Current-Users archive

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Old Index]

Threaded version of TOOL_XZ ?



From recent investigations into PR install/54844, I have noted that we
don't have a useful build tool that can both

	1) compress much better/smaller than gzip, and
	2) use multiple threads to do parallel compressions
	   to reduce run-time.

Using TOOL_XZ instead of TOOL_GZ satisfies requirement #1, and use of
(unsupported) TOOL_PIGZ satisfies #2, but neither option can meet
both.  TOOL_XZ is explicitly built without thread support, and simply
modifying its Makefile to enable_threads=yes doesn't build.

FWIW, on my 8core/16thread Intel CPU, PIGZ compression takes just a
fraction of the time GZ takes to build a debug set (saving  more than
20 minutes from a ``build.sh -J7 release'';  yet the resulting sets
files from PIGZ are 50% to 100% larger than those from XZ.

So, it would seem reasonable to provide an option to build TOOL_XZ
with threads enabled, even if only through a hidden option (and maybe
eveen useful only in build.sh's -E expert mode).

Suggestion?  Comments?  Patches? :-)


+--------------------+--------------------------+----------------------+
| Paul Goyette       | PGP Key fingerprint:     | E-mail addresses:    |
| (Retired)          | FA29 0E3B 35AF E8AE 6651 | paul%whooppee.com@localhost    |
| Software Developer | 0786 F758 55DE 53BA 7731 | pgoyette%netbsd.org@localhost  |
| & Network Engineer |                          | pgoyette99%gmail.com@localhost |
+--------------------+--------------------------+----------------------+


Home | Main Index | Thread Index | Old Index