Hi Andreas,

    I ran our server using DevPartner and noticed a lot of memory leaks.
After much analysis, I was able to determine that the manner in which we
embed FOP in our application (for that matter any application) might be
resulting in these leaks. The specific piece of code that I found very
interesting is as shown below:

 

           // Setup JAXP using identity transformer

           TransformerFactory factory =
TransformerFactory.newInstance();

           Transformer transformer = factory.newTransformer(); //
identity transformer

 

When you use the TransformerFactory in this manner (within each run),
the SAXParser instance created by the transformer is held in memory. On
subsequent runs, I noticed more and more instances of SAXParser's in
memory. To fix this, I moved this code to the calling function, thus
keeping a single copy of transformer. This greatly reduced the GC times.
However, I am still seeing an incremental increase rendering times on
subsequent runs.  I am trying to streamline the code on our end to
adhere to your suggestions. If you find anything, please let us know.

 

Thanks,

Kumar 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Andreas Delmelle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:47 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Fop 0.20.5 vs Fop Trunk Performace

 

On Feb 15, 2008, at 20:37, Puppala, Kumar (LNG-CON) wrote:

 

Hi Kumar

 

<snip />

> Well, it's not so much the number of objects I'm thinking of, but

> rather, how much time is spent executing specific methods and which

> ones take longer in later iterations. The actual cause of the

> slowdown may precisely be located in a class of which there are

> relatively few instances alive, if I judge correctly. Or did you

> already check whether the bulk of the increase in processing-time is

> really only spent on garbage-collection?

> 

> --> I did verify that garbage collection is playing a very  

> significant role in these increased timings. I am currently using  

> the Java Profiling tool to identify the methods where we have the  

> maximum execution time. I ran the basic simple.fo file provided in  

> the examples directory and below is the screen shot from the  

> profiling tool:

> 

> <image001.jpg>

> 

> I need to do further analysis on this but comparing this output to  

> the one generated by running the same fo file against fop 0.20.5  

> codebase, I do see two significant areas (lineBreak and layoutMgr)  

> that are taking time. The profiling output for the same test on fop  

> 0.20.5 codebase is as shown below:

> 

 

Unfortunately, a single run is far from representative, especially  

when compared to the set of tests you ran earlier.

 

What one could say, based on the screenshot, is that most of the time  

is spent on parsing the FO and on creating loggers, but then we would  

be conveniently ignoring the simple facts that:

* all loggers are static, so the cost of creating them is overly  

represented if you measure only a single run (hence why LogFactory is  

at the top of the list here)

* the org.apache.fop.fo package contains a lot of static  

initialization as well, so ... (unfortunately, no details shown in  

the screenshot to confirm)

 

In the meantime, I have run some local tests using the files you  

published. Thanks for those!

The tests were run as an iteration of the most basic example  

ExampleFO2PDF.java, slightly modified to process the whole set of  

files you provided one-by-one, using a specified maximum number of  

concurrently running threads.

 

So far, I have run:

1 batch of 1500 runs, single-threaded

1 batch of 1500 runs, in two threads

1 batch of 1500 runs, in three threads

1 batch of 3000 runs, in 10 threads.

 

I did not immediately see any indication of individual tests  

consistently taking longer in later iterations. Each of the 117 files  

was processed about 13 times in the course of one batch of 1500, 26  

times for the batch of 3000. Some run a tiny bit slower, but IMO not  

enough to count as actually 'slower'. Some tests are even faster the  

13th time around than the first time.

 

I do see some runs taking significantly longer, most likely due to  

garbage-collection. This effect can already be observed when running  

in a single thread.

 

As potential improvements:

There are some tests that generate a significant amount of log- 

messages (mostly warnings). AFAICT, if you can make your generated FO  

such that it produces less of these warnings, there could already be  

a noticeable speed-benefit. The processing times in my tests were  

always a lot higher for those tests that generated a lot of warnings.

 

To reduce the strain on the garbage-collector, you could also  

consider generating 'better' FO.

 

Of course, this is a matter of opinion, but one striking example I  

encountered is the pattern:

 

<fo:block space-after="1em"/>

<fo:block text-indent="0.250000in">

   <fo:inline ...font-properties....>#PCDATA</fo:inline>

</fo:block>

<fo:block space-after="1em"/>

 

The above construct is (in most situations) equivalent to:

 

<fo:block space-before="1em" space-after="1em"

           text-indent="0.250000in"

           ...font-properties...>#PCDATA</fo:block>

 

IOW, by inserting empty fo:blocks and extra fo:inlines, the first  

pattern, which is extensively used in the test-FOs, generates a lot  

of Java objects which are, strictly speaking, completely unnecessary.

If you could iron that out, you're also bound to see an improvement.

As rules of thumb:

- empty fo:blocks should be avoided at any cost; sometimes, preserved  

linefeeds generate the same effect with much less overhead

- fo:inlines should only be used when absolutely necessary (to change  

certain properties inline); in the above example, it serves no  

particular purpose apart from carrying the font-related properties,  

while those could just as well be specified on the surrounding fo:block.

 

 

I'll keep running some more tests and will report back if I have any  

news.

 

 

Cheers

 

Andreas

 

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