X11PERF(1)
NAME
x11perf - X11 server performance test program
SYNTAX
x11perf [ -option ... ]
DESCRIPTION
The x11perf program 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, x11perf measures window
management performance as well as traditional graphics
performace. x11perf includes 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 win-
dows to and fro trying to find the one you want).
x11perf also measures graphics performance for operations
not normally used in standalone graphics displays, but are
nonetheless used frequently by X applications. Such oper-
ations include CopyPlane (used to map bitmaps into pix-
els), scrolling (used in text windows), and various stip-
ples and tiles (used for CAD and color half-toning,
respectively).
x11perf should 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. x11perf
is 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 applica-
tions actually use. While it can be used as a benchmark,
it was written and is intended as a performance testing
tool.
As such, x11perf DOES 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 num-
ber 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 x11perf reports 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 x11perf
runs. You provide a list of files containing results from
x11perf, and it lays them out in a nice tabular format.
For repeatable results, x11perf should 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. x11perf moves 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 cor-
rectly explain why!!).
Before running a test, x11perf determines 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 talk-
ing to graphics accelerators can't claim that they are
done, while in the meantime the accelerator is painting
madly.
By default x11perf automatically calibrates the number of
repetitions of each test, so that each should take approx-
imately 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 charac-
ters, but report on the number of characters per second.
Some window tests map, unmap, or move a single parent win-
dow, 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, x11perf was
rewritten to ease making comparisons between widely vary-
ing machines, to cover most important (and unimportant) X
functionality, and to exercise graphics operations in as
many different orientations and alignments as possible.
OPTIONS
x11perf is solely Xlib based, and accepts the options
listed below:
-display host:dpy
Specifies which display to use.
-sync Runs the tests in synchronous mode. Nor-
mally only useful for debugging x11perf .
-pack Runs rectangle tests so that they pack rect-
angles 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 n times (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 speci-
fied 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
peform 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 x11perfcomp for
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 Dou-
bleDashed 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, Stat-
icColor, PseudoColor, TrueColor, or Direct-
Color. (default is the default visual).
-reps <<n>> Specify the repetion count (Default is num-
ber that takes aprox. 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 When-
Mapped 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 stip-
ple pattern.
-osrect500 500x500 opaque stippled rectangle, 8x8 stip-
ple 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 pat-
tern.
-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 stip-
ple 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 pat-
tern.
-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 pat-
tern.
-eschertilerect500
500x500 tiled rectangle, 215x208 tile pat-
tern.
-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, ori-
entation 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 pat-
tern.
-tiletrap10 Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid, 4x4 tile pat-
tern.
-tiletrap100 Fill 100x100 tiled trapezoid, 4x4 tile pat-
tern.
-tiletrap300 Fill 300x300 tiled trapezoid, 4x4 tile pat-
tern.
-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 pat-
tern.
-oddtiletrap10
Fill 10x10 tiled trapezoid, 17x15 tile pat-
tern.
-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 pat-
tern.
-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 MapSubwin-
dows.
-ucreate Create unmapped window.
-map Map child window via MapWindow on parent.
-unmap Unmap child window via UnmapWindow on par-
ent.
-destroy Destroy child window via DestroyWindow par-
ent.
-popup Hide/expose window via Map/Unmap popup win-
dow.
-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.
X DEFAULTS
There are no X defaults used by this program.
SEE ALSO
X(1) xbench(1) x11perfcomp(1)
AUTHORS
Joel McCormack
Phil Karlton
Susan Angebranndt
Chris Kent
Keith Packard
Graeme Gill