>>>>> "Fernando" == Fernando <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Fernando> I fear the Documentation Policy is being based on the Fernando> wrong technical assumptions. Fernando> Please take a moment and read the following timings made Fernando> in a 386 SX-25 with 5MB of RAM. It will help you Fernando> understand what is at stake. I did the test as fairly as Fernando> I could and I claim to be a honest person. I'm not seeing the dramatic differences in times that Fernando does. I just ran the same tests. The subjective difference, here, is far less than the empirical one... meaning that for the short time it takes to format a man page, if Lynx is a second or two faster, then what difference does it make? On a 386-sx with `only' 5Mb of RAM, it makes a lot more difference. Waiting over a minute and a half for a manual to format would be excruciating. (Fernando, buy some RAM. You need it bad. :-) It makes a BIG difference to go to 8-12Mb.) bash-2.00$ /usr/bin/time lynx -dump \ > http://localhost/cgi-bin/man2html/usr/man/man1/telnet.1.gz >/dev/null 0.98user 0.76system 0:02.45elapsed 70%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 0maxresident)k 0inputs+0outputs (7126major+2355minor)pagefaults 0swaps bash-2.00$ /usr/bin/time man -l /usr/man/man1/telnet.1.gz >/dev/null Reformatting telnet.1.gz, please wait... 3.58user 0.09system 0:03.95elapsed 92%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 0maxresident)k 0inputs+0outputs (1189major+500minor)pagefaults 0swaps bash-2.00$ /usr/bin/time echo >/dev/null 0.00user 0.00system 0:00.07elapsed 0%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 0maxresident)k 0inputs+0outputs (72major+12minor)pagefaults 0swaps bash-2.00$ /usr/bin/time snarf \ > http://localhost/cgi-bin/man2html/usr/man/man1/telnet.1.gz - >/dev/null 0.00user 0.02system 0:00.65elapsed 3%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 0maxresident)k 0inputs+0outputs (74major+16minor)pagefaults 0swaps bash-2.00$ /usr/bin/time snarf \ > http://localhost/cgi-bin/man2html/usr/man/man1/telnet.1.gz - \ > > /tmp/telnet.html 0.01user 0.01system 0:00.64elapsed 3%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 0maxresident)k 0inputs+0outputs (74major+16minor)pagefaults 0swaps bash-2.00$ ls -l /tmp/telnet.html -rw-r--r-- 1 karlheg karlheg 32944 Jun 29 13:44 /tmp/telnet.html bash-2.00$ /usr/bin/time lynx -dump /tmp/telnet.html >/dev/null 1.07user 0.67system 0:01.85elapsed 93%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 0maxresident)k 0inputs+0outputs (7115major+2349minor)pagefaults 0swaps bash-2.00$ gzip -9 /tmp/telnet.html bash-2.00$ ls -l /tmp/telnet.html.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 karlheg karlheg 8576 Jun 29 13:44 /tmp/telnet.html.gz bash-2.00$ /usr/bin/time lynx -dump /tmp/telnet.html.gz >/dev/null 1.18user 0.60system 0:01.87elapsed 95%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 0maxresident)k 0inputs+0outputs (7356major+2439minor)pagefaults 0swaps bash-2.00$ uname -a Linux bittersweet 2.1.36 #9 Sun Jun 22 15:16:13 PDT 1997 i586 unknown bash-2.00$ free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 63276 54024 9252 15464 2752 18456 -/+ buffers: 32816 30460 Swap: 122968 4940 118028 bash-2.00$ bogomips Calibrating delay loop.. ok - 197.37 BogoMips Fernando> Please base policy on facts, not on pre-judgements. The fact is, bringing your system up to 8Mb of RAM would make a *HUGE* difference in performance! (as would a processor upgrade. Sock away some cash, I guess.) I found that the hop from 8Mb to 12Mb made quite a lot of improvement. The computer swapped a lot less, I was able to run X windows and XEmacs then. The jump from 12Mb to 16Mb wasn't quite as dramatic, but did make a noticable difference. :-) So, for the people with ancient 3 year to 5 year old computers, we'll need to package docs in html. -- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Karl M. Hegbloom) http://www.inetarena.com/~karlheg Portland, OR USA Debian GNU 1.3 Linux 2.1.36 AMD K5 PR-133 -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .