1. An electronic processor-based device adapted to execute a series of software instructions, the processor-based device being provided with pins to permit connection to external conductors, the processor-based device comprising: a processor core; and a trace memory coupled to the processor core for storing software performance profiling information related to software instructions executed by the processor core, the trace memory comprising a series of storage elements, each storage element adapted to store software performance profiling information, the trace memory being configured to maintain the most recent information; and trace control circuitry to gather the software performance profiling information and to provide the software performance profiling information to the trace memory, the trace control circuitry comprising: a first software profile counter coupled to the trace memory; a first software profile trigger counter register coupled to the first software profile counter, the first software profile trigger control register configurable to activate the first software profile counter upon execution of a predetermined software instruction(s); and a second software profile trigger control register coupled to a first software profile counter, the second software profile trigger control register configurable to deactivate the first software profile counter upon execution of an additional predetermined software instruction(s), wherein deactivation of the first software profile counter causes its count value to be stored in the trace memory.