![]() ![]() We believe this offers a good mix of hardware and software, allowing us a broader understanding of our work. We decided to conduct the testing on a range of systems (2015-2020 laptop models), including HDD, SSD and NVMe storage, Intel and Nvidia graphics, as well as several operating systems, including Kubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.10 (pre-release at the time of writing), and Fedora 32 Workstation (just before Fedora 33 release). Three, it is not part of any specific Linux desktop environment, which makes the testing independent and accurate.įor comparison, the XZ-compressed snap weighs ~150 MB, whereas the one using the LZO compression is ~250 MB in size. Two, Chromium is a relatively large and complex application. One, the browser is a ubiquitous (and popular) application, with frequent usage, so any potential slowness is likely to be noticeable. We believe this is a highly representative case, for several reasons. The LZO algorithm was selected because it offers the highest level of compatibility over a number of different use cases.Īs a test case, we chose the Chromium browser (stable build, 85.X). To improve startup times, we decided to test a different algorithm – LZO – which offers lesser compression, but needs less processing power to complete the action. ![]() Subsequent launches are fast and typically, there’s little to no difference compared to traditionally packaged applications. This is also far more noticeable on first launch only, before the application data is cached in memory. On the desktops, users may perceive this as a “slowness” – the time it takes for the application to launch. This results in a high level of compression but consequently requires more processing power to uncompress and expand the filesystem for use. ![]() Now, we want to tell you about another major milestone – the use of a new compression algorithm for snaps offers 2-3x improvement in application startup times! LZO and XZ algorithmsīy default, snaps are packaged as a compressed, read-only squashfs filesystem using the XZ algorithm. Last year, we talked about improved snap startup times following fontconfig cache optimization. We are well aware of this phenomenon, and we have invested significant effort and time in resolving any speed gaps, while keeping security in mind. Snaps are self-contained applications, with layered security, and as a result, sometimes, they may have reduced perceived performance compared to those same applications offered via traditional Linux packaging mechanisms. A great user experience is one that manages to blend the two in a way that does not compromise on robust, solid foundations of security on one hand, and a fast, responsive software interaction on the other. Security and performance are often mutually exclusive concepts. A TAR archive can contain a single file, so that can be used to work around the issue for compressing individual files.Snap speed improvements with new compression algorithm! Mac OS X insists that there must be a TAR archive inside XZ files or it will choke on it. Only XZ files containing a TAR archive are supported. Single-file XZ file streams like those created by XZ Utils, 7zip, and other popular compression utilities are entirely unsupported. It turns out the XZ support in Mac OS X 10.10 is kind of broken. Without installing anything, a TAR archive can be created with XZ compression using the tar program with the undocumented -xz argument. XZ Utils can, however, be installed using homebrew for anyone wanting to distribute software or other files in XZ files. Neither is XZ Utils included for use in the command-line. There’s no way to create XZ files from the graphical user interface. XZ only supports a single file so another format, like TAR, must be used to create an archive to contain multiple files in one compressed file. tar.xz for TAR archives compressed in an XZ file. On most files, it will produce files that are much smaller than those of the venerable ZIP format.Īrchive Utility has added support for the file extensions. XZ is a file format that uses the highly efficient LZMA compression algorithm. XZ files can now be opened effortlessly by double-clicking on downloaded XZ files. Its interface is seen as a small window showing the overall progress of the operation. The built-in Archive Utility on Mac OS X 10.10 “Yosemite” now supports decompressing/extracting from the highly efficient XZ compression format.Īrchive Utility is a small program that opens when users compress or decompress files in Mac OS X. I’ve stumbled upon a pleasant new feature for those who like their downloads compact and fast. ![]()
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