diff -r 000000000000 -r 6474c204b198 tools/performance/startup/gettime.pl
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/tools/performance/startup/gettime.pl	Wed Dec 31 06:09:35 2014 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl
+# This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+# License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+# file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+
+#
+# Use high resolution routines if installed (on win32 or linux), using
+# eval as try/catch block around import of modules. Otherwise, just use 'time()'.
+#
+# 'Win32::API'  <http://www.activestate.com/PPMPackages/zips/5xx-builds-only/Win32-API.zip>
+# 'Time::HiRes' <http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=Time-HiRes> 
+#   (also: http://rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=perl-Time-HiRes)
+#
+package Time::PossiblyHiRes;
+
+use strict;
+
+#use Time::HiRes qw(gettimeofday);
+
+my $getLocalTime;                      # for win32
+my $lpSystemTime = pack("SSSSSSSS");   # for win32
+my $timesub;                           # code ref
+
+# returns 12 char string "'s'x9.'m'x3" which is milliseconds since epoch, 
+# although resolution may vary depending on OS and installed packages
+
+sub getTime () {
+
+    return &$timesub 
+	if $timesub;
+
+    $timesub = sub { time() . "000"; }; # default
+
+    return &$timesub 
+	if $^O eq "MacOS"; # don't know a better way on Mac
+
+    if ($^O eq "MSWin32") {
+	eval "use Win32::API;";
+	$timesub = sub { 
+	    # pass pointer to struct, void return 
+	    $getLocalTime = 
+		eval "new Win32::API('kernel32', 'GetLocalTime', [qw{P}], qw{V});"
+		    unless $getLocalTime;
+	    $getLocalTime->Call($lpSystemTime);
+	    my @t = unpack("SSSSSSSS", $lpSystemTime);
+	    sprintf("%9s%03s", time(), pop @t);
+	} if !$@;
+    } 
+
+    # ass-u-me if not mac/win32, then we're on a unix flavour
+    else {
+	eval "use Time::HiRes qw(gettimeofday);";
+	$timesub = sub { 
+	    my @t = gettimeofday();
+	    $t[0]*1000 + int($t[1]/1000);	    
+	} if !$@;
+    }
+
+    return &$timesub;
+
+} 
+
+#
+#
+# Test script to compare with low-res time:
+#
+# require "gettime.pl";
+#
+# use POSIX qw(strftime);
+#
+# print "hires  time = " . Time::PossiblyHiRes::getTime() . "\n";
+# print "lowres time = " . time()    . "\n";
+#
+
+
+# end package
+1;