Request Validation of my Experience in buildworld

[Dave Babb]

I have recently (following wblock's articles) performed a "buildworld" 
on my desktop, and then on a laptop I am just bringing out of the ground.

I was absolutely astounded....

I did put the following in my /etc/make.conf before doing any of the below:

//-----------Begin /etc/make.conf------------

CPUTYPE?=native
WITH_NEW_XORG=yes
MAKE_JOBS_NUMBER=8
WRKDIRPREFIX=/usr/obj/PortsWorkingDir

//-----------End /etc/make.conf-----------

The WRKDIRPREFIX (from a answer I received in this mailing list), is so 
that my ports and kernel are built in ram and not to the SSD until they 
are complete. I have /usr/obj mounted in tmpfs.....I have 32Gb of 
ram....of which I only used 7% of tmpfs during any of the experiences 
below......




Experience #1

I think the idea of keeping the OS (buildworld) separate from ports 
(portmaster -afdB) is nothing short of brilliance. I made several 
mistakes in the process...as I am junior with FreeBSD...and at no time 
was my OS taken down. I was able to gracefully recover and continue 
until all was rebuilt.


Experience #2

After a buildworld, my system's memory footprint dropped by a good 
1/3...It sped up significantly. The I performed a "portmaster -afdB", 
and rebuilt all my ports and their dependencies the long way.

Another dramatic drop in resources and another increase in performance.

This experience was had across a desktop, and repeated on a ASUS laptop.

Is this type of improvement typical?


Please advise,


Sincerely and respectfully,


Dave