Man page 1 : x11perf

x11perf - X11 server performance test program

x11perf [ -option ... ]

The x11perfprogram runs one or more performance tests and reports how fast an X server can execute the tests.

Many graphics benchmarks assume that the graphics device is used to display the output of a single fancy graphics application, and that the user gets his work done on some other device, like a terminal. Such benchmarks usually measure drawing speed for lines, polygons, text, etc.

Since workstations are not used as standalone graphics engines, but as super-terminals, x11perfmeasures window management performance as well as traditional graphics performance. x11perfincludes benchmarks for the time it takes to create and map windows (as when you start up an application); to map a pre-existing set of windows onto the screen (as when you deiconify an application or pop up a menu); and to rearrange windows (as when you slosh windows to and fro trying to find the one you want).

x11perfalso measures graphics performance for operations not normally used in standalone graphics displays, but are nonetheless used frequently by X applications. Such operations include CopyPlane (used to map bitmaps into pixels), scrolling (used in text windows), and various stipples and tiles (used for CAD and color half-toning, respectively).

x11perfshould be used to analyze particular strengths and weaknesses of servers, and is most useful to a server writer who wants to analyze and improve a server. x11perfis meant to comprehensively exercise just about every X11 operation you can perform; it does not purport to be a representative sample of the operations that X11 applications actually use. While it can be used as a benchmark, it was written and is intended as a performance testing tool.

As such, x11perfDOES NOT whittle down measurements to a single ``HeXStones'' or ``MeXops'' number. We consider such numbers to be uninformative at best and misleading at worst. Some servers which are very fast for certain applications can be very slow for others. No single number or small set of numbers are sufficient to characterize how an X implementation will perform on all applications. However, by knowledge of your favorite application, you may be able to use the numbers x11perfreports to predict its performance on a given X implementation.

That said, you might also want to look at x11perfcomp(1),a program to compare the outputs of different x11perfruns. You provide a list of files containing results from x11perf,and it lays them out in a nice tabular format.

For repeatable results, x11perfshould be run using a local connection on a freshly-started server. The default configuration runs each test 5 times, in order to see if each trial takes approximately the same amount of time. Strange glitches should be examined; if non-repeatable one might chalk them up to daemons and network traffic. Each trial is run for 5 seconds, in order to reduce random time differences. The number of objects processed per second is displayed to 3 significant digits, but you'll be lucky on most UNIX system if the numbers are actually consistent to 2 digits. x11perfmoves the cursor out of the test window; you should be careful not to bump the mouse and move it back into the window. (A prize to people who correctly explain why!!).

Before running a test, x11perfdetermines what the round trip time to the server is, and factors this out of the final timing reported. It ensures that the server has actually performed the work requested by fetching a pixel back from the test window, which means that servers talking to graphics accelerators can't claim that they are done, while in the meantime the accelerator is painting madly.

By default x11perfautomatically calibrates the number of repetitions of each test, so that each should take approximately the same length of time to run across servers of widely differing speeds. However, since each test must be run to completion at least once, some slow servers may take a very long time, particularly on the window moving and resizing tests, and on the arc drawing tests.

All timing reports are for the smallest object involved. For example, the line tests use a PolyLine request to paint several lines at once, but report how many lines per second the server can paint, not how many PolyLine requests per second. Text tests paint a line of characters, but report on the number of characters per second. Some window tests map, unmap, or move a single parent window, but report on how many children windows per second the server can map, unmap, or move.

The current program is mostly the responsibility of Joel McCormack. It is based upon the x11perf developed by Phil Karlton, Susan Angebranndt, Chris Kent, Mary Walker, and Todd Newman, who wanted to assess performance differences between various servers. Several tests were added in order to write and tune the PMAX (DECStation 3100) servers. For a general release to the world, x11perfwas rewritten to ease making comparisons between widely varying machines, to cover most important (and unimportant) X functionality, and to exercise graphics operations in as many different orientations and alignments as possible.

x11perfis solely Xlib based, and accepts the options listed below:

-display host:dpy

              Specifies which display to use.

-sync

              Runs the tests in synchronous mode. Normally only useful for debugging x11perf .

-pack

              Runs rectangle tests so that they pack rectangles right next to each other. This makes it easy to debug server code for stipples and tiles...if the pattern looks ugly, you've got alignment problems.

-repeat <n>
              Repeats each test ntimes (by default each test is run 5 times).

-time <s>
              Specifies how long in seconds each test should be run (default 5 seconds).

-all

              Runs all tests. This may take a while.

-range <test1>[,<test2>]
              Runs all the tests starting from the specified name test1 until the name test2, including both the specified tests. The testnames should be one of the options starting from -dot. (eg) -range line100 will perform the tests from the 100 pixel line test, and go on till the last test, -range line100,dline10 will do the tests from line100 to dline10.

-labels

              Generates just the descriptive labels for each test specified. See x11perfcompfor more details.

-fg color-or-pixel
              Specifies the foreground color or pixel value to use.

-bg color-or-pixel
              Specifies the background color or pixel value to use.

-clips default
              Default number of clip windows.

-ddbg color-or-pixel
              Specifies the color or pixel value to use for drawing the odd segments of a DoubleDashed line or arc. This will default to the bg color.

-rop <rop0 rop1 ...>

              Use specified raster ops (default is GXcopy). This option only affects graphics benchmarks in which the graphics function is actually used.

-pm <pm0 pm1 ...>

              Use specified planemasks (default is ~0). This option only affects graphics benchmarks in which the planemask is actually used.

-depth <depth>

              Use a visual with <depth> planes per pixel (default is the default visual).

-vclass <vclass>

              Use a visual with of class <vclass>. <vclass> can be StaticGray, GrayScale, StaticColor, PseudoColor, TrueColor, or DirectColor. (default is the default visual).

-reps <n>

              Specify the repetition count (Default is number that takes approx. 5 seconds)

-subs <s0 s1 ...>

              Specify the number of sub windows to use in the Window tests. Default is 4, 16, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 200.

-v1.2

              Perform only x11perf Version 1.2 tests using Version 1.2 semantics.

-v1.3

              Perform only x11perf Version 1.3 tests using Version 1.3 semantics.

-su

              Set the save_under window attribute to True on all windows created by x11perf. Default is False.

-bs <backing_store_hint>

              Set the backing_store window attribute to the given value on all windows created by x11perf. <backing_store_hint> can be WhenMapped or Always. Default is NotUseful.

-dot

              Dot.

-rect1

              1x1 solid-filled rectangle.

-rect10

              10x10 solid-filled rectangle.

-rect100

              100x100 solid-filled rectangle.

-rect500

              500x500 solid-filled rectangle.

-srect1

              1x1 transparent stippled rectangle, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-srect10

              10x10 transparent stippled rectangle, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-srect100

              100x100 transparent stippled rectangle, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-srect500

              500x500 transparent stippled rectangle, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-osrect1

              1x1 opaque stippled rectangle, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-osrect10

              10x10 opaque stippled rectangle, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-osrect100

              100x100 opaque stippled rectangle, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-osrect500

              500x500 opaque stippled rectangle, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-tilerect1

              1x1 tiled rectangle, 4x4 tile pattern.

-tilerect10

              10x10 tiled rectangle, 4x4 tile pattern.

-tilerect100

              100x100 tiled rectangle, 4x4 tile pattern.

-tilerect500

              500x500 tiled rectangle, 4x4 tile pattern.

-oddsrect1

              1x1 transparent stippled rectangle, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddsrect10

              10x10 transparent stippled rectangle, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddsrect100

              100x100 transparent stippled rectangle, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddsrect500

              500x500 transparent stippled rectangle, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddosrect1

              1x1 opaque stippled rectangle, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddosrect10

              10x10 opaque stippled rectangle, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddosrect100

              100x100 opaque stippled rectangle, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddosrect500

              500x500 opaque stippled rectangle, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddtilerect1

              1x1 tiled rectangle, 17x15 tile pattern.

-oddtilerect10

              10x10 tiled rectangle, 17x15 tile pattern.

-oddtilerect100

              100x100 tiled rectangle, 17x15 tile pattern.

-oddtilerect500

              500x500 tiled rectangle, 17x15 tile pattern.

-bigsrect1

              1x1 stippled rectangle, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigsrect10

              10x10 stippled rectangle, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigsrect100

              100x100 stippled rectangle, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigsrect500

              500x500 stippled rectangle, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigosrect1

              1x1 opaque stippled rectangle, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigosrect10

              10x10 opaque stippled rectangle, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigosrect100

              100x100 opaque stippled rectangle, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigosrect500

              500x500 opaque stippled rectangle, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigtilerect1

              1x1 tiled rectangle, 161x145 tile pattern.

-bigtilerect10

              10x10 tiled rectangle, 161x145 tile pattern.

-bigtilerect100

              100x100 tiled rectangle, 161x145 tile pattern.

-bigtilerect500

              500x500 tiled rectangle, 161x145 tile pattern.

-eschertilerect1

              1x1 tiled rectangle, 215x208 tile pattern.

-eschertilerect10

              10x10 tiled rectangle, 215x208 tile pattern.

-eschertilerect100

              100x100 tiled rectangle, 215x208 tile pattern.

-eschertilerect500

              500x500 tiled rectangle, 215x208 tile pattern.

-seg1

              1-pixel thin line segment.

-seg10

              10-pixel thin line segment.

-seg100

              100-pixel thin line segment.

-seg500

              500-pixel thin line segment.

-seg100c1

              100-pixel thin line segment (1 obscuring rectangle).

-seg100c2

              100-pixel thin line segment (2 obscuring rectangles).

-seg100c3

              100-pixel thin line segment (3 obscuring rectangles).

-dseg10

              10-pixel thin dashed segment (3 on, 2 off).

-dseg100

              100-pixel thin dashed segment (3 on, 2 off).

-ddseg100

              100-pixel thin double-dashed segment (3 fg, 2 bg).

-hseg10

              10-pixel thin horizontal line segment.

-hseg100

              100-pixel thin horizontal line segment.

-hseg500

              500-pixel thin horizontal line segment.

-vseg10

              10-pixel thin vertical line segment.

-vseg100

              100-pixel thin vertical line segment.

-vseg500

              500-pixel thin vertical line segment.

-whseg10

              10-pixel wide horizontal line segment.

-whseg100

              100-pixel wide horizontal line segment.

-whseg500

              500-pixel wide horizontal line segment.

-wvseg10

              10-pixel wide vertical line segment.

-wvseg100

              100-pixel wide vertical line segment.

-wvseg500

              500-pixel wide vertical line segment.

-line1

              1-pixel thin (width 0) line.

-line10

              10-pixel thin line.

-line100

              100-pixel thin line.

-line500

              500-pixel thin line.

-dline10

              10-pixel thin dashed line (3 on, 2 off).

-dline100

              100-pixel thin dashed line (3 on, 2 off).

-ddline100

              100-pixel thin double-dashed line (3 fg, 2 bg).

-wline10

              10-pixel line, line width 1.

-wline100

              100-pixel line, line width 10.

-wline500

              500-pixel line, line width 50.

-wdline100

              100-pixel dashed line, line width 10 (30 on, 20 off).

-wddline100

              100-pixel double-dashed line, line width 10 (30 fg, 20 bg).

-orect10

              10x10 thin rectangle outline.

-orect100

              100-pixel thin vertical line segment.

-orect500

              500-pixel thin vertical line segment.

-worect10

              10x10 wide rectangle outline.

-worect100

              100-pixel wide vertical line segment.

-worect500

              500-pixel wide vertical line segment.

-circle1

              1-pixel diameter thin (line width 0) circle.

-circle10

              10-pixel diameter thin circle.

-circle100

              100-pixel diameter thin circle.

-circle500

              500-pixel diameter thin circle.

-dcircle100

              100-pixel diameter thin dashed circle (3 on, 2 off).

-ddcircle100

              100-pixel diameter thin double-dashed circle (3 fg, 2 bg).

-wcircle10

              10-pixel diameter circle, line width 1.

-wcircle100

              100-pixel diameter circle, line width 10.

-wcircle500

              500-pixel diameter circle, line width 50.

-wdcircle100

              100-pixel diameter dashed circle, line width 10 (30 on, 20 off).

-wddcircle100

              100-pixel diameter double-dashed circle, line width 10 (30 fg, 20 bg).

-pcircle10

              10-pixel diameter thin partial circle, orientation and arc angle evenly distributed.

-pcircle100

              100-pixel diameter thin partial circle.

-wpcircle10

              10-pixel diameter wide partial circle.

-wpcircle100

              100-pixel diameter wide partial circle.

-fcircle1

              1-pixel diameter filled circle.

-fcircle10

              10-pixel diameter filled circle.

-fcircle100

              100-pixel diameter filled circle.

-fcircle500

              500-pixel diameter filled circle.

-fcpcircle10

              10-pixel diameter partial filled circle, chord fill, orientation and arc angle evenly distributed.

-fcpcircle100

              100-pixel diameter partial filled circle, chord fill.

-fspcircle10

              10-pixel diameter partial filled circle, pie slice fill, orientation and arc angle evenly distributed.

-fspcircle100

              100-pixel diameter partial filled circle, pie slice fill.

-ellipse10

              10-pixel diameter thin (line width 0) ellipse, major and minor axis sizes evenly distributed.

-ellipse100

              100-pixel diameter thin ellipse.

-ellipse500

              500-pixel diameter thin ellipse.

-dellipse100

              100-pixel diameter thin dashed ellipse (3 on, 2 off).

-ddellipse100

              100-pixel diameter thin double-dashed ellipse (3 fg, 2 bg).

-wellipse10

              10-pixel diameter ellipse, line width 1.

-wellipse100

              100-pixel diameter ellipse, line width 10.

-wellipse500

              500-pixel diameter ellipse, line width 50.

-wdellipse100

              100-pixel diameter dashed ellipse, line width 10 (30 on, 20 off).

-wddellipse100

              100-pixel diameter double-dashed ellipse, line width 10 (30 fg, 20 bg).

-pellipse10

              10-pixel diameter thin partial ellipse.

-pellipse100

              100-pixel diameter thin partial ellipse.

-wpellipse10

              10-pixel diameter wide partial ellipse.

-wpellipse100

              100-pixel diameter wide partial ellipse.

-fellipse10

              10-pixel diameter filled ellipse.

-fellipse100

              100-pixel diameter filled ellipse.

-fellipse500

              500-pixel diameter filled ellipse.

-fcpellipse10

              10-pixel diameter partial filled ellipse, chord fill.

-fcpellipse100

              100-pixel diameter partial filled ellipse, chord fill.

-fspellipse10

              10-pixel diameter partial filled ellipse, pie slice fill.

-fspellipse100

              100-pixel diameter partial filled ellipse, pie slice fill.

-triangle1

              Fill 1-pixel/side triangle.

-triangle10

              Fill 10-pixel/side triangle.

-triangle100

              Fill 100-pixel/side triangle.

-trap1

              Fill 1x1 trapezoid.

-trap10

              Fill 10x10 trapezoid.

-trap100

              Fill 100x100 trapezoid.

-trap300

              Fill 300x300 trapezoid.

-strap1

              Fill 1x1 transparent stippled trapezoid, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-strap10

              Fill 10x10 transparent stippled trapezoid, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-strap100

              Fill 100x100 transparent stippled trapezoid, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-strap300

              Fill 300x300 transparent stippled trapezoid, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-ostrap1

              Fill 10x10 opaque stippled trapezoid, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-ostrap10

              Fill 10x10 opaque stippled trapezoid, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-ostrap100

              Fill 100x100 opaque stippled trapezoid, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-ostrap300

              Fill 300x300 opaque stippled trapezoid, 8x8 stipple pattern.

-tiletrap1

              Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid, 4x4 tile pattern.

-tiletrap10

              Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid, 4x4 tile pattern.

-tiletrap100

              Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid, 4x4 tile pattern.

-tiletrap300

              Fill 300x300 tiled trapezoid, 4x4 tile pattern.

-oddstrap1

              Fill 1x1 transparent stippled trapezoid, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddstrap10

              Fill 10x10 transparent stippled trapezoid, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddstrap100

              Fill 100x100 transparent stippled trapezoid, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddstrap300

              Fill 300x300 transparent stippled trapezoid, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddostrap1

              Fill 10x10 opaque stippled trapezoid, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddostrap10

              Fill 10x10 opaque stippled trapezoid, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddostrap100

              Fill 100x100 opaque stippled trapezoid, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddostrap300

              Fill 300x300 opaque stippled trapezoid, 17x15 stipple pattern.

-oddtiletrap1

              Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid, 17x15 tile pattern.

-oddtiletrap10

              Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid, 17x15 tile pattern.

-oddtiletrap100

              Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid, 17x15 tile pattern.

-oddtiletrap300

              Fill 300x300 tiled trapezoid, 17x15 tile pattern.

-bigstrap1

              Fill 1x1 transparent stippled trapezoid, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigstrap10

              Fill 10x10 transparent stippled trapezoid, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigstrap100

              Fill 100x100 transparent stippled trapezoid, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigstrap300

              Fill 300x300 transparent stippled trapezoid, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigostrap1

              Fill 10x10 opaque stippled trapezoid, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigostrap10

              Fill 10x10 opaque stippled trapezoid, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigostrap100

              Fill 100x100 opaque stippled trapezoid, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigostrap300

              Fill 300x300 opaque stippled trapezoid, 161x145 stipple pattern.

-bigtiletrap1

              Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid, 161x145 tile pattern.

-bigtiletrap10

              Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid, 161x145 tile pattern.

-bigtiletrap100

              Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid, 161x145 tile pattern.

-bigtiletrap300

              Fill 300x300 tiled trapezoid, 161x145 tile pattern.

-eschertiletrap1

              Fill 1x1 tiled trapezoid, 216x208 tile pattern.

-eschertiletrap10

              Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid, 216x208 tile pattern.

-eschertiletrap100

              Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid, 216x208 tile pattern.

-eschertiletrap300

              Fill 300x300 tiled trapezoid, 216x208 tile pattern.

-complex10

              Fill 10-pixel/side complex polygon.

-complex100

              Fill 100-pixel/side complex polygon.

-64poly10convex

              Fill 10x10 convex 64-gon.

-64poly100convex

              Fill 100x100 convex 64-gon.

-64poly10complex

              Fill 10x10 complex 64-gon.

-64poly100complex

              Fill 100x100 complex 64-gon.

-ftext

              Character in 80-char line (6x13).

-f8text

              Character in 70-char line (8x13).

-f9text

              Character in 60-char line (9x15).

-f14text16

              2-byte character in 40-char line (k14).

-tr10text

              Character in 80-char line (Times-Roman 10).

-tr24text

              Character in 30-char line (Times-Roman 24).

-polytext

              Character in 20/40/20 line (6x13, Times-Roman 10, 6x13).

-polytext16

              2-byte character in 7/14/7 line (k14, k24).

-fitext

              Character in 80-char image line (6x13).

-f8itext

              Character in 70-char image line (8x13).

-f9itext

              Character in 60-char image line (9x15).

-f14itext16

              2-byte character in 40-char image line (k14).

-f24itext16

              2-byte character in 23-char image line (k24).

-tr10itext

              Character in 80-char image line (Times-Roman 10).

-tr24itext

              Character in 30-char image line (Times-Roman 24).

-scroll10

              Scroll 10x10 pixels vertically.

-scroll100

              Scroll 100x100 pixels vertically.

-scroll500

              Scroll 500x500 pixels vertically.

-copywinwin10

              Copy 10x10 square from window to window.

-copywinwin100

              Copy 100x100 square from window to window.

-copywinwin500

              Copy 500x500 square from window to window.

-copypixwin10

              Copy 10x10 square from pixmap to window.

-copypixwin100

              Copy 100x100 square from pixmap to window.

-copypixwin500

              Copy 500x500 square from pixmap to window.

-copywinpix10

              Copy 10x10 square from window to pixmap.

-copywinpix100

              Copy 100x100 square from window to pixmap.

-copywinpix500

              Copy 500x500 square from window to pixmap.

-copypixpix10

              Copy 10x10 square from pixmap to pixmap.

-copypixpix100

              Copy 100x100 square from pixmap to pixmap.

-copypixpix500

              Copy 500x500 square from pixmap to pixmap.

-copyplane10

              Copy 10x10 1-bit deep plane.

-copyplane100

              Copy 100x100 1-bit deep plane.

-copyplane500

              Copy 500x500 1-bit deep plane.

-putimage10

              PutImage 10x10 square.

-putimage100

              PutImage 100x100 square.

-putimage500

              PutImage 500x500 square.

-putimagexy10

              PutImage XY format 10x10 square.

-putimagexy100

              PutImage XY format 100x100 square.

-putimagexy500

              PutImage XY format 500x500 square.

-shmput10

              PutImage 10x10 square, MIT shared memory extension.

-shmput100

              PutImage 100x100 square, MIT shared memory extension.

-shmput500

              PutImage 500x500 square, MIT shared memory extension.

-shmputxy10

              PutImage XY format 10x10 square, MIT shared memory extension.

-shmputxy100

              PutImage XY format 100x100 square, MIT shared memory extension.

-shmputxy500

              PutImage XY format 500x500 square, MIT shared memory extension.

-getimage10

              GetImage 10x10 square.

-getimage100

              GetImage 100x100 square.

-getimage500

              GetImage 500x500 square.

-getimagexy10

              GetImage XY format 10x10 square.

-getimagexy100

              GetImage XY format 100x100 square.

-getimagexy500

              GetImage XY format 500x500 square.

-noop

              X protocol NoOperation.

-atom

              GetAtomName.

-pointer

              QueryPointer.

-prop

              GetProperty.

-gc

              Change graphics context.

-create

              Create child window and map using MapSubwindows.

-ucreate

              Create unmapped window.

-map

              Map child window via MapWindow on parent.

-unmap

              Unmap child window via UnmapWindow on parent.

-destroy

              Destroy child window via DestroyWindow parent.

-popup

              Hide/expose window via Map/Unmap popup window.

-move

              Move window.

-umove

              Moved unmapped window.

-movetree

              Move window via MoveWindow on parent.

-resize

              Resize window.

-uresize

              Resize unmapped window.

-circulate

              Circulate lowest window to top.

-ucirculate

              Circulate unmapped window to top.

There are no X defaults used by this program.

X(7), xbench(1), x11perfcomp(1)

Joel McCormack
Phil Karlton
Susan Angebranndt
Chris Kent
Keith Packard
Graeme Gill