mc slow extension loading at boot

[gerald_clark]

The backup file "mydata.tgz" contains the contents of /home, filtered by /opt/.xfiletool.lst.
If you are storing large amounts of data in /home/tc, your booting will be slowed down.
If you use the home= boot option without modifying /opt/.filetool.lst, Your backup size will
be excessive causing longer boot times.

[uggla]

I've now slimmed down my system but the problem remains.
Here are my system settings:

My menu.lst (Grub) entry:
-----------------------------------
title MicroCore
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/bzImage quiet lst=onboot32.lst noutc tz=CET0CEST,M3.5.0/2,M10.5.0/3 tce=sda6 home=sda6 psmouse.proto=imps nodhcp
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/microcore.gz

My onboot32.lst:
-----------------------
Xlibs.tcz
Xprogs.tcz
Xvesa-7.1.tcz
flwm_topside.tcz

My .filetool.lst:
--------------------
opt/bootlocal.sh
opt/bootsync.sh
opt/shutdown.sh
opt/tcemirror
opt/.filetool.lst
opt/.xfiletool.lst
etc/X11/xorg.conf
usr/local/etc/acpi/events/power
etc/profile.d/sun-jre.sh

My bootlocal.sh:
-----------------
#!/bin/sh
# put other system startup commands here

The size of mydata.tgz = 1.81 KB

[maro]

It is not ok for the tinycore tce, home, or opt directories.

I'd like to suggest to correct this: AFAIK VFAT is fine for 'tce' (i.e. storage of the extension files and the backup file) as well as the "boot files" (i.e. the kernel and the initrd), BUT as we all know it should never be used for persistent 'home' or 'opt'.

[uggla]

Can you please open a new thread for your little FAT-discussion instead of hijacking this one.

/Uggla

[roberts]

Uggla, You should really re-title this topic, as by your own admission, this has nothing to do with v3.7.

Also, you have not posted anything that can be reproduced by anyone. By your own posts this just recently has started. This would likely indicate a hardware failing. Suggest to perform an fsck on your sda6.

[uggla]

Uggla, You should really re-title this topic, as by your own admission, this has nothing to do with v3.7.

Ok, done.

Also, you have not posted anything that can be reproduced by anyone. By your own posts this just recently has started. This would likely indicate a hardware failing. Suggest to perform an fsck on your sda6.

I doubt it's caused by hardware failure since it happens on two very different computers. I'll do a fsck none the less and report back. If that doesn't give anything then I'll try to reproduce this issue in Virtualbox.

Regards
Uggla

[uggla]

I did a fsck on my sda6:

tc@box:~$ fsck -V /dev/sda6
fsck (busybox 1.18.3, 2011-02-11 12:08:19 PST)
[fsck.ext4 (1) -- /mnt/sda6] fsck.ext4 /dev/sda6
e2fsck 1.41.11 (14-Mar-2010)
/dev/sda6: clean, 59042/3842048 files, 14527049/15340059 blocks

I've tried to replicate this strange behavior in Virtualbox but so far no luck.
I think I'll give it a rest for now.

Regards
Uggla

[roberts]

I run microcore + X stuff exclusively and have no such problems.

You might want to check fdisk -l /dev/sda and see if no boundary warnings are displayed.

You should also boot with the showapps boot option to watch as each app is displayed to see which app is taking the most time to load.

And, of course, you can move less frequently used apps to ondemand to really speed up booting.

[uggla]

fdisk -l /dev/sda showed no errors/warnings.

I've now removed every extension from my onboot.lst and the problem remains so it can't be caused by loading extensions.

I've removed quiet and added showapps boot options. The beginning of the boot process is executed fast. The delay appears after the "Loading Extensions..." but before "Done." is shown. The end of the boot process is also executed fast. Nothing is printed to the screen during the delay.

Boot message excerpt:

Setting Language to C Done.
Setting Timezone to CET0CEST,M3.5.0/2,M10.5.0/3 Done.
squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
EXT4-fs (sda6): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
Adding 4088500k swap on /dev/sda5. Priority:-2 extents:1 across:4
Possible swap partition(s) enabled.
Loading Extensions...
Done.
Setting keymap to us Done.
Restoring backup files from /mnt/sda6/tce/mydata.tgz Done.

I've also tried the noswap boot option but that didn't affect the delay either.

Regards
Uggla

[gerald_clark]

Sounds like  big backup file as I stated in reply #30.

[uggla]

Sounds like  big backup file as I stated in reply #30.

But as I stated in reply #31:

The size of mydata.tgz = 1.81 KB

[uggla]

Could this be related? (read down, there are several related issues, causing boot up pause, mentioned).

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/595448

[Rich]

Hi uggla

If you want to see if the delay is being caused by a piece of hardware add the boot code  printk.time=1
Then check the output of  dmesg, it will contain timing information. If you want someone else to take a
look then type  dmesg > dmesg.txt  and attach the file to your next post. You should also mention
which machine it's from, the one booting from a hard drive or USB drive.

I would also like to point out that your USB machine will most likely boot slower than the one booting
from a hard drive due to USB's lower throughput.

There is one other piece of information you should provide, what is your definition of slow. Could you
please state how long the delay is? I may have missed it but I did not see it mentioned.

[uggla]

I've now added the bootoptions loglevel=7 and printk.time=1. No dmesg messages are printed during or after the delay. The last lines written are (still):

[    7.466509] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
[    8.005379] EXT4-fs (sda6): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode

Se my full dmesg.txt attached. Testing is done on my computer with hard drive. The delay on a totally clean microcore install, with 31 GB in /home/tc, is about 10 seconds compared to when the /home/tc is wiped clean.

Regards
Uggla

[Rich]

Hi uggla

While not the answer to the problem, there is a 3 second delay searching for a non-existent floppy.
Adding the boot code  floppy=0,irq  will eliminate that and may ease the pain a little.

Just a shot in the dark. Does  etc/profile.d/sun-jre.sh  run on startup? If it does, what happens if you
disable it?