Selectively Obtaining Call Stack Information Based on Criteria

A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for sampling call stack information. A set of methods and a set of criteria are received. Responsive to detecting an event associated with a method in the set of methods, a determination is made as to whether the method has met a set of criteria comprising at least one of a time based metric and a hardware performance monitor counter metric. A call stack is retrieved for the method if the method has met the set of criteria. The retrieved call stack is saved in a tree.