On 17/02/07, Joachim Schipper  wrote:

quoted text
>

> On Sat, Feb 17, 2007 at 12:36:00PM -0500, R. Fumione wrote:

> > Hello,

> >

> > I am using OpenBSD on server since few years now, and I am very happy

> > with it's easy maintenance and it's stability. I want to try on

> > desktop, and I am having trouble.

> >

> > Everything is much slower than existing Linux system. For example,

> > Firefox takes 3-5 seconds to start on Linux but ~10 seconds on

> > OpenBSD on same machine!

> >

> > I tried compiler optimizations but those didn't help. Any suggestions?

> > Please cc replies to me also as I am not on misc. Thanks.

> >

> > Fumione

> >

> > (Note: please do not tell me change to lighter window manager. I

> > would like to use same environment or stay with Linux. Thanks.)

>

> I believe the standard response to any comparison "use Linux if you're

> happy with it". Since you've already received that, here is an attempt

> to do the question a little more justice. (However, it boils down to 'it

> doesn't matter if FF loads a little slower, as long as it runs equally

> fast').

>

> Most modern Linux distributions optimize dynamic library load using

> prelinking; 4.0 and later have a comparable idea implemented

> ('prebind'), but in a way that does not interfere with OpenBSD's

> security features. This is not enabled by default (I'm not sure why not,

> and would be very grateful if anybody would tell me, BTW), but can be

> enabled using `ldconfig -P /usr/bin /usr/sbin /usr/local/bin

> /usr/local/sbin /usr/X11R6/bin'. This should result in a noticeable

> speed increase, especially on programs with lots of loaded libraries -

> and look in /usr/local/mozilla-firefox to see that FF does have 'lots of

> loaded libraries'!

> Of course, it would be a good idea to know why it's not the default

> first. Also note that, if I remember correctly, prebind won't help if

> you use a nonstandard LD_LIBRARY_PATH, as FF does... so the command

> listed before is likely to work for just about every *other* program.

>

> Another aspect is that Linux is much more aggressive in caching data

> from disk; if the amount of data read, the amount of work done in

> between, and the amount of RAM is such that Linux can get most data from

> its memory cache while OpenBSD has to read most of it from disk, Linux

> will be a *lot* faster. Of course, you would only see this effect if you

> started Firefox twice without doing much in between.

>

> Both of those could explain why FF loads slower. If either of those is

> the big culprit, though, FF should run just as fast (slow) as it ever

> did, and since you're not likely to start it that often, I'd be inclined

> to say it isn't that big an issue.

>

> If a comparable slowdown is found in running FF, that would be a

> problem. There are many variables there, of course... a dmesg might be

> helpful, for instance.

>

> Aggressive compiler optimizations are not generally a good idea. The

> developers believe they are an unnecessary source of bugs, and since

> many optimizations are not enabled by default, there is not quite as

> much opportunity to find bugs in them. Plus, no amount of fiddling is

> likely to double speed.

>

> Since you didn't mention what you are using at the moment, I can't very

> well tell you to switch to a lighter window manager, can I? Ion *is*

> nice, though... ;-)

>

>                 Joachim

>

>

Now that's what I call a helpful answer
Jeff