone except the developer
who trace-enabled the application/component.
Binary format trace files cannot be viewed in a text editor, but they
provide the following advantages:
- Compressed format. Usually at least 50% the size of an equivalent
text-format trace file.
- No record format needs to be specified before tracing begins. All
relevant information about a trace event is recorded, such as the process id,
thread id, date, time, component id, event id, trace data and so on.
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