Speedup Whonix 11 build time
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	nrgaway
	May 10 2015, 4:26 PM

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We are considering using ----force-unsafe-io and eatmydata options to speed up the performance of installing the Debian templates and was wondering what your thoughts would be on implementing same for Whonix11 build, either as standard or as a build option?

The following is Marek's comment, and your will see he states he is receiving a huge performance boost; What used to take 40 minutes to install has been cut to 10 minutes.

dpkg is quite slow in installing packages, most likely because it calls fsync() at each file. In Qubes IO have noticeable latency, especially when building template (effectively two loop device layers, or even three when building in DispVM).
Those patches disables most of fsync calls, which greatly improve performance (prepare-chroot-debian takes 10min compared to over 40 earlier). debootstrap itself still still calls fsync, because I haven't found a way to pass dpkg options there and Fedora doesn't have eatmydata package.

Of course, there is nothing for free - here we pay with data integrity - if the system crashes during chroot/template preparation, most likely the only option would be to remove it and generate again.

You can view, comment on, or merge this pull request online at:

https://github.com/marmarek/qubes-builder-debian/pull/10

Commit Summary
Add --force-unsafe-io to speedup installation
 Further performance optimization - use 'eatmydata' for IO-intensive calls
File Changes
M prepare-chroot-debian (9)
M prepare-chroot-qubuntu (6)
M template_debian/01_install_core.sh (2)
M template_debian/distribution.sh (8)
M template_debian/vars.sh (2)
Patch Links:

https://github.com/marmarek/qubes-builder-debian/pull/10.patch
https://github.com/marmarek/qubes-builder-debian/pull/10.diff

Details

Impact: Normal

Related Objects

Mentioned Here: T307: switch from '--target root' to '--target qubes' for qubes-whonix builds

Event Timeline

nrgaway created this task.May 10 2015, 4:26 PM

nrgaway raised the priority of this task from to Needs Triage.

nrgaway updated the task description. (Show Details)

nrgaway added a project: Whonix 11.

nrgaway set Impact to Needs Triage.

nrgaway added subscribers: nrgaway, Patrick.

Herald added a project: Whonix. · View Herald TranscriptMay 10 2015, 4:26 PM

Herald added subscribers: troubadour, • WhonixQubes. · View Herald Transcript

Great idea! Great to have as a build option. Great for debug/personal/developers-only builds. I wouldn't want to release testers-only or stable releases build with that option. Looking forward to it!

Patrick added a project: build.May 10 2015, 6:02 PM

Patrick triaged this task as Normal priority.May 10 2015, 6:15 PM

Patrick claimed this task.May 10 2015, 8:59 PM

implemented $apt_misc_opts - https://phabricator.whonix.org/T295:
https://github.com/Whonix/Whonix/commit/cc635d254a9a77b5c0bdd33eedfe68009a77ce93

- implemented build parameter '--unsafe-io true', that speeds up builds, that uses '-o Dpkg::Options::=--force-unsafe-io', eatmydata and ignores 'sync'. - Thanks to @nrgaway for the suggestion!  - https://phabricator.whonix.org/T295
- implemented $apt_misc_opts - https://phabricator.whonix.org/T295

https://github.com/Whonix/Whonix/commit/5fc20ac69b6e994f6813ec7328c4a0a97f58d05a

don't use both, eatmydata command and LD_PRELOAD eatmydata, not required and causes conflicts with symlinks (dpkg-diversions, uwt):
https://github.com/Whonix/Whonix/commit/8f5c58f2765f7ef039e6c72e33afdaa7ce66830d

That didn't work. ld preloading works a bit different on jessie. Fixed.

fix, refactoring, cleanup, output:
https://github.com/Whonix/Whonix/commit/3c172558a8afa348fccb9b64a8e02f58b1b05ab2

Currently testing if it speeds up the build.

--unsafe-io true has been implemented. As of 11.0.0.1.2-developers-only.

Benchmark results...

11.0.0.0.8-developers-only
sudo -E ./whonix_build --flavor whonix-gateway -- --report minimal --build --target virtualbox
+ true 'INFO: End of: ./whonix_build | exit_code: 0 | error(s) detected: 0 | benchmark: 00:35:03'

11.0.0.1.2-developers-only
sudo -E ./whonix_build --flavor whonix-gateway -- --report minimal --build --target virtualbox --unsafe-io true
+ true 'INFO: End of: ./whonix_build | exit_code: 0 | error(s) detected: 0 | benchmark: 00:31:09'

Not too big an improvement. Could be because I am using an SSD anyhow.

Doesn't work for build-steps.d/1200_create-debian-packages yet. Working on that.

Fixed that.

fixed '--unsafe-io true' in build-steps.d/1200_create-debian-packages; unsafe-io wheezy compatibility; refactoring; output:
https://github.com/Whonix/Whonix/commit/3c172558a8afa348fccb9b64a8e02f58b1b05ab2

However, the time that is saved, if any, is below measuring inaccuracy.

sudo ./build-steps.d/1200_create-debian-packages --build --target root --allow-uncommitted true --allow-untagged true --internalrun --unsafe-io false
+ true 'INFO: End of: ./build-steps.d/1200_create-debian-packages | exit_code: 0 | error(s) detected: 0 | benchmark: 00:13:16'

sudo ./build-steps.d/1200_create-debian-packages --build --target root --allow-uncommitted true --allow-untagged true --internalrun --unsafe-io true
+ true 'INFO: End of: ./build-steps.d/1200_create-debian-packages | exit_code: 0 | error(s) detected: 0 | benchmark: 00:14:11'

Feel free to experiment with --unsafe-io true and tell me if that helps.

As of 11.0.0.1.3-developers-only...

sudo -E ./whonix_build --flavor whonix-gateway -- --report minimal --build --target virtualbox --unsafe-io true
+ true 'INFO: End of: ./whonix_build | exit_code: 0 | error(s) detected: 0 | benchmark: 00:28:13'

As of 11.0.0.1.3-developers-only... This time for comparison, just creating a raw image. (Skips conversion to a vdi image as well as ova export.)

Why do I mention raw image benchmarks? Because that's very similar to the Qubes build process. Only differences... Whonix: using grml-debootstrap for creation of the base image; not adding Qubes specific packages. Qubes: using qubes-builder-debian. My point is, you should be able to reach very similar build speeds.

sudo -E ./whonix_build --flavor whonix-gateway -- --report minimal --build --target raw --unsafe-io true
+ true 'INFO: End of: ./whonix_build | exit_code: 0 | error(s) detected: 0 | benchmark: 00:22:08'

export make_use_lintian="true"
sudo -E ./whonix_build --flavor whonix-gateway -- --report minimal --build --target raw --unsafe-io true
+ true 'INFO: End of: ./whonix_build | exit_code: 0 | error(s) detected: 0 | benchmark: 00:22:23'

export make_use_lintian="true"
sudo -E ./whonix_build --flavor whonix-gateway -- --report minimal --build --target raw --unsafe-io true --sanity-tests false
+ true 'INFO: End of: ./whonix_build | exit_code: 0 | error(s) detected: 0 | benchmark: 00:21:40'

That's the ~20 minutes you were looking for?

I be testing it soon. Looks like only new options are --unsafe-io true and --target qubes

Yes.

(--target qubes has time (low priority at this moment). Explanation and ticket for the actual switch to --target qubes: T307)

Marek says he sees improvement. I may too; its hard to tell at this point; need a few more dozen builds to get a better idea.

Thanks for adding the option!

Patrick closed this task as Resolved.May 16 2015, 3:50 PM

Speedup Whonix 11 build timeClosed, ResolvedPublicActions

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Speedup Whonix 11 build time
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