Hi! It seems that simply preloading directory entries into cache is not enough to gain any significant startup time improvements.
However, I've analysed what files are opened during KDE startup by tracing open syscalls with "strace -f -F -eopen -o kdm_open.log -p KDM_PID". Then I've come up with the following KDE preload script: <<< snip #!/bin/sh basedir=/usr/share etcdir=/etc libdir=/usr/lib locale_langpackdir=/usr/share/locale-langpack defprofiledir=/usr/share/kubuntu-default-settings/kde-profile/default additional_dirs="/usr/share/python-support/kde-guidance" find $etcdir/kde3 ~/.kde $basedir/applications \ $basedir/applnk $basedir/mimelnk $basedir/services \ $basedir/servicetypes $basedir/config \ $basedir/icons /opt/kde3/ -fprint /dev/null find $libdir/kde3 -type f -name '*.so' -print0 | xargs cat > /dev/null find $locale_langpackdir -type f -print0 -name 'kde*' -or -name 'desktop_kde*' | xargs -0 cat > /dev/null find $defprofiledir -type f -print0 | xargs cat > /dev/null find $libdir/libkdecore* $libdir/libkdeinit_* $libdir/libkdeui* -type f -print0 | xargs -0 cat > /dev/null find $additional_dirs -type f -print0 | xargs -0 cat > /dev/null <<< snap I've tested it using the following procedure: 1) shutdown the machine to poweroff then start it, wait until KDM screen come up, then a couple of seconds to let preload do its job 2) type in my password, then press Enter while launching the stop-watch on my mobile at the same time 3) stop the stopwatch when the desktop background image shows up Here are the results: ================= Without preload: 1: 18.16 secs 2: 17.64 secs 3: 17.39 secs ================= With preload: 1: 15.34 secs 2: 15.35 secs 3: 15.33 secs ================= This gives at worst a decrease of 11,7% in KDE startup time - not very much, but still noticeable. One note: I've done this on Ubuntu Feisty. Sorry, I don't have a Debian desktop at the moment. Best Regards, -- Aleksander Adamowski GnuPG key ID 0x9693EE6B Jabber JID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] / GG#: 274614 / ICQ UIN: 19780575 http://olo.org.pl/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]