[Mingw-notify] [ mingw-Support Requests-2077300 ] MSYS executables slow to start

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Support Requests item #2077300, was opened at 2008-08-26 22:54
Message generated for change (Comment added) made by earnie
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>Category: MSYS
>Group: Waiting user response
>Status: Pending
Priority: 5
Private: No
Submitted By: Matthew L Daniel (mdaniel)
>Assigned to: Earnie Boyd (earnie)
Summary: MSYS executables slow to start

Initial Comment:
I found one other reference to the problem I am experiencing:
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1944785&forum_id=338575

I am experiencing this, too, but it's not just rxvt.exe. It is every MSYS binary.

It seems (on my system) to be somehow related to starting up the MSYS subsystem.

Observe (from a command prompt):
1. cd \msys\1.0\bin
2. .\date.exe
# this takes 7 seconds to start up
3. .\date.exe
# if executed _immediately_ after step 2, it starts immediately
4. wait a few seconds
5. .\date.exe
# now it takes the 7 seconds to start up again

I can repeat that process for .\tar.exe, .\sh.exe, .\rxvt.exe, ... the list goes on.

However, from within .\sh.exe I can execute the same binaries with lightning speed.

The delay don't seem to be time-based, as I can open two command prompts and in each one execute .\sh.exe almost simultaneously, and each one will take their respective 7 seconds to start.

Any advice will be appreciated.


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>Comment By: Earnie Boyd (earnie)
Date: 2008-08-28 07:57

Message:
Logged In: YES 
user_id=15438
Originator: NO

Don't know what to tell you.  I have the same exact version of MSYS and
running the command as you have from windows just returns back immediately.
 I have a HP Compaq nc6120 with

OS Name	Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version	5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
Processor	x86 Family 6 Model 13 Stepping 6 GenuineIntel ~1400 Mhz
Total Physical Memory	2,048.00 MB
c:\mnt\home\boyde>c:\opt\mingw-orig\bin\sh.exe -c "uname -a"
MINGW32_NT-5.1 OH6000GBOYDE 1.0.11(0.46/3/2) 2007-01-12 12:05 i686 Msys

So it has to be in *your* environment.  The below is a paste of my testing
proving that it doesn't take 7 seconds.

c:\mnt\home\boyde>c:\opt\mingw-orig\bin\sh.exe -c "/bin/date"
Thu Aug 28 07:47:57 EDT 2008

c:\mnt\home\boyde>c:\opt\mingw-orig\bin\sh.exe -c "/bin/date"
Thu Aug 28 07:47:58 EDT 2008

c:\mnt\home\boyde>c:\opt\mingw-orig\bin\sh.exe -c "/bin/date"
Thu Aug 28 07:47:59 EDT 2008

c:\mnt\home\boyde>c:\opt\mingw-orig\bin\sh.exe -c "/bin/date"
Thu Aug 28 07:48:01 EDT 2008


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Comment By: Matthew L Daniel (mdaniel)
Date: 2008-08-27 17:36

Message:
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user_id=88251
Originator: YES

I apologize for the lack of environment information.

I am in WinXP 2002 SP3, Intel Core 2 Duo (T7200) @ 2GHz, 4GB RAM

c:\msys\1.0\bin\msys-1.0.dll reports its File version as 1000.11.0.0,
APIVersion 0.46, Build Date 2007-01-12 12:05, Product Version:
1.0.11-MSYS-1_0_11

$ uname -a
MINGW32_NT-5.1 ATESIS 1.0.11(0.46/3/2) 2007-01-12 12:05 i686 Msys

I have no network drives, but my machine is a member of a domain to which
I am not connected (I am a road warrior). Msys is installed locally in
"c:\msys\1.0". My msys /etc/fstab only contains "c:/mingw /mingw", which
does exist.

You are correct that I typed all the commands from CMD.exe, since that's
the source of my woes. As I mentioned, once I'm in a running msys
environment, all the msys commands execute as expected.

But merely having a running msys environment does not impact the startup
times for other msys environments, implying it's not influenced by the dll
in memory. Take for example c:\msys\1.0\bin\sh.exe -c "/bin/sleep 30" in
one cmd.exe window and c:\msys\1.0\bin\sh.exe -c "/bin/date" in another
cmd.exe window (in that order), the sh.exe which invokes /bin/date still
takes 7 seconds to start up.

Please let me know how I can help further.



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Comment By: Earnie Boyd (earnie)
Date: 2008-08-27 07:26

Message:
Logged In: YES 
user_id=15438
Originator: NO

First off, you've typed the commands in your post as if you're in
command.com or cmd.exe; instead of sh.exe.

Secondly, you tell us nothing about your system or the versions of MSYS
you use.

Thirdly, you don't tell us where you have MSYS installed, is it on a
network share?

If you have a network share mapped that isn't available, it will take as
long as the network access timeout for each such mapped share for MSYS to
start.  However, once started, as long as msys-1.0.dll is in memory it
should not take long unless you're short on memory or virtual memory.

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