IA9 slow build speed

PaavoN · Post by **PaavoN** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:09 pm

Hi

I've seen threads here where people say they're having extremely slow build speeds with new IA9. I also have this problem now after installing IA9. Fortunately old 8 version was left uninstalled, so I could verify that the problem really is with the new version because with IA8 the installer gets created in about 10 minutes adn with IA9 I stopped the process after an hour or so.

I took SysInternals Process Monitor traces from both cases and seems that IA9 gets 10 Access Denieds taking 5 seconds per file when it copies the files to the output folder ?!? My project has 2260 files so it would take 3 hours to complete... Trace file of the slow build is attached.

Strange thing though that after I cancel the creationprocess and start it over, the files which were copied first time will not get thos Access Denieds any more and gets copied fast.

PaavoN

File Attached:

IA9_Slow_Build.PML

MichaelNesmith · Post by **MichaelNesmith** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:56 am

Try again with version 9.04 - the easiest way would be to regenerate and reinstall your license on top of your existing version without needing to reinstall everything. If this solves your problem, you may then install the full version.

Based on your description, InstallAware 9.04 might solve your issue - it will only try to lock a file if it cannot initially copy it successfully.

Craig Daniel · Post by **Craig Daniel** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:04 am

I am also experiencing EXTREMELY slow build times with IA9. It happens in the file copy part before compression begins. The thing I found is that the files that are taking a long time are all marked read-only on disk. If I remove the read-only attribute and then compile, all is well.

I'm not sure exactly what version of IA9 I have, but I got it on the pre-release special deal, so it's gotta be an early one. Would this be fixed with the 9.04 version you mentioned?

Just an FYI: Another aspect if this relates to IA7. If I compile the same project with IA7, the file copy is fast regardless of the read-only attribute on input files. But, IA7 clears all the attributes on the input files (read-only, and archive) which I find rather odd and undesireable.

In case it matters, I'm building on Vista.

DanStutzman · Post by **DanStutzman** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:16 pm

I had the same problem with 9.03 but I so far 9.04 is performing much faster.

PaavoN · Post by **PaavoN** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:05 pm

Now, when Craig mentioned, I can see that it is clearly related to the read-only attribute. All our files come from SourceSafe which marks them read-only by default. After copying the file IA9 seems to reset the attributes also and next time those files work like a charm.

I downloaded and installed the latest version 9.04, but the licenese is generated earlier. Does installing this license downgrade the version ?

PaavoN

DanStutzman · Post by **DanStutzman** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:22 pm

PavonN

Installing the License does not downgrade your version of IA. I have updated all of my VM's in the past 2 days and it did not downgrade any of them.

DanStutzman · Post by **DanStutzman** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:26 pm

Also, I don't know if this applies, but I have noticed that IA is much faster in Microsoft VPC than VMWare. I'm not exactly sure why but my build times in VM 6.5 with 2 GB of RAM on a Quad-Core Workstation with 10,000 RPM SATA Drives is on average 65% slower than on a VPC of similar build statistics.

PaavoN · Post by **PaavoN** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:30 pm

How do I know the actual version ?
Version-box just says 'Build sliders.rtm.050709'
Would be good to have version information also embedded to the executable like most of others do ...

MichaelNesmith · Post by **MichaelNesmith** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:57 pm

Your version is out of date. It has to be the same version as the trial that you installed. Which means your license file is out of date. Just regenerate and reinstall any time you change versions. Backup both files to keep them safe.

As for VMware vs. Virtual PC, as evidenced by your findings, the time differential can be attributed entirely to your virtualization technology and/or VM settings within a particular hypervisor.

asparagusx · Post by **asparagusx** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:16 am

Installed latest trial version a couple of days ago - creating a test installation (with approx 2000 files) took more than 2 hours. Looks like after that, it does speed up.

MichaelNesmith · Post by **MichaelNesmith** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:34 am

FYI, R&D is taking another stab at this - 9.06 will be live this weekend which should resolve this issue once and for all.

DanStutzman · Post by **DanStutzman** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:21 pm

Mike,

Has R&D taken a look at some of the features I have requested?

Also, 9.04 is much better than 9.05.

PaavoN · Post by **PaavoN** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:29 pm

Installed 9.05 and regenerated the license with no luck. If I clear read-only bit on the files, build speed is back to normal. That's bearable but I'm looking forward to get a final solution.

Hopefully you get the case closed by the end of the week

.

Cheers

Paavo

MichaelNesmith · Post by **MichaelNesmith** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:12 pm

9.06 is live right now. You can regenerate and reinstall your product license, build in the IDE, and let us know if it works better.

Please note that in this build for the proper build behavior you desire, you need to set NOHARDLINKS=TRUE as a compiler variable. This falls back to the old InstallAware 8 - style file copy semantics. Its ironic that using hard links, intended solely as a way to speed up file copy operations, has actually caused more issues. For instance, the WinAPI will not permit the deletion of a hard link to a file if that file is in use - even though it does permit creating the hard link.

The same goes when trying to delete hard links with the read-only attribute. The hard link cannot be deleted and when the read-only attribute is cleared, the original file is affected.

If all is kosher, do let us know - and then you can install the full product, including the command line build tool. 9.06 does not have any additional changes.

Craig Daniel · Post by **Craig Daniel** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:49 am

I just installed 9.06, set NOHARDLINKS=TRUE, and my problems are gone. Build speed is back where it should be, with no side-effects on read-only files.

IA9 slow build speed

IA9 slow build speed

Slow builds - copy files phase