"Readahead" : how does it work ??

[Thom May]

* Vincent Trouilliez (vincent.trouilliez at modulonet.fr) wrote :
> Okay, so Hoary has this wonderfull readahead thing.
> 
> I tried editing the  /etc/init.d/readahead script to add a folder/app to
> load at boot. Didn't work.
> Did a quick search in the ubuntu web forums, which pointed me to the
> files /etc/readahead/readahead, readahead.new.
> I added a path line to both files.... still doesn't work.
> Tried the ma page.... none available :-/
> 
> How is one supposed to proceed to load stuff of his choice then ?
> 
you add files to /etc/readahead/readahead - not directories, just files with
fully qualified paths.
It really isn't something that's particularly user-tweakable without some
fairly indepth knowledge of strace, ldd etc.

> Also, considering that Warty does not have readahead, may I ask why
> Warty is blindingly quick at opening the Gnome menus (Applications,
> Computer...) after you log-in, whereas in Hoary, when you first log-in
> and click on the menus, it it takes 2 seconds of hard drive activity,
> before you showing the menu. 
Probably the different menu systems and gamin v fam.
-Thom