Performance tip to load any application faster.

markg85 · 2012-07-13 19:43:30

Hi,

I simply read this here: http://kdemonkey.blogspot.nl/2008/04/magic-trick.html
and thought i'd share it since it's still true.

type: "mkdir -p ~/.compose-cache/"

Now any application will start a bit faster. I measured Dolphin and that one starts 1/10th faster! Quite significant if you ask me

Cheers,
Mark

fsckd · 2012-07-13 20:45:34

Thanks!
Moving from Arch Discussion to GNU/Linux Discussion.

graysky · 2012-07-13 21:50:16

Add to the wiki?

EDIT: You probably want to edit your title and add the key word, "KDE" so folks know.

Last edited by graysky (2012-07-13 22:06:51)

LinuxFrenzy · 2012-07-13 22:02:41

Wow thanks for the tip it did speed up applications a bit.

gedgon · 2012-07-14 13:56:58

markg85 wrote:

I measured Dolphin and that one starts 1/10th faster!

May I ask, how did you measured startup time?

anonymous_user · 2012-07-14 14:58:21

Its seems only for KDE

Last edited by anonymous_user (2012-07-14 14:58:30)

boast · 2012-07-14 15:20:04

interesting. I'll give it a try

litemotiv · 2012-07-14 16:04:29

anonymous_user wrote:

Its seems only for KDE

Works here with GTK as well.

egan · 2012-07-14 17:48:03

Wow that makes quite a difference opening Firefox on XMonad.

I've recently found startup to be slow, which I blamed on updates, but I realize now that it might be because I recently installed a giant ~/.XCompose file.

MrCode · 2012-07-14 20:26:05

WRT this being "KDE-only", I think it might be helpful to state that it should work by opening any Qt application that has a text entry control. I did it with VBox, and I'm in a mostly-GTK environment.

EDIT: …or perhaps it really is toolkit-agnostic…I dunno.

Last edited by MrCode (2012-07-14 20:28:27)

fsckd · 2012-07-15 02:15:35

KDE

Guys, click the link OP gave. There's more information there. I'll give a hint, read litemotiv's post.

anonymous_user · 2012-07-15 04:41:21

^ I was too quick to focus on the mention of KDE and Kubuntu. Its good to know it works for Qt/KDE/Gtk.

thoho180192 · 2012-07-15 12:44:55

I think it worked for me on Gnome-shell, but I dont know, could be just placebo

egan · 2012-07-15 23:26:10

Guys just look at at the man page for Compose. This isn't even desktop related as far as I can tell.
http://www.x.org/archive/X11R7.5/doc/ma … ose.5.html

Last edited by egan (2012-07-15 23:27:34)

kalio · 2012-07-16 08:05:56

@egan: The article in the first post has this:

For those curious about what is going on here, this enables an optimization which Lubos (of general KDE speediness fame) came up with some time ago and was then rewritten and integrated into libx11. Ordinarily on startup applications read input method information from /usr/share/X11/locale/<your locale>/Compose. This Compose file is quite long (>5000 lines for the en_US.UTF-8 one) and takes some time to process. libX11 can create a cache of the parsed information which is much quicker to read subsequently, but it will only re-use an existing cache in /var/cache/libx11/compose or create a new one in ~/.compose-cache if the directory already exists.

Lennie · 2012-07-17 15:19:06

I'm amazed! I run Openbox standalone. I tried this out, created ~/.compose-cache/ and started Virtualbox so that a file was created in that directory. After that all programs started much faster. I always shutdown the computer at night, and when I booted up this morning, all programs I used (Firefox, Thunderbird, Spotify, Thunar, Lxterminal, Leafpad, Geany) started slower again. I restarted them several times, and it was not only the first time after reboot. Then I started Virtualbox - and after that all the other was much faster again.

Is there a command one can put in autostart that will have the same effekt, instead of having to start Virtualbox for this to take effekt?

kalle97 · 2012-07-20 17:19:45

Maybe add this to the wiki?

Gullible Jones · 2012-07-20 19:43:37

Interesting, I will have to try this. /wonders why it isn't enabled by default in KDE

Edit: tried it with Opera. As far as I can tell it creates no perceptible improvement... But do please keep in mind that I'm posting from a Thinkpad 600E, with an almighty Pentium II processor and 192 MB of RAM (plus 128 MB of zram cache and no swap space at all). Results may be somewhat better on faster computers.

Edit again: okay, tried it on KDE on my netbook. The improvement in load times is completely imperceptible. However, it does seem to put a dent in the chronically awful Qt4 redraw performance, since resizing stuff under KWin no longer has me shuffling about and twiddling my thumbs in impatience.

Last edited by Gullible Jones (2012-07-20 20:26:21)

ilpianista · 2012-07-24 08:02:44

kalle97 wrote:

Maybe add this to the wiki?

Done, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KD … on_startup

Maybe someone can review it.

Lone_Wolf · 2012-07-24 10:52:17

It should not be on a KDE-page, but on a more general page.

I use it now on LXDE with openbox, and from the manpage for compose it is clear that it works for all WM/DE environments.

dikei · 2012-08-16 11:21:42

FYI, this is archlinux bug report for this Bug 10271

philomath · 2012-09-04 11:23:56

Works for anyone on XFCE?

Shinryuu · 2012-09-11 02:37:10

Holy he.... it indeed works
EDIT1. I use some GTK applications

Last edited by Shinryuu (2012-09-11 02:38:10)

dodo3773 · 2012-09-11 05:03:01

Thanks for the tip. Noticeable on qt apps.

ConnorBehan · 2012-09-18 00:35:36

Spent a week using this and I still have an empty ~/.compose-cache. Does anyone know which GTK apps work with it?

Arch Linux

#1 2012-07-13 19:43:30

Performance tip to load any application faster.

#2 2012-07-13 20:45:34

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#3 2012-07-13 21:50:16

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#4 2012-07-13 22:02:41

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#5 2012-07-14 13:56:58

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#6 2012-07-14 14:58:21

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#7 2012-07-14 15:20:04

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#8 2012-07-14 16:04:29

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#9 2012-07-14 17:48:03

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#10 2012-07-14 20:26:05

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#11 2012-07-15 02:15:35

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#12 2012-07-15 04:41:21

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#13 2012-07-15 12:44:55

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#14 2012-07-15 23:26:10

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#15 2012-07-16 08:05:56

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#16 2012-07-17 15:19:06

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#17 2012-07-20 17:19:45

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#18 2012-07-20 19:43:37

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#19 2012-07-24 08:02:44

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#20 2012-07-24 10:52:17

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#21 2012-08-16 11:21:42

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#22 2012-09-04 11:23:56

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#23 2012-09-11 02:37:10

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#24 2012-09-11 05:03:01

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

#25 2012-09-18 00:35:36

Re: Performance tip to load any application faster.

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