Bug 332239

Created attachment 177143 [details]
Yast logs

I have similar amount of repositories and I don't need that much time to read the cache unless some cache needs to be dropped and rebuilt.

Can you also try zypper and see if there is some difference in time? Pehaps YaST is doing something else.

And then,

Can you follow these instructions and see if it helps?

http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Speed_up_Package_Manager_Stack

Please do all tests with zypper. It will be easy to see where the problem is.

Here are my test results. The difference is that I changed my CPU to a dual-core Opteron, the rest of the system is the same. I didn't know what zypper command to use, so I used "zypper lu" as Marcus Meissner did.
During the test the network was brought down, to avoid downloading updates (in YaST this meant clicking OK & Skip). In YaST I counted the time from when I click on the Software Management icon until all messages/dialog boxes disappear, so I can use it:

1) Cold cache, PC rebooted:
- YaST - 1st run: 1 minute 30 seconds
- YaST - following runs: 38 seconds
- zypper lu (after running YaST for a few times): 
real    0m7.843s
user    0m6.592s
sys     0m1.180s

2) Cleaning the sqlite database as suggested:
- YaST: 37 seconds
- zypper lu: 
real    0m7.330s
user    0m6.200s
sys     0m1.144s

3) Rebuild the RPM database:
- YaST: 34 seconds
- zypper lu:
real    0m7.938s
user    0m6.616s
sys     0m1.288s

4) Brought the network up, so I don't click inside YaST:
- YaST: 40 seconds
- zypper lu:
real    0m15.954s
user    0m14.057s
sys     0m1.908s


Here is the complete output of the last zypper lu command:
time zypper lu
* Reading repository 'openSUSE BuildService - KDE:Community' cache
* Reading repository 'openSUSE BuildService - Games (action)' cache
* Reading repository 'Main Repository (OSS)' cache
* Reading repository 'openSUSE BuildService - KDE:Backports' cache
* Reading repository 'Education:desktop' cache
* Reading repository 'Packman Repository' cache
* Reading repository 'openSUSE-10.3-DVD 10.3' cache
* Reading repository 'Main Update Repository' cache
* Reading repository 'NVIDIA Repository' cache
* Reading repository 'openSUSE BuildService - X11:XGL' cache
* Reading repository 'openSUSE BuildService - Wine CVS Builds' cache
* Reading installed packages [100%]

Repository:            | Name               | Version | Category    | Status
-----------------------+--------------------+---------+-------------+-------
Main Update Repository | hugin              | 4518-0  | security    | Needed
Main Update Repository | kernel             | 4503-0  | security    | Needed
Main Update Repository | km_drm             | 4484-0  | security    | Needed
Main Update Repository | libiniparser-32bit | 4488-0  | optional    | Needed
Main Update Repository | smartmontools      | 4517-0  | recommended | Needed
Main Update Repository | zypper             | 4530-0  | recommended | Needed

real    0m15.954s
user    0m14.057s
sys     0m1.908s


So yes, zypper is much faster in all cases. None of the suggested speedups did really help with zypper, but it helped a little with YaST. But with YaST the startup is still slow. With cold cache it is VERY slow.

Let me know what kind of tests (or logs/outputs) you would like to see.

I also did:
rm /var/cache/zypp/zypp.db ; zypper refresh

YaST: 22 seconds
zypper lu:
real    0m15.975s
user    0m13.905s
sys     0m2.056s


This is what really helped a lot, but I'm still worried about the performance on slower systems.

And the last one after a reboot, now starting with zypper (network is up):

first run:
real    0m45.953s
user    0m13.549s
sys     0m1.784s

second run:
real    0m14.940s
user    0m13.397s
sys     0m1.528s


yast: 39 seconds

We will make small speed enhancements in 10.3 but the next bunch of bug improvements will come with 11.0, so it does not make sense to keep this bug open, however, we accept any patch for improvements as attachments here.

Closing a report because you *might* make speed improvements in the next release is weird, but this isn't the only time I see such thing in openSUSE bug management. :( 
In normal case I'd close this report once the 11.0 version *is* available (at least in factory) and it fixes the slowness.

I will move to openSUSE 11.0 then.

Thank you. :)

*** Bug 346630 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

from the duplicate bug 346630:

I have a subjective impression, that the performance of the process is
anti-proportional to the amount of changes (in each repository).

Isn't it possible, just to DELETE the cache of a changed repository?
(Therefor, each repo would need own DB)

Yes, that is being working on for next version, but using a different format for the cache.

sqlite is pretty bad at fragmentation, and we should had kept the repositories separated.

Will the next version be available for 10.3?

It this the place to get it?
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/YaST:/SVN/SUSE_Factory/

And it is safe to update current yast to that version?

Thanx!

IMO we can close this, as 11.0 is a bit faster.

For 10.3 you can use

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/YaST:/Backport/openSUSE_10.3
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/zypp/Backport/openSUSE_10.3

at your own responsability. You may end with a completely broken system (it works fine for me though)