On Mon, 2006-04-10 at 22:34, I suggested:
> - re-order package installation to install small packages first

So I went and estimated how much difference this would make.

I estimate the size of the contents file at each point by
adding up the sizes of the pkgmap files for the all the
packages installed before then. And then add all those
together to get the total writes.

For my test install, this estimates 6.5G of data needs
writing to disk. (This agrees with the actual data written
during a zone install, so it's reasonable.)

If I were to change the package installation order to get
the worst case scenario - big packages first - then the
total disk writes would be 10.4G.

If I change the order to write the little packages first
and save the big packages till last, I find that rewriting
the contents file generates only 780M of disk traffic.

(I was surprised. I was expecting it to make a difference,
but not that much!)

Anyone know offhand how the package install order is
determined?

-- 
-Peter Tribble
L.I.S., University of Hertfordshire - http://www.herts.ac.uk/
http://www.petertribble.co.uk/ - http://ptribble.blogspot.com/



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