NSIS 2.30: Installer startup really slow compared to build with previous versions

Archive: NSIS 2.30: Installer startup really slow compared to build with previous versions

AxelMock
30th August 2007 13:34 UTC

NSIS 2.30: Installer startup really slow compared to build with previous versions
Hi,

yesterday I updated my release version of NSIS from 2.24 to 2.30 since I needed SetRegView.
I left the project settings (compressor etc) unchanged.

When starting the built installer (about 900KB) I noticed that it took about 6-10 seconds until the Welcome Dialog appears.
With NSIS 2.24 it took less than a second.

Checked on several test machines (different Windows platforms) and found the same behaviour. Startup is noticeably slower.

I downgraded to 2.29 and everything's fine again.

Bug? Feature? Reason?

Wizou
30th August 2007 14:50 UTC

Vista ? XP ?
RequestExecutionLevel ?
CRC checking dialog visible ? after/before it ?

AxelMock
30th August 2007 14:52 UTC

Originally posted by Wizou
Vista ? XP ?
RequestExecutionLevel ?
CRC checking dialog visible ? after/before it ?

Seen with W2K, WXP, WXP64.
RequestExecutionLevel always Admin.
CRC checking dialog visible: No.

Wizou
30th August 2007 14:59 UTC

you might want to activate the CRC checking dialog, so you can diagnose if the slowdown comes before it (might be the OS) or after it (definitively NSIS)

AxelMock
30th August 2007 15:17 UTC

Originally posted by Wizou
you might want to activate the CRC checking dialog, so you can diagnose if the slowdown comes before it (might be the OS) or after it (definitively NSIS)

Settings in .nsi file:
SetCompressor /SOLID lzma
CRCCheck On
(Unchanged)

So the CRC checking dialog seems to be the dialog that appears when I start an NSIS wrapper installer for IS 32 & IS 64 installers with about 20 MByte from a slow USB stick, where I see the unpacking process....10% ...24%....

No. With a 900 KB installer I never SAW that dialog.
And the 5 to 10 seconds delay IS NOT caused by that.

And : The same (unchnanged) project built with NSIS 2.29 runs as fast as before!

Wizou
30th August 2007 15:29 UTC

oh i thought 900 MB... 900 KB is small so CRC is not visible, right..

kichik
31st August 2007 09:27 UTC

If the unpacking dialog shows, you are missing a ReserveFile call and probably have .onInit at the end of the script, extracting files.

AxelMock
31st August 2007 10:04 UTC

Originally posted by kichik
If the unpacking dialog shows, you are missing a ReserveFile call and probably have .onInit at the end of the script, extracting files.

For the installer in question, the unpacking dialog DOES NOT show up. .onInit is near the end of the script, but it does not extract any file.
Versions to compare are fetched via GetDLLVersionLocal.

kichik
31st August 2007 22:10 UTC

Can you provide a script that reproduces this?

AxelMock
3rd September 2007 12:19 UTC

Originally posted by kichik
Can you provide a script that reproduces this?

I'll try to reproduce it with a smaller NSIS script.