I have finally converted from Windows to Linux, have chosen OpenSUSE, and loving it.
I am trying to resolve my boot time issue, by running bootchart. I get the bootchart.tgz file to be created, but I am unable to convert it to a png file. I have tried several instructions on how to make this conversion, but none of them have worked. Here is the one listed on this forum:
after login to GUI open your browser and go to: Bootchart
scroll down to Renderer Web Form and upload bootchart log tarball located in /var/log/bootchart.tgz
leave PNG format nex press “Render chart” button.
I do not see the location on the website listed, to upload a file.
The other methods I have tried entail using the terminal to convert the file, but I continue to get errors on a failed conversion, or the wrong commands.
Is there by chance I do not have a certain software yet installed to make this conversion on my laptop. I have installed the minimal OpenSUSE 11.3.
I apologize in advance if this solution is posted somewhere else, but I have spent many hours looking for a solution that works.
Please_Try_Again rewrote the script and posted it in message #16 which is the one I would give a try to see if it might work for you. Even if it does not convert, but you can display it, you could use a screen capture program (Like Ksnapshot) to convert it as another thing to try.
A .tgz file is a compressed tar archive. You’re not going to convert it to a .png file.
If you want to use bootchart to monitor the boot process you don’t have to download bootchart.tgz, just install bootchart using the following command: zypper in bootchart
Then , as root, open the file /boot/grub/menu.lst with a texteditor and duplicate the regular (not failsafe) openSUSE boot entry for the current kernel, adding the following options at the end of the kernel line: initcall_debug printk.time=y init=/sbin/bootchartd
It will give you a new boot entry which looks more or less like the example below (green was added for bootchart, red is going to be different on your system. The kernel might be different too if you’re using another one.)
Boot this entry when you want to monitor the boot process (it will take longer).
The file /var/log/bootchart.png will be generated. Open it with any image viewer. (it’s huge!)
I would like to thank the both of you for replying.
I have tried to follow both of the suggestions, and here is where I am with the results.
On the first suggestion, I copied and pasted the script into a file, naming it convert2. I then ran the command: chmod +x ~/bin/convert2 , in the Terminal Command. It acted as though something was working (didn’t give an error) then the Terminal went back to the same directory it was originally. After that, my technical experience has me struggling on the proper procedures to follow next in converting the bootchart.tgz into a png file.
On the second suggestion, I followed the command: zypper in bootchart , with success. Here is the line I added to end of the kernel line (actually, this is the entire entry):
When I reboot under this line, the bootchart.png does not get created.
I am sure I must be missing something, but just don’t know enough about linux to figure it out. Now on a mission to figure this thing out. OpenSUSE is definitely my Distro of choice, so now I want to make sure I can master it (as much as possible), and make it boot as fast as the average time I see posted in the forum. At the moment, it takes about 1 minute 30 seconds to boot, and I know it is getting hung up somewhere during the boot process, I just don’t know where.
You do not convert a ** folder/file in tar ball gzip format to a photo ** it is a compresed archive
nor would you do that on MS Windows
you EXTRACT a zip file
HOW did you install bootchart???
using the already build rpm ?
from the command
and fallowing “please_try_again’s” post
( it has been a very LONG time since i used bootchart)
works just fine
ALSO you do know that bootchart WILL NOT speed up anything
It will only show where a “bottle-neck” might be
turning off unused services at boot time is by far the easiest way to speed up the boot time
after that you make custom boot script to start things in a different order than the system normally would boot in ( a very big pain in the @%% )
also hardware plays a VERY important role
i would not even think of installing OpenSUSE 11.3 on my OLD computer from 2001
on that old thing ( p4 cpu from 2000 , 1 gig ram - from and only a nvidiaGF2 400 ( 64 meg ram)
on that machine i would expect boot time in the minites ( 2 to 5 Min. )
It seemed logical to me that one should not be able to convert a compressed file into a photo format. I had figured the principles between the operating systems were the same. What didn’t make sense to me was a solution to this same situation posted somewhere else on the internet. Here is what I had found for instructions:
To use bootchart to profile your system at boot time :
1 - edit /boot/grub/menu.lst file and add init=/sbin/bootchartd to the kernel line so it looks something like:
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-1-686 root=/dev/sda2 ro init=/sbin/bootchartd
2 - reboot and it will generate a file /var/log/bootchart.tgz file
3 - convert that file to a png
bootchart -f png
I don’t know enough about the commands to know if this was calling on a Java application to perform this action.
As far as the installation, I installed bootchart via the command you listed: zypper in bootchart
It appears other people have run into the same problem I have. They have installed bootchart, and when they run the program, it only creates the tar ball file. It definitely doesn’t seem to be a common problem, but a problem non the less. In those situations where someone has encountered this problem, there hasn’t been a solution to solve the problem.
I have read the Bootchart page. In reading it, this is what I see for instructions:
The boot log file is later processed using a Java application (or the web form) which builds the process tree and renders a performance chart in different formats:
I guess I do not understand how to decrypt the image. It might be as simple as that. I can run the program at boot, and the tar ball gets created. However, it seems as though most people have a png file created at the same time. Is this a correct assumption?
As far as trying, please_try_agains, post, it appears as though something is happening when I run the command. The only problem, I do not know exactly what I am looking for as a result of running the script.
I do know Bootchart will not speed up my system. I simply want to look at the boot process, to see if I can better understand what is happening, and possibly identify if there is a “hang”, in the boot process, which I might be able to address.
the “decrypt” i was refering to is
decoding what the chart means
the cpu usage & ram verse time .
as to it making a png or a compressed archive
i have not used it in years . . It only will show where a possible problem might be .
and turning off unused services will do the job 99% of the time
at this time i would not worry about bootchart
I would look into the running services that are starting at boot ( suse starts a BUNCH ) . There are a lot that do not need to be ran at boot
Just like MS win( xp vista & 7) there are on by default – because you MIGHT need then sometime
open yast , type in your root pass when asked
near the bottom of the window is "System Services( Runlevel)
enter the “expert” level ( a check box)
and use google( or here on this forum) to search there names
some are self explanatory
theere is b , 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 runlevel
( very similar to the Microsoft "system services
3 is text only boot mode
5 is the gui( kde or Gnome)
turning off not needed ones might cut your boot time in half?? maybe??
