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Booting Linux Faster

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the every-little-bit dept.

krony writes "IBM's DeveloperWorks explains how to decrease boot times for your Linux box. The concept is to load system services in parallel when possible. Most surprising to me is the use of 'make' to handle dependencies between services." The example system shown is able to cut its boot time in half, but the article stresses the effectiveness can vary widly from machine to machine.

15 of 625 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah, right! by rocjoe71 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Like any Linux user is gonig to reset their uptime just to see if they can boot faster!

    --
    Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
  2. I don't have a computer to boot... by Atmchicago · · Score: 3, Funny

    you insensitive clod!

    --

    You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.

  3. Booting Linux Faster... by Kedisar · · Score: 1, Funny

    Sounds like something MS wants you to do...

  4. The Real Question by rowanxmas · · Score: 2, Funny

    Because it must be asked....

    How much time is saved when booting up a beowulf cluster?

  5. Re:boot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Recompile the kernel?

    REBOOT!

    HA HA HA HA, say goodbye to your precious 192-day uptime!

  6. Re:Another way to speed up booting Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    If Douglas Adams is so damn smart, why is he dead?

  7. Re:Predicted response by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yup.. just keep talking about that and wonder why Linux never becomes mainstream.

    Because mainstream means rebooting every day! Twice on Sundays.

  8. Re:LONG LIVE IBM! by Sphere1952 · · Score: 2, Funny

    What? You don't have a battery?

    Geeze. How the Hell do you set the clocks in your house? Call time?

    --
    Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
  9. Re:Just use Jiffies by CausticWindow · · Score: 4, Funny

    Remember to turn back the uptime when you sell your computer.

    --
    How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
  10. Re:Make? by svu · · Score: 3, Funny

    Visio?! Easy! You take Visio 2003. Generate XMI. Then - apply some XSLT stylesheet to create build.xml for the ant tool. Then use ant instead of make as startup tool. So you got visual design for you startup sequence!

  11. Re:Another way to speed up booting Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    42

  12. Very Discriminating My Friend by tds67 · · Score: 2, Funny

    JIFFIES

    This is an extremely simple patch for the 2.4 kernel. It creates a read/writable entry /proc/sys/kernel/jiffies, where you can get and set the current jiffies. To fake your systems uptime, write the required number of jiffies to this file :

    # echo 100000 > /proc/sys/kernel/jiffies

    Nice way to solve this problem. You really must have a refined sense of good taste, because only choosy mothers choose jiffies.

  13. Re:Predicted response by ftzdomino · · Score: 5, Funny

    What really sucks is the 497.1 day uptime rollover bug. Apparently it has been fixed, but that doesn't help us who booted before it.

  14. Re:Predicted response by bluGill · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'd show you the uptime of my mailserver, but it is loaded enough already. Anyone care to guess how long it takes for a 386 with loads > 8, to respond to an uptime request? It ain't pretty I'll warn you in advance.

    That machine has been due for retirement since before anyone mainstream worried about y2k, but I've never got around to it and the 80MB harddrive hasn't crashed yet.

  15. Re:Make? by Dr.+Photo · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you were to drop someone with no knowledge of electricity into a room with a switch, and they flicked that switch, they'd be surprised when the light comes on, despite it being "obvious".

    And if the light were a nice bright halogen lamp, it might even be blindingly obvious!

    (Terribly sorry.. couldn't resist...)