On 2/21/08, Zach <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Do you know if it's expected for installing packages to take longer > the more total packages one has installed? In recent months I notice > sometimes when I install packages (sometimes one, sometimes many) the > machine will be in nearly unusable state while it read's the package > database. > > Such as just happened: > > enetrek:~# apt-get upgrade > Reading package lists... Done > Building dependency tree > Reading state information... Done > The following packages have been kept back: > mplayer > The following packages will be upgraded: > linux-libc-dev > 1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded. > Need to get 0B/720kB of archives. > After unpacking 32.8kB disk space will be freed. > Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y > (Reading database ... << At this point it hung for 20 minutes! > > << It then proceeded: > > 316137 files and directories currently installed.) > Preparing to replace linux-libc-dev 2.6.22-6 (using > .../linux-libc-dev_2.6.22-6.lenny1_i386.deb) ... > Setting up linux-libc-dev (2.6.22-6.lenny1) ... > [ Rootkit Hunter version 1.3.0 ] > File updated: searched for 151 files, found 131 > > I'm going to start using the time command with apt so I can get some > hard data. My xload spiked up to near the very top for this entire > time and then when apt finished it went back down to the bottom. I > don't know if it is CPU or disk IO or a combination. I wonder if I can > do anything to optimize apt so it will stop doing this? > > My machine is a P3/700MHz. > > Zach > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Hey, This doesn't sound normal at all, for comparison I have: (Reading database ... 137921 files and directories currently installed.) This takes about 15-20 seconds to read on a 2GHz/2GB RAM though it does thrash the HDD. I use 'atop' to look at the hdd usage amongst other things. With the right kernel patches it can show live disk and network usage per process. It's basically a root run, binary logging 'top' with more features.
cheers, Owen.
