From owner-freebsd-stable Fri Dec 8 4:10:12 2000 From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Dec 8 04:10:09 2000 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mail.rpi.edu (mail.rpi.edu [128.113.100.7]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9B9AB37B69E for ; Fri, 8 Dec 2000 04:10:08 -0800 (PST) Received: from [128.113.24.47] (gilead.acs.rpi.edu [128.113.24.47]) by mail.rpi.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA292080; Fri, 8 Dec 2000 07:09:56 -0500 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: drosih@mail.rpi.edu Message-Id: In-Reply-To: References: Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 07:09:53 -0500 To: Donn Miller , Nevermind From: Garance A Drosihn Subject: Re: Heavy disk activity and "freezes" w/ latest commits Cc: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Sender: owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG At 4:27 AM -0500 12/8/00, Donn Miller wrote: >On Fri, 8 Dec 2000, Nevermind wrote: > > > I've got the same problem, it seems to me it started on > > 4.2-BETA. XFree freezes while I'm making something like > > 'rm -rf /usr/obj' or copying big amount of files. I've > > tried to use soft-updates, it helped a little but > > sometimes it starts again. > >Hmmm... actually mine was working pretty well when we were >at 4.2-BETA. Mine just started after I cvsupped and built >kernel/world on Weds. Sometimes disk activity makes my mouse >pointer jumpy in X. Or, my mouse will sometimes "stick" for >maybe 0.5 secs and then jump really fast. This is when the >disk writes/reads occur in large bursts. I have seen something which may be related to this, but I haven't said anything because, well, because I was going to look into it more and then I forgot about it... In my case, the problem is when copying huge files around. I use vmware, and virtual disks in vmware. When creating a new virtual machine, I sometimes just copy a "virtual disk" (a 1-gig file) to a new name, and use that as the starting point for the second virtual machine. While that copy is happening, responsiveness of the system nosedives. System is a dual-CPU 650 MHz p3, the disk is on a ATA controller. Softupdates is on. I figured that copying a 1-gig file is probably a rare event, so I didn't consider it too important to investigate. I have done several buildworlds on this system without noticing a problem, but that may not mean anything. I have enough machines in my office that I can do a buildworld on one, and keep myself busy with other projects on the other machines. Responsiveness could be pathetic and I wouldn't know about it... If this *is* at all related to what you're seeing, I know this was happening to me before 4.2-release. -- Garance Alistair Drosehn = gad@eclipse.acs.rpi.edu Senior Systems Programmer or gad@freebsd.org Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute or drosih@rpi.edu To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message