Dramatically improved start-up time!

itimpi · 11-27-2010, 06:22 PM

Just thought that it was worth mentioning that the startup time of Calibre has dramatically improved for me going from around 3-5 minutes to less than 10 seconds with the move to 0.7.30 and then 0.7.31 on Windows 7 Pro. This is a huge improvement

I run with quite a large library (~11000 books) and have that located on a NAS so I am guessing that the change to caching cover information that is mentioned in the Release notes has done this. Thought that it was worth pointing out that in my environment the gain was much larger than I had expected from posts I had seen earlier in the forum.

Calibre generally feels snappier as well although that may be my imagination as I have not done scientific measurements elsewhere.

kovidgoyal · 11-27-2010, 06:26 PM

Glad to hear it.

It was for your use case that I made the change (networked storage and also inefficient file systems). Some calibre user with one of those tw did some profiling and found the cover checks to be taking a lot of time on his calibre library, so I decided to cache them.

Note that the first time you start calibre after upgrading you wont see any improvement, as the cache has to be built. But subsequent starts will be faster.

itimpi · 11-27-2010, 06:38 PM

The first time it happened I thought something had gone wrong

I had done the upgrade to 0.7.30 earlier today that I guess had created the cache. I then upgraded to 0.7.31 a short whiole ago as recommended for Windows users and noticed the great improvment.

I thought it was worth expressing my thanks for the improvement, and also to encourage others who have a similar use profile to make the upgrade to get the improvment for themselves.

chaley · 11-29-2010, 05:09 AM

Just to add some data: On my traveling laptop (XP pro, 1 GB mem, slow single-core processor, 4200 rpm disk), it used to take 55 seconds to open my library. It now takes 3.5 seconds. No NAS involved.

Note that I see almost no change on my desktop machine (win7 pro, 4 GB, fast 4-core processor, 7200 rpm disk); it went from 1.4 seconds to 1.2 seconds. I think this is due to having enough memory for windows to maintain a reasonably complete file name cache, but it could be a win7 vs XP thing, the cache on the disk itself, or (more likely) a combination of all of these.

chilady1 · 11-29-2010, 10:53 AM

I agree - although my library is not as large as 11K (only 5k) I noticed a marked improvement in the time it takes Calibre to open up. Thanks Kovid!

kovidgoyal · 11-29-2010, 11:03 AM

Good to hear. It's a great feeling to perform a successful performance optimization

11-27-2010, 06:22 PM	#1
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	Dramatically improved start-up time! Just thought that it was worth mentioning that the startup time of Calibre has dramatically improved for me going from around 3-5 minutes to less than 10 seconds with the move to 0.7.30 and then 0.7.31 on Windows 7 Pro. This is a huge improvement I run with quite a large library (~11000 books) and have that located on a NAS so I am guessing that the change to caching cover information that is mentioned in the Release notes has done this. Thought that it was worth pointing out that in my environment the gain was much larger than I had expected from posts I had seen earlier in the forum. Calibre generally feels snappier as well although that may be my imagination as I have not done scientific measurements elsewhere.

11-29-2010, 05:09 AM	#4
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,742 Karma: 6997045 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	Just to add some data: On my traveling laptop (XP pro, 1 GB mem, slow single-core processor, 4200 rpm disk), it used to take 55 seconds to open my library. It now takes 3.5 seconds. No NAS involved. Note that I see almost no change on my desktop machine (win7 pro, 4 GB, fast 4-core processor, 7200 rpm disk); it went from 1.4 seconds to 1.2 seconds. I think this is due to having enough memory for windows to maintain a reasonably complete file name cache, but it could be a win7 vs XP thing, the cache on the disk itself, or (more likely) a combination of all of these. Last edited by chaley; 11-29-2010 at 11:14 AM.

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11-27-2010, 06:26 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,871 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Glad to hear it. It was for your use case that I made the change (networked storage and also inefficient file systems). Some calibre user with one of those tw did some profiling and found the cover checks to be taking a lot of time on his calibre library, so I decided to cache them. Note that the first time you start calibre after upgrading you wont see any improvement, as the cache has to be built. But subsequent starts will be faster.

11-27-2010, 06:38 PM	#3
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	The first time it happened I thought something had gone wrong I had done the upgrade to 0.7.30 earlier today that I guess had created the cache. I then upgraded to 0.7.31 a short whiole ago as recommended for Windows users and noticed the great improvment. I thought it was worth expressing my thanks for the improvement, and also to encourage others who have a similar use profile to make the upgrade to get the improvment for themselves.

11-29-2010, 10:53 AM	#5
chilady1 I devour books! Posts: 789 Karma: 1285226 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: iPad Air, Kindle 3/Kobo Aura HD, iPhone 6	I agree - although my library is not as large as 11K (only 5k) I noticed a marked improvement in the time it takes Calibre to open up. Thanks Kovid!

11-29-2010, 11:03 AM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,871 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Good to hear. It's a great feeling to perform a successful performance optimization