How to make "ls" as quick as a Windows "dir"?

How to make "ls" as quick as a Windows "dir"?

[Paul Maier]

Hello,

for my cygwin installation (cygwin-1.7.7-1, downloaded 2010-11-02, on a Windows XP SP 3),
the time for a "ls -l" to complete is much slower than the time for a "cmd /C dir",
although similar information gets displayed.

Does anybody know a setting, maybe a flag to "ls", to make the ls as quick as the Windows dir?


On a local drive, both, ls and Windows dir, are quite quick. The difference comes up,
when working on a slow network drive (Q:).

I took these times:


Example 1: Windows dir completes in only 13.3 seconds 
-----------------------------------------------------

/cygdrive/c/Dokumente und Einstellungen/test2/Desktop/cy>time cmd /C dir 'Q:\Angebot'
 Datenträger in Laufwerk Q: ist Data
 Volumeseriennummer: XXX

 Verzeichnis von Q:\Angebot

04.02.2011  21.10    <DIR>          .
04.02.2011  21.10    <DIR>          ..
03.02.2011  14.29           775.168 AnXXX
03.02.2011  13.50           231.936 EAXXX
28.01.2011  10.11            60.928 PrXXX
               3 Datei(en)      1.068.032 Bytes
               2 Verzeichnis(se), 880.856.702.976 Bytes frei
0.015u 0.015s 0:13.33 0.1%      0+0k 0+0io 1219pf+0w



Example 2: cygwin ls takes 53.9 seconds
---------------------------------------
For the same drive and same directory, Cygwin's ls takes 53.9 seconds,
that's 4 times as much than the Windows dir:

/cygdrive/c/Dokumente und Einstellungen/test2/Desktop/cy>time ls -l /cygdrive/q/Angebot/
insgesamt 816
---------- 1 ???????? mkgroup 775168  3. Feb 14:29 AnXXX
---------- 1 ???????? mkgroup 231936  3. Feb 13:50 EAXXX
---------- 1 ???????? mkgroup  60928 28. Jan 10:11 PrXXX
0.030u 0.077s 0:53.91 0.1%      0+0k 0+0io 2026pf+0w


Does anybody have an idea?

Thanks
Paul


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Re: How to make "ls" as quick as a Windows "dir"?

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

On 2/6/2011 4:37 PM, Paul Maier wrote:
> Hello,
>
> for my cygwin installation (cygwin-1.7.7-1, downloaded 2010-11-02, on a
> Windows XP SP 3), the time for a "ls -l" to complete is much slower than the
> time for a "cmd /C dir", although similar information gets displayed.
>
> Does anybody know a setting, maybe a flag to "ls", to make the ls as quick as
> the Windows dir?

The best thing to do is to skip any flags for 'ls'.  If cygwin has to open
the file to fill in a particular piece of data, you're going to see significant
delays on a slow file-system/driver.

-- 
Larry

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
> Q: Are you sure?
>> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
>>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

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AW: How to make "ls" as quick as a Windows "dir"?

[Paul Maier]

> The best thing to do is to skip any flags for 'ls'.  If 
> cygwin has to open
> the file to fill in a particular piece of data, you're going 
> to see significant
> delays on a slow file-system/driver.

So the difference is, that "ls -l" openes all files, reading in all bytes to count them;
while Windows "dir" gets the file size from the directory?

Paul.


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Re: AW: How to make "ls" as quick as a Windows "dir"?

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

On 2/8/2011 5:25 PM, Paul Maier wrote:
>> The best thing to do is to skip any flags for 'ls'.  If cygwin has to open
>> the file to fill in a particular piece of data, you're going to see
>> significant delays on a slow file-system/driver.
>
> So the difference is, that "ls -l" openes all files, reading in all bytes to
> count them; while Windows "dir" gets the file size from the directory?

No, it doesn't need to do that for some readily available data like the
file size.  But determining whether the file is executable or a symbolic
link can cause the file to be opened.  Obviously this takes more time than
reading meta-data and on a slow file system, the lag will be felt more
intensely.

If you're only seeing the slow-down with Cygwin facilities and things
like 'cd' are very slow too, then it seems like this is something that's
at least more acutely felt under Cygwin.  why that would be I'm not even
going to guess. :-)

Perhaps it's time for a full problem report.  See the link below for
specifics on what should be in such a report.

http://cygwin.com/problems.html


-- 
Larry

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
> Q: Are you sure?
>> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
>>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

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AW: AW: How to make "ls" as quick as a Windows "dir"?

[Paul Maier]

> 
> Perhaps it's time for a full problem report.  See the link below for
> specifics on what should be in such a report.
> 
> http://cygwin.com/problems.html
> 

Larry, for the cygcheck log: 
please mail (only to) me your personal e-mail address.
I can't mail the file to the list.

Paul.


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Re: AW: AW: How to make "ls" as quick as a Windows "dir"?

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

On 2/9/2011 6:31 AM, Paul Maier wrote:
>
>>
>> Perhaps it's time for a full problem report.  See the link below for
>> specifics on what should be in such a report.
>>
>> http://cygwin.com/problems.html
>>
>
> Larry, for the cygcheck log:
> please mail (only to) me your personal e-mail address.
> I can't mail the file to the list.

Why can't you attach it to your response to the list?

-- 
Larry

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
> Q: Are you sure?
>> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
>>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

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How to make "ls" as quick as a Windows "dir"?

[Paul Maier]

> Im Auftrag von Larry Hall (Cygwin)
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 9. Februar 2011 17:13

> >> Perhaps it's time for a full problem report.  See the link 
> below for
> >> specifics on what should be in such a report.
> >>
> >> http://cygwin.com/problems.html


Hi Larry,

plese find cygcheck.out attached in the mail I sent 1 minute ago named
"Blue Screen after ejecting CD". 

(I replaced my username and PC-name with <USER> and <PCNAME> in the log.)

Thanks for looking into all this.

Paul


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Re: How to make "ls" as quick as a Windows "dir"?

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

On 2/13/2011 6:40 PM, Paul Maier wrote:
>
>> Im Auftrag von Larry Hall (Cygwin)
>> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 9. Februar 2011 17:13
>
>>>> Perhaps it's time for a full problem report.  See the link
>> below for
>>>> specifics on what should be in such a report.
>>>>
>>>> http://cygwin.com/problems.html
>
>
> Hi Larry,
>
> plese find cygcheck.out attached in the mail I sent 1 minute ago named
> "Blue Screen after ejecting CD".
>
> (I replaced my username and PC-name with<USER>  and<PCNAME>  in the log.)
>
> Thanks for looking into all this.

I see a couple of things that you could look at from this output.

First, there are the potential app conflicts.

   Potential app conflicts:

   Sonic Solutions burning software containing DLA component
   Detected: Named process.

   ByteMobile laptop optimization client
   Detected: Named file.

I'd trying removing (uninstalling and rebooting) Sonic Solutions DLA.  If
that works, then you've found your problem.  You may be able to get partial
functionality back there by reinstalling but deactivating the DLA feature.  I
don't know for sure.  In any case, you should report this problem to the
vendor.

Second, and I think most likely, is the ByteMobile stuff itself.  I expect
this is what you're using to connect to your mobile network, so I also expect
that removing it will solve your problem.  But then again, if I am right,
you won't be able to use the mobile network that allowed you to see the
problem in the first place so....  But it's probably worthwhile to report
the problem to that vendor as well.  It's listed on the BLODA list because
it's been reported as interfering with proper Cygwin operation before.

Third is the orphaned installation you have in "D:\Programme".  I doubt
this is a contributor but since it's an easy thing to clean up, it's worth
a shot.

-- 
Larry

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
> Q: Are you sure?
>> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
>>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

--
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