6 ms·

How is "deflate + execution" going to be faster than "execution" when running the boot process? The reason that modern operating systems take a fairly long tim

How is "deflate + execution" going to be faster than "execution" when running the boot process? The reason that modern operating systems take a fairly long time to start up is due to things like enumerating hardware for PnP, getting a network address from DHCP, and starting whatever system services are necessary for you to have a pleasant (if you want to call it that) user experience. It really doesn't have anything to do with the size of the executable files, since the CPU is going to have to run the same code to make it all happen anyway (you can't execute GZIP'd code and have it run faster).

TallGuyShort 17y ago
I think his idea was that since the hard-drive is a bottle-neck, it would be faster to pull less data (compressed files) off the hard drive and do a little more work in memory (decompression) where it's faster. I agree with you, though - I don't think that's really why it's slow - I'm just pointing out what he meant.
- noss 17y ago
  I think it is slow because of disk latency. To actually seek to find all these gazillion small configuration files. Just look at how boot up becomes much snappier when an SSD is used.
  - anamax 17y ago
    > I think it is slow because of disk latency. And you even provided some supporting evidence. I don't think that it's conclusive, but until I'm willing to do the work.... > To actually seek to find all these gazillion small configuration files. If that's the actual bottleneck, perhaps a different configuration system would be a better solution.
    - gaius 17y ago
      Like... The Registry? ;-)
    - noss 17y ago
      I do not see that happening. It is actually a good thing that each application can have their own isolated configuration that is tailored for the application's needs. It is that most file systems are optimized for large files. Reiser FS promised to be a killer FS, handling small files and arbitrary file-meta-data, but well... <insert un-tasteful joke here>.

TallGuyShort 17y ago

I think his idea was that since the hard-drive is a bottle-neck, it would be faster to pull less data (compressed files) off the hard drive and do a little more work in memory (decompression) where it's faster. I agree with you, though - I don't think that's really why it's slow - I'm just pointing out what he meant.

noss 17y ago
I think it is slow because of disk latency. To actually seek to find all these gazillion small configuration files. Just look at how boot up becomes much snappier when an SSD is used.
- anamax 17y ago
  > I think it is slow because of disk latency. And you even provided some supporting evidence. I don't think that it's conclusive, but until I'm willing to do the work.... > To actually seek to find all these gazillion small configuration files. If that's the actual bottleneck, perhaps a different configuration system would be a better solution.
  - gaius 17y ago
    Like... The Registry? ;-)
  - noss 17y ago
    I do not see that happening. It is actually a good thing that each application can have their own isolated configuration that is tailored for the application's needs. It is that most file systems are optimized for large files. Reiser FS promised to be a killer FS, handling small files and arbitrary file-meta-data, but well... <insert un-tasteful joke here>.