Nicolas Sebrecht wrote: > The 06/09/12, Dale wrote: > >> The point was >> whether having portages work directory on tmpfs resulted in speed >> increases. If you have portages work directory on tmpfs, of course it >> uses ram. That's what tmpfs is. It's taking what might normally be put >> on the disk and putting it in ram because ram is faster. > Please, understand that whithout tmpfs and a lot of RAM, the kernel > _won't_ work with the files from the disk but with the files stored in > the _kernel cache_ which IS RAM, too. > > This explains why you get this result: > >> The point is, >> cache or not, having portages work directory on tmpfs doesn't result in >> speed improvements as one would expect. > Taking back your last sentence with precise sementic: > > The point is, > /tmpfs cache (RAM)/ or /kernel cache (RAM)/, having portages work on tmpfs > doesn't result in > speed improvements. > >
Not quite. The theory is that if you put portages work directory on tmpfs, then all the writes and such are done in ram which is faster. If you have portages work directory on disk, it will be slower because the disk is slower. That is the theory and was what I and others expected to happen. This is reality. Even when portages work directory is on tmpfs, it is not much, if any, faster when compared to portages work directory being on tmpfs. The two are essentially the same as far as emerge times go. Look, I have portages work directory on tmpfs. The only time my hard drive light comes on to amount to anything is when loading the tarball or installing the package after the compile is done. If I take portage off tmpfs, just unmount the directory so that it is back on disk like most normal folks, then the hard drive light blinks all during the compile. It doesn't make sense however, I can either accept what I think or what actually happens. In this case, I just have to accept that putting portages work directory on tmpfs just doesn't really do much good except save wear and tear on the disk drive. Which, that is why I know keep mine on tmpfs. It's also a good idea when using SSDs as in this thread. Dale :-) :-) -- I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!
