Package: xorg-server
Version: 1.20
After installing Debian sid on a PowerBook G3 Wallstreet
(292 MHz, 512 MB memory) and selecting the default Debian
desktop and Xfce, I noticed that the desktop is unusably
slow. Just moving or resizing windows on the desktop is
painfully slow compared to Debian 7.8 (which is usable) and
Debian 8.11 (which is still usable but slower than 7.8).
It is difficult to quantify the subjective slowness of
the graphics performance in Debian sid on the Wallstreet.
In an attempt to quantify the slowness, X11 performance
was tested and compared in Debian 7.8, Debian 8.11 and
Debian sid using the x11perf program.
Each x11perf test was run by booting to single-user mode.
For each test (Debian 7.8, Debian 8.11 and Debian sid),
there are four files:
1) Serial console log.
2) dmesg output.
3) Xorg log from /var/log/Xorg.0.log.
4) "x11perf -all" output.
There is also a file x11perfcomp.txt that compares the
three x11perf outputs.
All of the above can be found in the attachment, all.tar.xz.
Also, while determining how to run the tests, I noted that
there has been considerable growth in memory requirements
for the X server going from Debian 7.8 to Debian sid.
Here are the maximum VSZ and RSS values for the X server
as reported by "ps aux" during earlier x11perf tests (ps
was not run during any of the x11perf tests in the
attachment so it would not affect any of the results).
Debian 7.8: X : VSZ=48MB RSS=32MB
Debian 8.11: X : VSZ=74MB RSS=37MB
Debian sid: X : VSZ=186MB RSS=96MB
It is likely that the memory growth is a separate issue,
and it's noted here only for completeness.
Thanks go to Finn Thain, who is cc'ed on this bug report,
for his invaluable input regarding these tests.
Here is the output from x11perfcomp (also included in the
attachment). Note that many of the micro-benchmarks show
relatively serious regressions going from 8.11 to sid.
I'm not sure which of these tests may be related to poor
desktop performance.
-
1: x11perf_7-4.20.8.txt
2: x11perf_8-4.19.56-debian-pmac.txt
3: x11perf_sid-4.19.0-5-powerpc.txt
1 2 3Operation
-
351.0 421.0 350.0 Dot
138.0 781000.0 885000.0 1x1 rectangle
432000.0 52700.0 63200.0 10x10 rectangle
21400.0 612.0 658.0 100x100 rectangle
1280.0 31.1 26.4 500x500 rectangle
137.0 361000.0 416000.0 1x1 stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple)
431000.0 35800.0 19000.0 10x10 stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple)
21400.0 487.0 210.0 100x100 stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple)
1280.0 16.1 8.5 500x500 stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple)
137.0 374000.0 514000.0 1x1 opaque stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple)
34.0 41600.0 57000.0 10x10 opaque stippled rectangle (8x8 stipple)
6200.0 524.0 645.0 100x100 opaque stippled rectangle (8x8
stipple)
262.0 17.2 25.9 500x500 opaque stippled rectangle (8x8
stipple)
137.0 467000.0 573000.0 1x1 tiled rectangle (4x4 tile)
339000.0 28300.0 33600.0 10x10 tiled rectangle (4x4 tile)
6200.0 476.0 615.0 100x100 tiled rectangle (4x4 tile)
262.0 15.8 26.4 500x500 tiled rectangle (4x4 tile)
328000.0 362000.0 47.0 1x1 stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple)
124000.0 46300.0 35100.0 10x10 stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple)
3330.0 550.0 416.0 100x100 stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple)
141.0 17.6 16.8 500x500 stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple)
304000.0 374000.0 514000.0 1x1 opaque stippled rectangle (17x15 stipple)
103000.0 44700.0 58800.0 10x10 opaque stippled rectangle (17x15
stipple)
2700.0 574.0 654.0 100x100 opaque stippled rectangle (17x15
stipple)
114.0 28.8 26.2 500x500 opaque stippled rectangle (17x15
stipple)
304000.0 467000.0 573000.0 1x1 tiled rectangle (17x15 tile)
103000.0 44900.0 49900.0 10x10 tiled rectangle (17x15 tile)
2700.0 572.0 638.0 100x100 tiled rectangle (17x15 tile)
114.0 28.7 26.3 500x500 tiled rectangle (17x15 tile)
744000.0 361000.0 454000.0 1x1 stippled rectangle (161x145 stipple)
174000.0 53100.0 36700.0 10x10 stippled rectangle (161x145 stipple)
7230.0 626.0 419.0 100x100 stippled rectangle (161x145 stipple)
369.0 32.3 17.0 500x500 stippled rectangle (161x145 stipple)
744000.0 373000.0 511000.0 1x1 opaque stippled rectangle (161x145
stipple)
174000.0 47400.0 6.0 10x10 opaque stippled rectangle (161x145
stipple)
5360.0 596.0 658.0 100x100 opaque stippled rectangle (161x145
stipple)
258.0 30.0 26.3 500x500 opaque stippled rectangle (161x145
stipple)
546000.0 451000.0 561000.0 1x1 tiled rectangle (161x145 tile)
60800.0 44400.0 58500.0 10x10 tiled rectangle (161x145 tile)
662.0 573.0 656.0 100x100 tiled rectangle (161x145 tile)
26.5 28.8 26.3 500x500 tiled rectangle (161x145 tile)
