Oct 12, 2006

Desktop FreeBSD: Fully Optimized 6.x Installation

By Ed Hurst | Posted at 7:41:46

You've installed FreeBSD, and it works fine, of course. If you are as seriously committed to using it as your desktop as I am, you'll want to get the most out it. Let's go hardcore! The key with FreeBSD is optimization -- tweaking the compile process so the resulting binary code runs as efficiently as possible.

So you've got some decent hardware. Optimization has always been fairly easy with FreeBSD, but recent changes in version 6.x have made it even better. Here's the concept: You use FreeBSD on the desktop or laptop. Set aside the time upfront to invest in the system, and the return over the next year or so will likely make you glad you did. Starting with around 500Mhz CPUs, the difference is noticeable. For CPUs above 1Ghz, the difference is often quite surprising.

This article assumes you have some sort of broadband access. Without, this procedure would require about two weeks, even if you have the time to nurse the system through the inevitable dropped connections. As it is, this can take up to three days with a fast connection. Also, you'll need to note much of this depends on having at least 1Ghz of CPU speed, and a half-gig of RAM. Lesser machines take much longer. More robust machines take less, and a large CPU cache makes a major difference. Also, unless you have tons of work files, 20GB of harddrive is plenty, and a 40GB will be huge. However, a faster harddrive will make the system faster, for obvious reasons.

Having installed FreeBSD at least two-dozen times, I tend to glance only rarely at my notes on the walkthrough. The steps haven't changed much since the 4.x release series. You may need a more thorough review. However, given the goal of optimization, this will be rather different. We will install only the core system, rebuild and optimize that, then add the other userland packages from the latest sources. When we are through, the entire OS and all binaries will be optimized.

Preliminary Steps

Again, get it set in your mind this takes awhile. Once you begin adding the userland packages, there will be frequent occasions when you'll need to select options for a given item. This cannot be done unattended.

Up through the point of partitioning the disk and creating the file system, there's nothing new. However, when the prompt comes up asking you to select a "distribution" (pre-selected package collection), only take the bare minimum for building the core system. You want #4, "Developer" without X. Since I was working from the installation CD, I chose that source. After the congratulation message, you'll need to configure your Internet connection. You'll need this very soon.

When the message asks about ethernet or slip/ppp, choose "yes." The next window lists the various interfaces the installer thinks it can address. If you have an ethernet controller, much depends on the chipset and how it connects to your hardware. There are several dozen drivers already included in the FreeBSD kernel. Mine offered to use the interface rl0 (that's RL-zero), because my system has an onboard RealTek 8100 series chipset. If you don't see an option that describes the chipset for yours, you'll need to spend some time with Google, and I recommend you use keywords which include freebsd and the brand and model of your ethernet chipset. It is possible you can load the driver manually later, or you may need to compile in a special driver. While this is relatively painless for most things, it's beyond the scope of this article. I highly recommend you join a forum where there are plenty of experience BSD users.

You'll need to know what your ISP requires from you to connect. At a minimum you'll need to know whether to engage DHCP. For something like AT&T Yahoo DSL, that may be all you need (although FreeBSD does support PPPoE if your modem does not handle the authentication process for you.). When the form pops up for the host information, most of it will be filled in correctly under DHCP. You'll need to give your machine a name. I suggest a simple four or five letter nickname in this pattern:

name.local.bsd

If you have a fixed IP address and a legitimate host name, use that instead. For the next few questions, I said "yes" only to the use of SSH. This makes it easier to transfer files between machines on the same local network (hint: man scp). Most everything else should be "no." Eventually you'll work your way to the option of adding pre-built packages from the CD. We need only three:

bash: I won't apologize for choosing the most user-friendly shell. If you become curious, read up on the others and try them out. Most desktop users prefer bash.
cvsup-without-gui: This will allow you to download core system update code and update your ports tree.
pico: This is one of the simplest editors on the commandline, far simpler than anything else easily available in this situation.

Tell the installer you are finished and be ready to swap disks around. If you find you are missing disk 2, or it is unreadable, you can come back to this later. In fact, once you've done your first reboot, you can do it anytime using the command /stand/sysinstall, then changing your install source to FTP, as long as you know the exact FTP address you want to use. Once you have sysinstall running, take time to read the listed options, and you should be able to find that option, plus the option for adding packages. In my case, the installer couldn't read the cvsup-without-gui package. You'll see how I got it later.

In fact, the only thing left is adding your user account and setting the root password. Once you've done that, the installer asks if you wish to revisit any last install options. Select "yes" and you'll be back at the sysinstall main window. When I changed to FTP install source, in the blank line for FTP directory, I decided to use:

ftp.freebsd.org

because for a single package, it shouldn't make too much difference whether you use a mirror close to you. Pay attention to the prompts, and realize you can always go back to the main sysinstall window and keep trying it over until you get it right. You can find more details here.

Optimizing and Building the Core

Your first boot should stop at the point of starting the SSH daemon by asking you to type random characters on the screen. Be sure you don't hit the key sequence CTRL-C nor the Scroll Lock in the process, as they can ruin the whole thing. Just use the main letter and number keys and hit ENTER when you have at least one line of random junk. The system will then create your SSH keys and come back to the login prompt.

Login as root. Keep in mind, at this stage we do everything from the console. First, let's configure make.conf. We'll copy the generic system default and modify it.

cp /usr/share/examples/etc/make.conf /etc/ pico -w /etc/make.conf

The pico editor will allow us to add compile-time options for the system in general. The basic standard C and C++ libraries allow for CPU optimizations. With each new generation, the processor manufacturer adds new command sets to make the processor more efficient and powerful. You'll notice in the top of the make.conf file, we have a list of processors for which there are command-set optimizations in the libraries. Mine is a Pentium4, so I set the first CPU line like this: CPUTYPE=pentium4. If the list of choices offered confuse you, consider choosing simply i686 (unless you have an ancient 586 or AMD K5). Bench testing indicates the greatest improvement begins there, and anything fancier is only a small increment faster. However, if you know what you've got for sure, there's no harm taking it to the max. Also note, things in FreeBSD have advanced to the point where the general prohibition against optimization level 2 in the CFLAGS is no longer applicable. So I made that one like this: CFLAGS= -O2 -pipe. There are other possibilities, but you'll need more expert guidance for your purposes.

Now we need to update our source and ports tree. This is adequately covered elsewhere. The only difference is, since we have no GUI, we use the cvsup command provided in the cvsup files:

cvsup -g -L 2 stable-supfile

for the system core, and similar for the ports-supfile. You should see displayed on the console a detailed report of what is being dowloaded. When finished, you'll see a Finished successfully, and the command prompt will return. Next, you'll need to navigate to the kernel configuration file and make some changes. That is also covered in the system update tutorial. Make sure you don't get too zealous in deleting options in the kernel configuration. I once removed the da driver and couldn't mount any USB storage devices. You can find details here.

I'll only outline here the steps to rebuilding the core system:

cd /usr/src make buildworld make buildkernel make installkernel reboot shutdown now cd /usr/src make installworld mergemaster reboot

Upon rebooting, everything you have so far will be optimized. Next, we add uesrland stuff.

Don't be afraid to keep all that code in the /usr/obj/ directory until the next system update. Should you ever damage or corrupt part of your core system, it's a simply matter to run make installworld again and fix things. However, be sure to delete all that stuff before your next system update.

Adding the Desktop

Because we updated our ports tree, we can be comfortable we are getting the latest and greatest for FreeBSD. You can choose any desktop you want. For this exercise, I chose KDE, which is a common choice for home and small business users. Building KDE from source and optimizing can easily halve the time and resources required during daily use. Because the ports tree handles dependencies for us, we need not worry too much about all the niggling details. The shortest path is this:

cd /usr/ports/x11/kde3 make install && make clean

However, that adds components I won't use. The path I chose is probably not the shortest, but the one with which I'm most comfortable. I went through the ports tree and ran the build and install scripts for the following:

qt3.3
kdebase3
kdeadmin3
kdeutils3
kdenetwork3
kdepim3
kdegraphics3
kdeartwork3
kdemultimedia3
kdegames3

If you watch, you'll notice in the process you'll get some of the X.org packages built automatically as dependencies, and all of it will be optimized. However, to actully have a GUI on your machine, you'll need to add the following manually:

xorg-fonts-type1
xorg-fonts-75dpi
xorg-fonts-100dpi
xorg-fonts-miscbitmaps
xorg-server
xorg-clients
dri (if your graphics chipset is capable of 3D rendering)
urwfonts-ttf
webfonts

Other packages you might consider, based on your desktop use habits:

seamonkey
mplayer
mplayer-plugin
mplayer-skins
kmplayer
nedit
elinks
joe
elinks
mc

Notice many of these will also pull in various dependencies. The last significant item is an office suite. While OpenOffice is the standard, it really does take a long time to build, and requires a huge amount of temporary space on the harddrive. With the 1.x series it was 4GB; 2.x requires about 9GB. The build process is also prone to errors, so only try it if you really need it. Note it was just recently ported fully to the AMD64 architecture. Given my choice of the KDE environment, my own preference is KOffice. The latest version is quite useful. Once you have your templates made, it's quite easy and will open most files made with OpenOffice 2. If you prefer GNOME, consider the AbiWord/Gnumeric pair. On much older machines, you may need to look elsewhere, such as using Ted as a word processor, and oleo or the commandline spreadsheet sc.

Once you've finished building all your chosen packages, you will have spent at least two days most likely, and it's time to run the last configurations. Setting up the X.org server is covered elsewhere. However, you can't do any of this from sysinstall any more. It's simplest, in my opinion, to run /usr/X11R6/bin/xorgcfg -textmode and follow the instructions on the screen. Also, don't forget to configure the fonts.

It's simplest to test the configuration while still logged in as root. First, type cd by itself to return you to root's home directory. There, create a file that starts KDE automatically:

cd pico .xinitrc

Type in this line: exec /usr/local/bin/startkde, then hit ENTER because configuration files in BSD must have one blank line at the bottom. Save and close. Then try the command startx and see what happens. If it fails and you have no idea what to do, see your friends on a BSD forum, or you can contact me and I might be able to help.

Ed Hurst is Associate Editor of Open for Business. Ed operates a computer ministry in Oklahoma City. He loves computers, runs FreeBSD and GNU/Linux and reads all sorts of things. You can reach Ed at ehurst@ofb.biz.

Article Path: Home: Computers and Technology: Linux and BSD on the Desktop: Desktop FreeBSD: Fully Optimized 6.x Installation

Re: Desktop FreeBSD: Fully Optimized 6.x Installation

Why not take DesktopBSD or PC-BSD? Don't understand this article.

>though not Open Source, but let’s be honest, very few of us really take advantage of that!

Let's be honest, this attitude isn't true in *BSD. The majority of *BSD users participates in open source in many ways.

>Something similar applies for the standard ‘Office’ applications:

Abiword is an alternative too, some people actually write their thesis for university with it

If a Ph.D. student in history is able to cope with LaTex, well something is really wrong with this so-called “ready for desktop”. Don't read a howto, test it yourself and you'll see what's your desktop

Posted by Oliver Herold - Jan 22, 2007 | 10:57:0

I was hoping to find more insider info like tuning kernel variables via sysctl or source. Instead the author turns some basic knobs and dumps KDE on top of it (which is also should undergo some optimization).

Posted by maznio - Oct 16, 2006 | 14:8:23

The same optimization procedure was adopted by gentoo linux.
However, -march=pentiu4 some times for some user-land
applications may leed to system instabilities and
segmentation faults. The same thing happens to FreeBSD as
well. I have experienced instabilities to some applications
when I compiled them with -O2 -march=pentium4.

Now as for the whole performance gain from simple -O2 to
-march=pentium4 -O2 I really doubt. Scientific Computing applications compiled with -O2 run as fast as those with
-O2 -march=pentium4. Hardly you may find some which will
benefit from -march=pentium4. So I guess that the whole
issue of optimizing OS like Linux(gentoo) or FreeBSD
doesn't worth trying.

Ed Hurst, if you can assemble benchmark results to some
popular userspace applications or some frequent kernel
tasks then if those look encouraging we might discuss it again.

Regards!
pfrick!

Posted by performance-frick - Oct 17, 2006 | 13:0:39

Sorry, Maznio, you came to wrong place for that. I use the term “optimized” as in code and complie optimizations, not tuning and tweaking. You might try BSDForums.org or ScreamingElectron.org.

Posted by Ed Hurst - Oct 16, 2006 | 22:52:43

read the comment here:
http://85.89.167.26/system/comment.txt

Posted by vermaden - Oct 17, 2006 | 14:22:7

Fully Optimized?

Ed Hurst: Are you using FreeBSD for week or so?
wtf is that?

to optimize FreeBSD:
1. remove unneded kernel options, add options you need that are not in GENERIC kernel

2. Optimized /etc/make.conf, separate CFLAGS for ports and base system, ccache (/usr/ports/devel/ccache) to speed up building:

CPUTYPE= pentium4
KERNCONF= CUSTOM
WRKDIRPREFIX= /usr/ports/obj

default build settings for ports collection
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/*}
CFLAGS= -O2 -pipe -funroll-loops -s -frename-registers -fomit-frame-pointer
CXXFLAGS= -O2 -pipe -funroll-loops -s -frename-registers
.endif

default build settings for base system
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/usr/src/*} || ${.CURDIR:M*/usr/obj/*}
CFLAGS+= -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -s
CXXFLAGS+= -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -s
COPTFLAGS= -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -s
.endif

use ccache while compiling anything
CC=/usr/local/libexec/ccache/world-cc
CXX=/usr/local/libexec/ccache/world-c++

rest of ccache setup in /.cshrc (NOT ~/.cshrc):
# use ccache
setenv PATH /usr/local/libexec/ccache:$PATH
setenv CCACHE_PATH /usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
setenv CCACHE_DIR /var/tmp/ccache
setenv CCACHE_LOGFILE /var/log/ccache.log
setenv CCACHE_NLEVELS 8 # (default 2) possible: 1-8

set ccache temp size to 512MB (default 1GB)
if ( -x /usr/local/bin/ccache ) then
/usr/local/bin/ccache -M 512m > /dev/null
endif

3. set base system knobs, disable the thing that you do not use:

< base system knobs :: BEGIN >
NO_ATM=yes # do not build ATM related programs and libraries
NO_BIND=yes # do not build bind and related programs
NO_BLUETOOTH=yes # do not build Bluetooth related stuff
NO_CVS=yes # do not build CVS
NO_FORTRAN= yes # do not build g77 and related libraries
NO_GDB= yes # do not build GDB
NO_I4B=yes # do not build isdn4bsd package
NO_INET6= yes # do not build IPv6 related programs and libraries
NO_INFO= yes # do not make or install info files
NO_IPFILTER= yes # do not build IP Filter package
NO_KERBEROS= yes # do not build and install Kerberos 5 (KTH Heimdal)
NO_LPR= yes # do not build lpr and related programs
NO_MAILWRAPPER= yes # do not build the mailwrapper(8) MTA selector
NO_NETCAT= yes # do not build netcat
NO_PF= yes # do not build PF firewall package
NO_PROFILE= yes # Avoid compiling profiled libraries
NO_RCMDS= yes # do not build or install BSD r* commands (rsh, etc)
NO_SENDMAIL= yes # do not build sendmail and related programs

4. set ports knobs:

Common settings that are applied to all ports
WITHOUT_ESOUND=yes
WITHOUT_ARTS=yes
WITHOUT_GTK=yes
WITH_GTK2=yes
WITHOUT_IPV6=yes
WITHOUT_ESD=yes
WITHOUT_XMMS=yes
WITHOUT_DEBUG=yes
#WITHOUT_PERL=yes
WITHOUT_PYTHON=yes
WITHOUT_GTKSPELL=yes
WITHOUT_ASPELL=yes
WITHOUT_MOZILLA=yes
WITH_FREETYPE=yes
WITH_FREETYPE2=yes
WITHOUT_EXAMPLES=yes
WITHOUT_TEMPLATES=yes
WITH_UTF8=yes
WITH_MULTIBYTE=yes
WITH_UNICODE=yes
WITHOUT_QT=yes
WITHOUT_JAVA=yes
WITH_JPEG=yes
WITH_XFT=yes
WITHOUT_DBUS=yes
WITH_NLS=yes
WITH_IMLIB2=yes
WITH_MMX=yes
WITHOUT_NAUTILUS=yes
WITHOUT_PRINT=yes
WITHOUT_CUPS=yes
WITH_BROWSER?=opera
WITHOUT_MOZILLA_PLUGIN=yes
WITH_MPLAYER=yes
WITHOUT_XINE=yes
WITHOUT_XINERAMA=yes
WITH_GIMP=yes
WITH_USB=yes
BROWSER?=opera
WITHOUT_PROFILE=yes
WITHOUT_SENDMAIL=yes
WITHOUT_GSTREAMER=yes
WITH_CDROM_DEVICE=/dev/acd0
WITH_SSE=yes
WITHOUT_GCONF=yes
WITH_THREADS=yes

/usr/ports/lang/perl5.8
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/lang/perl5.8}
WITHOUT_PERL_64BITINT=yes
WITH_THREADS=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/lang/python
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/lang/python}
WITHOUT_HUGE_STACK_SIZE=yes
WITHOUT_IPV6=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/editors/vim
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/editors/vim}
WITH_GTK2=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/net-p2p/mldonkey-devel
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/net-p2p/mldonkey-devel}
WITHOUT_GUI=yes
WITH_THR_THREAD_MODEL=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/graphics/ImageMagick
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/graphics/ImageMagick}
PERL_THREADED=true
WITH_IMAGEMAGICK_THREADS=yes
WITH_IMAGEMAGICK_DOT=yes
WITH_IMAGEMAGICK_SVG=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/multimedia/mplayer
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/multimedia/mplayer}
WITHOUT_X11=yes
WITHOUT_GUI=yes
WITHOUT_IPV6=yes
WITHOUT_SKINS=yes
WITHOUT_NVIDIA=yes
WITHOUT_ARTS=yes
WITH_AALIB=yes
WITH_SVGALIB=yes
WITHOUT_ESOUND=yes
WITHOUT_XMMS=yes
WITHOUT_RTCPU=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/x11-wm/fluxbox-devel
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/x11-wm/fluxbox-devel}
WITH_IMLIB2=yes
WITH_KDE=yes
WITH_GNOME=yes
WITHOUT_SLIT=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/audio/musicpd
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/audio/musicpd}
WITH_AAC=yes
WITH_MOD=yes
WITH_ID3TAG=yes
WITHOUT_IPV6=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/graphics/xpdf
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/graphics/xpdf}
A4=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/x11/rxvt-unicode
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/x11/rxvt-unicode}
WITHOUT_UNICODE3=yes
WITHOUT_MENUBAR=yes
WITHOUT_RXVT_SCROLLBAR=yes
WITHOUT_NEXT_SCROLLBAR=yes
WITHOUT_XTERM_SCROLLBAR=yes
WITHOUT_PLAIN_SCROLLBAR=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/www/lighttpd
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/www/lighttpd}
WITH_OPENLDAP=yes
WITH_MYSQL=yes
WITHOUT_IPV6=yes
WITH_CML=yes
.endif

/usr/ports/audio/cmus
.if ${.CURDIR:M*/ports/audio/cmus}
WITH_VORBIS=yes
WITH_MODPLUG=yes
WITH_TREMOR=yes
WITH_MUSEPACK=yes
WITH_LIBAO=yes
.endif

5. disable unused terminals in /etc/ttys (4 is more then enought):

when going to single-user mode.
console none unknown off insecure
#
ttyv0 “/usr/libexec/getty Pc” cons25 on secure
ttyv1 “/usr/libexec/getty Pc” cons25 on secure
ttyv2 “/usr/libexec/getty Pc” cons25 on secure
ttyv3 “/usr/libexec/getty Pc” cons25 on secure
#ttyv4 “/usr/libexec/getty Pc” cons25 on secure
#ttyv5 “/usr/libexec/getty Pc” cons25 on secure
#ttyv6 “/usr/libexec/getty Pc” cons25 on secure
#ttyv7 “/usr/libexec/getty Pc” cons25 on secure
#ttyv8 “/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon” xterm off secure

6. XFce is the biggest thing you want to use, maybe gnome, but most FreeBSD users go for fast and efficent small window manager like fluxbox fvwm openbox pekwm …

7. X11 optimising, do not load unneded modules in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section “Module”
SubSection “extmod”
Option “omit xfree86-dga”
EndSubSection
Load “dbe”
Load “type1”
Load “freetype”
EndSection

8. send parameters to xinit to disable unneded sh!t:
xinit — -nolisten tcp -bc -tst -br dpms -logo -xinerama -depth 16

9. Firefox has very nice mascoot but it is too slow, use Opera it is as free as Firefox.

10. I propably forgot something …

Posted by vermaden - Oct 17, 2006 | 14:23:50

is really opera as free as firefox? do you think all users who need optimization are ready to cope with WITHOUT_X11, WITHOUT_GTK2 and so on? =D

Posted by Anonymous - Oct 17, 2006 | 16:48:0

Geeez :/

these are just EXAMPLES! you can select what you want

and YES Opera is as free as Firefox
Opera is faster and uses less memory
Opera is also more safe then Firefox

Posted by vermaden - Oct 17, 2006 | 16:55:18

Well, this is decent for a slacker version of optimizing…

I've been in the process of doing this process, well, a similar process, for an AOpen AX4GE-Tube motherboard (yes, the one with the vacuum tube audio preamp on the mootherboard), and I would like to detail a few differences here…

1). choose “Custom”, select all that you want (it will all be rebuilt anyway in the buildworld), except X. Select all appropriate sources in the source code section of the “Custom” setup screen.

2). unless you are a masochist, NEVER use pico for editing configuration files. If a configuration line is too long, pico will chop single lines into one or more lines depending on length once you save a file, by default. Use the built-inee or vi (or, if you are a Real Man, use ed(1), at least until you get around to compiling a real editor like emacs.

3). make.conf:

CFLAGS= -O2 -march=pentium4 -mtune=pentium4 -msse2 -mfpmath=sse -pipe

COPTFLAGS= -O -march=pentium4 -mtune=pentium4 -pipe

the Kernel will refuse to build with the sse and sse math options.

Also add a commented:

CFLAGS= -O2 -march=pentium4 -mtune=pentium4 -pipe

as, some ports also puke with the sse and sse math options, and all you have to do is swap the comment char between the two lines long enough to start a build (but be sure to uncomment the line with the sse options again after you start make, as if you have multiple builds going, you don't want something to miss the faster options).

4). for a truely optimized system, you might also want to build cvsup-without-gui from scratch as well, although the ezm compile can take a while. At least this way, it will be optimized as well. For that matter, if you MUST use bash(1) over csh(1) or tcsh(1), then compile it from scratch too. The time diff involved is only ten minutes tops in the install process.

5). why bother with the command line version of cvsup? enable source updating while you are in make.conf, and simply:

cd /usr/src
make update

and that takes care of src, ports, and docs without any further interaction (unless you want to tweak the retry mechanism, because it will rarely connect on the first attempt, and five minute backoff can take up to days to update stuff, if you are unlucky).

6). for configuring x.org, it's far easier, and far more accurate, to skip the xorgcfg program altogether, and use:

cd /etc/X11
Xorg -configure

which, according to the manual page:

When this option is specified, the Xorg server loads all video
driver modules, probes for available hardware, and writes out
an initial xorg.conf(5) file based on what was detected. This
option currently has some problems on some platforms, but in
most cases it is a good way to bootstrap the configuration
process. This option is only available when the server is run
as root (i.e, with real-uid 0).

7). enjoy having a targeted, optimized OS when it's all said and done.

Although Ed made a few optimization mistakes, or at the least a few shortcuts, the article is a sound article, and of course gives good advice, or at least advice in the correct direction.

Don't take my criticism personally, Ed, and always remember, collaboration is how we got this far to begin with.

Posted by Jim Bryant - Oct 18, 2006 | 7:11:5

1st: you dont need cvsup-without-gui anymore in recent freebsd version. it needs ezm3 because its not written in c but modula3. the base system now comes with a replacement csup, written in c, it takes the same options, one option is dropped, ready. i dunno for sure, but i guess recent make.conf has csup by default? if not, just replace cvsup with cvup there.

2nd: when installing the core to your hard drive, select base, kernel and src/base, src/tools, this is the minimum, i dunno if option #4 development system is the same, but this is definately the minimum.

3rd: if u dont debug u should add -fomit-frame-pointer to CFLAGS. its the only option besides -O2 wchich is safe… though in the past the base system didnt build then, u had to set -fno-strict-aliasing too, but i think now u just add -fomit-frame-pointer and it should work. try it. this free extra register gives some speed… other options like -ftracer are nice, but unsafe as most other gcc options… they break here and there…

4th and yes, next thing to do is read /usr/src/Makefile to update and then dont forget to copy the kernel config GENERIC and tune it! its worth it i guess, and u dont need kernel modules usualy, select to not build these in make.conf and compile what u need and only that into your kernel.

5th, to buy a recent hard drive is a nice idea, coze its the todays system bottleneck in speed… if u have more than one hdd, set some swap to every drive instead of one, and split the partitions over the discs… though, if u have enough ram, most things loaded will remain there buffered…

Posted by eugene - Oct 18, 2006 | 20:16:31

While I don't really think the article is that good for optimizing FreeBSD for performance, I think that some of the comments after the article do help it a lot. I think that just getting a bunch of the junk out of the kernel that isn't used helps significantly, along with not running KDE, at least in my experiences.

Posted by imnuts - Oct 18, 2006 | 23:46:42

vermaden, this is about FreeBSD not Gentoo.

Posted by Kian - Oct 21, 2006 | 8:24:56

QUOTE: vermaden, this is about FreeBSD not Gentoo.

BUAHAHA!

Kian: you really are serious n00b, they ARE for FreeBSD and I use most of them.

Posted by vermaden - Oct 21, 2006 | 14:25:0

Desktop FreeBSD: the right way

There is a number of reasons why I decided to write an article about how to setup a FreeBSD desktop. One of the reasons is the article on “Open For Business” called “Desktop FreeBSD: Fully Optimized 6.x Installation”. While I agree with the author on s…

Trackback from Igor’s blog - Oct 24, 2006 | 22:39:45

Both the original article and the comments are most useful! I doubt whether further-going optimizations or 'leave-outs' will provide noticeable difference in performance. On the other hand, optimizing that way, you may be confronted with problems due to missing components later.

With respect to the 'Firefox versus Opera' dispute, there can be no doubt that Opera is as free as Firefox (though not Open Source, but let's be honest, very few of us really take advantage of that!) and also faster, safer and smaller than Firefox (especially if you take all those often otherwise unneeded depencies into account!). So, on an 'optimized' system, Opera certainly deserves its place.
(I have both installed on my FreeBSD 6.1 system, because Firefox used to be somewhat better in dealing with MS/IE deviations from the standards.)

Something similar applies for the standard 'Office' applications: if you want a really fast and small package, install Textmaker/Planmaker (from Softmaker.com) instead of Openoffice.org. You have to pay for it, although not too much, but you get applications that surpass Openoffice.org in features, speed of operation, size and MS Office compatibility.

Posted by Menno - Nov 1, 2006 | 2:29:28

vermaden, I think he is trying to say, Gentoo is the OS that gets that kind of optimization hype. FreeBSD is more often just run with the defaults. I have never optimized any FreeBSD compile. It always works good and fast.

Peace,

Winter

Posted by winter - Oct 28, 2006 | 2:12:54

Yes but this is WHOLE ARTICLE about FreeBSD Optimization, so author should list ANY optimizations IF they are avialable. I do not care what people use in their FreeBSD setups, I just mentioned what author does not and should mention.

Remember that Gentoo is heavily base on FreeBSD.

Posted by vermaden - Oct 30, 2006 | 20:49:4