Optimizing LiveCode Performance on Linux: Tips and Troubleshooting

[earthworm]

Hello Linux LiveCode community,

I’ve been running LiveCode on a Linux system for some time, and while the platform is great, I’ve noticed occasional slowdowns when handling large stacks and scripts with complex logic. I’m curious if others have experienced similar performance bottlenecks and what solutions or optimizations you’ve applied.

Some specific points I’d love your insights on:

Recommended Linux configurations or distributions for smoother LiveCode performance.

Memory or caching tweaks that might help with large project stacks.

Any LiveCode extensions or tools that help profiling and debugging scripts on Linux.

I’m hoping to compile a list of best practices for LiveCode users on Linux and would really appreciate any tips, scripts, or personal experiences you can share.

Thanks in advance for your input!

[boltasteroid]

I would greatly welcome any advice, scripts, or first-hand knowledge you could provide in order to create a list of best practices for Linux users of LiveCode, too

[paul@researchware.com]

You might start by looking at the Livecode Quality Center to Linix bugs that are reported and not resolved or closed. I am not sure I did the search right as I only get 30 bugs and most are very, very old:

ID Product Comp Assignee Status Resolution Summary Changed
6367 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Comboboxes not rendered correctly under KDE 2011-03-02
9191 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- LiveCode externals need SELinux exceptions added 2010-11-23
2782 Revoluti Engine > ideteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Windowboundingrect is set incorrectly by the IDE under Gnome 2010-07-12
2965 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Can't set the iconic property of a stack with a WindowSha... 2006-06-12
10031 Revoluti Engine > sebastien.nouat@livecode.com HIBERNATED --- some valid date values not recognized as dates 2013-08-20
7225 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- whilst connected to chatrev IDE became totally unresponsive 2014-08-22
10334 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Can't drop to desktop on Linux 2015-03-19
5782 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Option menu buttons under GNOME don't look and behave as ... 2016-07-12
5789 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Changing the resizable property for a window changes its ... 2008-10-05
7468 Revoluti Engine > fraser.gordon@livecode.com IN_PROGRESS --- diskSpace function always returns 1 on Linux 2014-08-08
5901 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com REOPENED --- Popup menus don't notify their source button correctly 2008-06-27
5909 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- hostnameToAddress doesn't work properly in linux 2018-04-22
8552 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- format does not honor "0" flag in format string 2019-02-20
2505 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Gnome icon support 2011-03-02
6640 Revoluti Unclassi ideteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Rules for setting IDE defaultFolder 2008-06-26
9370 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- need more control over the appearance of selected text 2014-03-12
2920 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Window Icon 2005-06-22
9386 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- dragImage for Linux 2018-09-07
1118 Revoluti Engine > tuviah@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Support for other signals 2004-03-09
8133 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Enhance 'replace' to work like s/ in Sed - line by line,... 2009-06-26
6034 Revoluti IDE > GU ideteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- User Extensions location not intuitive 2015-07-29
2256 Revoluti Engine > tuviah@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- GConf registry editor 2010-07-12
7220 Revoluti IDE > GU ideteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- change button and no button type appears in inspector 2016-04-21
8553 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- resumeStack not sent to stack after modal dialog closes 2020-06-26
7018 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Special folder path "Desktop" throws an error 2016-04-21
7146 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com UNCONFIRMED --- Bad beheavior of Revolution 2.9/3.0 with mplayer 2016-04-21
3372 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Read from serial line hangs under Linux 2016-04-21
7233 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- standalone played sound yesterday, doesn't play today 2016-04-21
7654 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com CONFIRMED --- Command-keys for switching between windows of an applicat... 2016-04-21
1352 Revoluti Engine > engineteam@runrev.com IN_PROGRESS --- Some audio files do not play via audioclips under linux. 2016-04-21

Still, it would be a place to start to see what engine bits do not work or work as expected under Linux.

[FourthWorld]

There are two opportunities here:
- Focus on options for improving performance concerns specific to Linux
- Explore general performance improvement options which affect all platforms.

Do either the OP or the recent follow-up have examples of performance issues on Linux that run without such concern on other platforms?

If so, let's look at the code for the routine in question.

The same goes for general performance interests. The range of ways to optimize code are vast, but if you can isolate a significant bottleneck and post the code for that, we'll be about to see how it can be improved.

This may be a short thread, since both posts exhibit traits we often see in bots. I'd like to be wrong on that. Follow-up from either of those accounts here within 30 days will keep this thread from being deleted as likely botspew.