XFT: Works but slow

[Ilpo Nyyssönen]

As seen from the version info below, I compiled the CVS HEAD XEmacs
with newgc and xft few days ago. I am mostly surprised how well it has
worked. It hasn't been crashing constantly.

I use XEmacs to read my mail and some newsgroups with nntp with Gnus
and I have done it for a long time from work by running XEmacs
remotely from my home computer over X protocol. Now --with-xft it is
almost unusable slow when used that way. The repaints take seconds and
can be seen quite well.

,----
| uname -a: Linux iny.iki.fi 2.6.14-1.1656_FC4smp #1 SMP Thu Jan 5 22:24:06 EST 2006 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
| 
| ./configure '--prefix=/opt/xemacs' '--enable-mule' '--enable-widgets=athena' '--enable-dialogs=athena' '--with-socks' '--without-canna' '--without-wnn' '--enable-newgc' '--with-xft=emacs, menubars, tabs, gauges'
| 
| 
| XEmacs 21.5-b24 "dandelion" (+CVS-20060123) configured for `i686-pc-linux'.
| 
| Compilation Environment and Installation Defaults:
|   Source code location:              /home/biny/packages/repositories/xemacs
|   Installation prefix:               /opt/xemacs
|   Operating system description file: `s/linux.h'
|   Machine description file:          `m/intel386.h'
|   Compiler version:                  gcc (GCC) 4.0.2 20051125 (Red Hat 4.0.2-8)
|     - GCC specs file:                specs.
|     - Compiler command:              gcc   -Wall -Wno-switch -Wundef -Wsign-compare -Wno-char-subscripts -Wpacked -Wunused-parameter -g  
|   libc version:                      glibc-2.3.5-10.3
|   Relocating allocator for buffers:  no
|   GNU version of malloc:             yes
|     - Using Doug Lea's new malloc from the GNU C Library.
| 
| Window System:
|   Compiling in support for the X window system:
|     - X Windows headers location:                 /usr/X11R6/include
|     - X Windows libraries location:               /usr/X11R6/lib
|     - Handling WM_COMMAND properly.
|     - Compiling in support for Xft antialiased fonts (EXPERIMENTAL).
|   Compiling in support for the Athena widget set:
|     - Athena headers location:                    X11/Xaw
|     - Athena library to link:                     Xaw
|   Using Lucid menubars.
|     - Using Xft to render antialiased fonts in menubars.
|       WARNING: This feature will be replaced with a face.
|   Using Lucid scrollbars.
|   Using Athena dialog boxes.
|   Using Athena native widgets.
|     - Using Xft to render antialiased fonts in tab controls.
|       WARNING: This feature will be replaced with a face.
|     - Using Xft to render antialiased fonts in progress bars.
|       WARNING: This feature will be replaced with a face.
|       WARNING: This feature not yet implemented; setting ignored.
| 
| TTY:
|   Compiling in support for ncurses.
|   Compiling in support for GPM (General Purpose Mouse).
| 
| Images:
|   Compiling in support for GIF  images (builtin).
|   Compiling in support for XPM  images.
|   Compiling in support for PNG  images.
|   Compiling in support for JPEG images.
|   Compiling in support for TIFF images.
|   Compiling in support for X-Face message headers.
| 
| Sound:
|   Compiling in support for sound (native).
| 
| Databases:
|   Compiling in support for Berkeley database.
|   Compiling in support for LDAP.
|   Compiling in support for PostgreSQL.
|     - Using PostgreSQL header file:  libpq-fe.h
|     - Using PostgreSQL V7 bindings.
| 
| Internationalization:
|   Compiling in support for Mule (multi-lingual Emacs).
|   Compiling in support for XIM (X11R5+ I18N input method).
|     - Using raw Xlib to provide XIM support.
| 
| Mail:
|   Compiling in support for "file" mail spool file locking method.
| 
| Other Features:
|   Inhibiting IPv6 canonicalization at startup.
|   Compiling in support for SOCKS.
|   Compiling in support for dynamic shared object modules.
|   Using the new GC algorithms.
|   WARNING: ---------------------------------------------------------
|   WARNING: The new algorithms are experimental. They are enabled by
|   WARNING: default for this release. Use `--disable-kkcc' to
|   WARNING: turn it off.
|   WARNING: ---------------------------------------------------------
|   Using the new allocator.
|   WARNING: ---------------------------------------------------------
|   WARNING: The new allocator is experimental. It is enabled by
|   WARNING: default for this release. Use `--disable-mc-alloc' to
|   WARNING: turn it off.
|   WARNING: ---------------------------------------------------------
|   Using the new incremental garbage collector.
|   Using POSIX sigaction() to install fault handler.
|   Using the new portable dumper.
|   Compiling in support for extra debugging code.
|   Compiling in support for runtime error checking.
|   WARNING: ---------------------------------------------------------
|   WARNING: XEmacs will run noticeably more slowly as a result.
|   WARNING: Error checking is on by default for XEmacs beta releases.
|   WARNING: ---------------------------------------------------------
| 
`----

-- 
Ilpo Nyyssönen # biny # /* :-) */