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Subject: Re: themes, skins, backdrops and RAM usage... (i.e sure to be controversial)

Re: themes, skins, backdrops and RAM usage... (i.e sure to be controversial)

From: Thomas Martitz <thomas.martitz_at_student.htw-berlin.de>
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:25:15 +0100

Am 22.12.2009 20:05, schrieb Jonathan Gordon:
> loading the theme first into the plugin buffer means loading and
> parsing it twice, like I said before, there is just way too much
> pointer use to copy the whole buffer or resize it once its loaded the
> first time. We can't use the audio buffer for this, because doing that
> would mean wasting a massive amount each time a new theme is loaded
> (remember, there is no way to restore ram to the audio buffer.
>

It has been suggested to just leave the already allocated buffer if the
skin fits. After the next reboot it will be allocated correctly. I think
that's a fine trade-off.
Parsing twice shouldn't be a problem, since that's already quite fast.
And skipping the loading of bitmaps will make the first pass even
faster. Considering that this only happens during theme changing, not
repeatedly, it doesn't appear to be a problem. The pointer stuff
wouldn't be needed as well; the buffer could just be trashed after the
first pass. Doing that only means that skins can't be loaded separately,
but rather like the first pass for each skin, then the second pass for
each skin.

In the end it would be a major gain for people that don't change theme
too often and for those using minimal themes.

Best regards.
Received on 2009-12-22

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