Boot speedup with readahead

[Tom London]

On Sat, Sep 6, 2008 at 3:52 AM, Harald Hoyer <harald at redhat.com> wrote:
> Hello fellow Fedora developers,
>
> recently readahead was modified to adapt to system file changes and to start
> very early in the boot process via upstart.
>
> I would like to encourage you to test readahead-1.4.5-3.fc10 from rawhide
> (even possible on F9), which I built some minutes ago. It may take a day to
> reach your local mirror.
>
> # yum --enablerepo=rawhide install readahead
> or
> # yum --enablerepo=rawhide update readahead
>
> With the next reboot readahead-collector runs and collects the information
> which files are used during the boot process. The next reboot then,
> readahead read ahead those files and the boot process (from init start to
> gdm login screen) should be approx. 10% faster.
>
> Hope it speeds up your boot process a little bit. Please report any changes
> in your boot time (can be measured with a stop clock or bootchart).
>
> You can modify /etc/sysconfig/readahead to turn readahead on/off.

Running latest rawhide on Thinkpad X60, measured with stopwatch:

Prior to installing readahead:
     time from start of boot to gdm login: 56 seconds
     time from entering password to gnome applets appearing in upper
right panel: 23 seconds

First boot after installing readahead:
     time from start of boot to gdm login: 61 seconds
     time from password to gnome: 22 seconds

Second boot after installing readahead
     time from start of boot to gdm login: 50 seconds
     time from password to gnome: 23 seconds

Appears 10% faster, as promised.... :-D

tom
-- 
Tom London