From owner-freebsd-performance@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 15 17:30:15 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-performance@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 515A2106566B for ; Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:30:15 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from adrian.chadd@gmail.com) Received: from mail-vw0-f54.google.com (mail-vw0-f54.google.com [209.85.212.54]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F3CFB8FC08 for ; Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:30:14 +0000 (UTC) Received: by vbbfr13 with SMTP id fr13so2838158vbb.13 for ; Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:30:14 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:sender:in-reply-to:references:date :x-google-sender-auth:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; bh=fxFEcuAaEHP/i6dmW3/ziN3EBmxAV9huu0jQp0UEzc0=; b=qkFuD91IKOooYjt/IM58F0dQrb12W7PfA+pQyjFlxcKB+ntLYxoGjP3ElU1dJLY7G0 +ZLX/HKv2Ozb3fl/aZdn+UX+iIisYZS1Fds/OIPrz6faD3T2K5angs4h6ND3oj0b/Z+b ZP1g7/+F6uJTlKxcuZLvPGMVVQAOXS/9MhKA0= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.52.90.80 with SMTP id bu16mr3764448vdb.113.1323970213941; Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:30:13 -0800 (PST) Sender: adrian.chadd@gmail.com Received: by 10.52.26.50 with HTTP; Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:30:13 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <20111215144924.61a08733@elena.home> References: <4EE1EAFE.3070408@m5p.com> <4EE2AE64.9060802@m5p.com> <4EE88343.2050302@m5p.com> <4EE933C6.4020209@zedat.fu-berlin.de> <20111215024249.GA13557@icarus.home.lan> <4EE9A2A0.80607@zedat.fu-berlin.de> <20111215144924.61a08733@elena.home> Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:30:13 -0800 X-Google-Sender-Auth: RpIQ-wrW5EyFW_lvAQfEWzh6Q_o Message-ID: From: Adrian Chadd To: Tony McC , michael.larabel@phoronix.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Cc: freebsd-performance@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Benchmark (Phoronix): FreeBSD 9.0-RC2 vs. Oracle Linux 6.1 Server X-BeenThere: freebsd-performance@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Performance/tuning List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:30:15 -0000 On 15 December 2011 06:49, Tony McC wrote: > I suggest always ignoring benchmarks. They are like reading the > astrology column in a tabloid newspaper. =A0Instead, try FreeBSD for your > work. =A0Is it fast enough? =A0Surely that is all you need to know. FreeB= SD > is quite fast enough for my needs and I am simply more productive using > it than when I use any other operating system. =A0That is partly to do > with my familiarity with my setup, which I have customised the way I > want. =A0That is something that no benchmark can allow for. You can't ignore benchmarks because: * people read them; * media link to them; * they have pretty pictures. These are all very important things. If all we do is talk on a mailing list and never write public articles of our own, if we never push out our message or work with groups like phronix to dig into the WHY, we're going to be stuck looking bad. It doesn't matter if we aren't bad, we still look bad. It's PR and marketing 101. :) This discussion with Michael @ Phronix is very helpful. Michael, are you willing to help dig into why this is the case, and possibly write a followup article or two about it? I believe Stefan's response looking at what the benchmarks actually do is worthwhile. I wonder if there's a way to get FreeBSD to behave the same at least for comparison, so you can publish what the underlying differences are due to and what relevance they have in the real world. To everyone else (including Jeremy) - don't be afraid to publish and be wrong. You invite discussion and further research that way. Just don't act like a self-absorbed asshat. Everyone benefits. :) Adrian