[R-sig-Debian] R slower after etch->lenny upgrade

[Gary Hodges]

Charles Plessy wrote:
> Le Tue, Dec 08, 2009 at 09:06:56AM -0700, Gary Hodges a écrit :
>> Gary Hodges wrote:
>>> Hi.  Last week I updated from 32 bit etch to 32 bit lenny on an AMD SMP 
>>> machine.  I first cloned the system disk to an identical drive, and  
>>> updated the cloned drive.  I still have the etch install untouched on  
>>> the previous drive, which has allowed me to do some testing.  After the 
>>> update R has slowed down significantly.  A user brought this to my  
>>> attention, and at this point we have only tested one script (multiple  
>>> times, different days).
> 
>> Update:  We just tried something a little different.  My colleague's  
>> script writes output to the screen.  I suggested writing to pdf files  
>> instead and it ran much faster; comparable to the speeds on etch.  So at  
>> this point I'm guessing this is not a R issue per se, but an issue with  
>> graphics.
> 
> Dear Gary,
> 
> I think that between Etch and Lenny, R switched its default rendering system to
> use the Cairo library, which provides anti-aliasing and other improvements.
> This rendering system is slower than the previous system, Xlib. Maybe you can
> try your comparison using ‘type = "Xlib"’ when you open X11() or png() devices.
> 
> Best regards,

Great suggestion.  That got the script moving along again.

Cheers,
Gary