Slackware This Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.
|
Notices |
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
Are you new to LinuxQuestions.org? Visit the following links:
Site Howto |
Site FAQ |
Sitemap |
Register Now
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
|
 |
|
09-24-2013, 11:33 PM
|
#1
|
Member
Registered: Aug 2013
Distribution: slackware
Posts: 79
Rep:
|
Is it a good idea to try speeding up slackware boot with e4rat?
hi,
Has anyone done this before?
Care to share your experience? Thanks!
|
|
|
09-24-2013, 11:45 PM
|
#2
|
Slackware Maintainer
Registered: Dec 2002
Location: Minnesota
Distribution: Slackware! :-)
Posts: 2,968
|
Since it is basically similar to an optimized defrag, I see no reason not to try it out. However, since e4rat-realloc may relocate some of the kernel or initrd blocks (but I'm not certain about that, since those have already been loaded by the time the analysis begins), it's probably a good idea to reinstall lilo after that step.
Looks interesting. I'll probably give it a go and see if it helps. If it succeeds in preloading all the boot files into RAM cache, it's probably just as effective at speeding up boot time as some other, more intrusive methods. 
|
|
2 members found this post helpful.
|
09-25-2013, 01:33 AM
|
#3
|
Member
Registered: Aug 2013
Distribution: slackware
Posts: 79
Original Poster
Rep:
|
Thanks, volkerdi.
I will certainly give it a go and post the results. e4rat seems proven in distro like debian, ubuntu and arch.
Hopefully it doesn't break my system. 
|
|
|
09-25-2013, 01:53 AM
|
#4
|
Member
Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Distribution: Slackware 15.0
Posts: 647
|
I tried compiling it on slackware about a year back and didn't succeed. I think it had something to do with boost libraries. If anyone does get it going, please post a how-to, or preferably a slackbuild.
|
|
|
09-25-2013, 04:21 AM
|
#5
|
Slackware Maintainer
Registered: Dec 2002
Location: Minnesota
Distribution: Slackware! :-)
Posts: 2,968
|
Same thing here. It doesn't find the boost libraries, even when passed the cmake flag to the library directory.
|
|
|
09-25-2013, 04:42 AM
|
#7
|
LQ Guru
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Pisa, Italy
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 7,410
|
I've not yet tested it myself with audit (I rebuilt my custom kernel with support for it but gotta reboot later on) but I got a patch and some build hints from Archlinux's AUR and prepared a SlackBuild
http://ponce.cc/slackware/testing/e4rat/
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/E4rat
Last edited by ponce; 09-25-2013 at 05:20 AM.
Reason: added use notes from the Archlinux's wiki
|
|
1 members found this post helpful.
|
09-25-2013, 07:20 AM
|
#8
|
Member
Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Distribution: Slackware 15.0
Posts: 647
|
@ponce - your slackbuild seems to work in that it compiles with no errors. Many thanks. However the archlinux site describes how to continue with grub, but gives no advice on lilo. If any brainiacs can contribute a bit more info into that quagmire, then we're almost there. Altho' I guess boot-from-suspend trumps all this :-)
|
|
|
09-25-2013, 07:35 AM
|
#9
|
Member
Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Distribution: Slackware 15.0
Posts: 647
|
@ponce - oops. Possibly a critical flaw somewhere in your script. I can't be 100% certain of this, but I would be surprised if it was not - I just installed the slackbuilt e4rat (as root) and it mucked up the "other" read/exceute permissions on /etc /usr /var and possibly a few others. I had to reboot, as my ordinary just died. The some careful picking and comparing to another machine to fix. I'm up now. All the modification dates on the directories I had to "fix" (with chmod a+rx) were modified in the lat 5 minutes - and the only thing I "su -c"ed for was the e4rat slackbuild. Such is the (willing) price for bleeding edge. :-)
|
|
|
09-25-2013, 08:55 AM
|
#10
|
LQ Guru
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Pisa, Italy
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 7,410
|
hi Mark, I think you built the package maybe using a wrong umask: I unpacked it here after building and permissions were ok.
check your umask after the su, here is
and you really should use "su -" before launching the *.SlackBuild, so that you operate in a true root login shell: if you don't do that environment variables from your user can interfere with the build, just like it probably happened to you.
see Step 3 of the HOWTO on SBo.
Last edited by ponce; 09-25-2013 at 09:07 AM.
|
|
|
09-25-2013, 09:23 AM
|
#11
|
Member
Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Distribution: Slackware 15.0
Posts: 647
|
markp@marklap ~ $ su -c "umask"
Password:
0027
:-(
Ok - on a positive note, I have built this, installed it, hacked in the lilo stuff, and I can confirm it does speed up the boot process. I did not time it, but it was noticeably faster. I got an error message about "fuse" having an error, but I tested a sshfs after boot and that worked fine, so I'm not sure if it was related. Here is my lilo steps :
first, run the collect stage with this lilo setting :
image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.2.29
append="acpi_osi=Linux init=/usr/bin/e4rat-collect"
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
root = /dev/sda1
label = Linuxe4ratcol
(Arch had /sbin, but I think your slackbuild puts it in /usr/bin)
Then run the re-alloc bit from "init 1" as per Arch.
Then put this in lilo, run the config and reboot with it ...
image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.2.29
append="acpi_osi=Linux init=/usr/bin/e4rat-preload"
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
root = /dev/sda1
label = Linuxe4ratload
read-only
You may need to adjust your image.
Thanks @ponce.
|
|
|
09-25-2013, 12:28 PM
|
#12
|
Member
Registered: Aug 2013
Distribution: slackware
Posts: 79
Original Poster
Rep:
|
Thanks, pounce!
you are truly awesome
I managed a successful installation with your Slackbuild.
here's a before/after of my boot chart.
my result seems marginal though....

|
|
|
09-25-2013, 01:35 PM
|
#13
|
Member
Registered: Dec 2008
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Distribution: Slackware 15.0
Posts: 647
|
I doubt you will see an amazing difference from the boot. But run the collect process again, setting the time from 120 to say 300 seconds. Then reboot and start X-windows, start Firefox, your email client (mine is Thunderbird), and then a few other programs you often use - do all that within those 300 seconds. Then, do the init 1 and run the re-alloc part again. Then reboot, start X and get into Firefox/Thunderbird/Libre-office etc and THEN you should see a clear difference.
|
|
|
09-25-2013, 03:14 PM
|
#14
|
LQ Guru
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Pisa, Italy
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 7,410
|
well, it seems to boot faster indeed: got some problems at work because I'm using a raid array and realloc seems not to like it but at home my laptop is happy.
here are the bootcharts (started in rc.S), before and after: it's measured a boot in runlevel 3 with login, startx, LXDE, terminal launch, tmux, ssh, firefox with two tabs and thunderbird (what I use commonly)
http://ponce.cc/stuff/bootcharts/bootchart_before.png
http://ponce.cc/stuff/bootcharts/bootchart_after.png
Last edited by ponce; 09-25-2013 at 03:16 PM.
|
|
|
09-25-2013, 03:58 PM
|
#15
|
Member
Registered: Apr 2010
Location: Geneva - Switzerland ( Bordeaux - France / Montreal - QC - Canada)
Distribution: Slackware 14.2 - 32/64bit
Posts: 609
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ponce
|
Well it's "faster" but I'd have expected more improvements. CPU and Disks are not fully used the whole time.
I have a question about boot time: I can understand on a server to avoid too long downtime while rebooting, but on a workstation is it really worth it ? I mean I nearly never boot my systems, and the time of boot is generally so short relative to the whole time passed working in a running session, even on laptops.
|
|
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:38 PM.
|
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
|
Latest Threads
LQ News
|
|