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by James Robertson.
Original Post: Some Bf questions answered
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In this post, I asked for some feedback on Bf. I got quite a bit, thanks! I should explain a few things to make it clear how and why some things are the way they are:
Startup times - startup can be slow after updates have been downloaded. Why? Well, because patches are newer versions of parcels (components) that are already loaded into the system. I ship a base image (or exe on Windows) with the parcels pre-loaded, since there are 15 components that can be updated. If they are loaded at startup, it would be slower (yes, I've tested this :) )
The question I got asked is - "Can you save the image after patches are loaded?" Well, no. On Windows, I have a merged executable and image - so it's not really a possibility. But beyond that, saving an image at such a point would put it into a different state than the known startup state. Patches can also be loaded on the fly, without restarting - a save in that case would also save all current application level state - not something you would want. This aspect of the system is what it is, more or less - unless someone can come up with a brilliant idea that I haven't thought of...
During update cycle bf 'hiccups' too much, sometimes I have to wait multiple seconds before the app responds to a mouse click.
Well, that's simply some kind of name resolution or network access issue - it's a general problem with network applications. If Bf becomes completely unresponsive, it means that a network access is waiting at the VM level. This is a general issue that I've asked our engineers (VW engineers) about
Redo of the folders
Rich and I have talked a lot about this - it's something we will likely approach when we make the cutover to Pollock.
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