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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: big *thank you* for the latest developments
From:       Graham TerMarsch <gtermars () home ! com>
Date:       1999-10-19 17:49:53
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Mosfet wrote:
> Roberto Alsina wrote:
[.....snip.....]
> > There is an obvious way to avoid the extra RAM used by each instance of
> > KApplication and friends.
> >
> > Make applets dynamically loaded libraries.
> 
> As I stated before this is what we are doing for the internal applets
> (pager, taskbar, and date applet). All others will run as separate
> processes. It is not a good idea to have all applets running in kicker's
> address space. A kicker applet should be separate executeable just like
> Wharf applets, etc... and can run standalone.
> 
> If people start running two dozen applets of course that is going to
> consume resources, just like if they run two dozen instances of any
> application. The solution: Don't run a multitude of applets that have
> all sorts of wacky drawing routines on a P100 ;-)

I'd agree, that if you're running a dozen applets in your panel, then you're
not going to find a whole heck of a lot of ways to cut down on the memory
usage.  Note, though, that in what I'm proposing to do as applets I'm not
planning on having something big enough or with enough features to actually
warrant being an actual application.  My own goal is to just have something
fairly small and simple, with minimal functionality, that just does one small
thing.  I'm hoping that by not loading it up with functionality and features
that I'll at least help cut down on some of the memory footprint of these
things.

As for the application/shared library discussion, I'm gathering that there are
pros and cons on either side of the discussion here.  Personally, I haven't
yet been able to get a kicker applet to run outside of kicker (if its not
running), but I'll also note that my build is about a week and a half old. 
This is what left me with the impression that they were applets were only able
to run under kicker.

Thinking back to memory footprint though, if we're to go along the current
line where each applet is really its own process, that falls into line with
whats going on in the Gnome project currently; everything runs as its own
process.  Personally, I'm not sure we can get around too much of this without
pulling everything into the kicker process space, but that then means that a
rampant applet could then bring down all of the other applets as well as the
panel itself.  Saves memory, leaves possibility for things to go kablooey. 
Personally, although shared libraries helps cut memory usage, I'm not sure
that the possible instability is worth it.  Other thoughts?

-- 
Graham TerMarsch

// -----------------------------------------------------------------
// If I had any humility I would be perfect.   -- Ted Turner   
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