Performance of `exportReferencesGraph`/`pkgs.closureInfo` in Lix over time #1180

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opened 2026-04-09 11:10:36 +00:00 by qyriad · 0 comments

qyriad commented

2026-04-09 11:10:36 +00:00

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We recently noticed pkgs.closureInfo having much worse performance with daemon stores than local stores, and also found that this wasn't the case in Lix 2.90.0, so we dug deeper. We benchmarked pkgs.closureInfo (with a somewhat large but arbitrary set of packages) with a local store across Lix releases:

Command	Mean [s]	Min [s]	Max [s]	Relative
lix-2.90.0	26.701 ± 0.521	25.976	27.661	1.01 ± 0.03
lix-2.91.0	26.359 ± 0.402	25.886	26.916	1.00
lix-2.91.3	26.853 ± 0.331	26.268	27.237	1.02 ± 0.02
lix-2.92.3	29.236 ± 0.539	28.350	30.045	1.11 ± 0.03
lix-2.93.0	52.845 ± 1.076	50.890	54.069	2.00 ± 0.05
lix-2.93.3	52.509 ± 0.876	50.944	53.482	1.99 ± 0.05
lix-2.94.0	38.055 ± 0.517	37.155	38.837	1.44 ± 0.03
lix-2.95.1	38.487 ± 0.527	37.736	39.308	1.46 ± 0.03
lix-main	39.213 ± 0.480	38.241	39.816	1.49 ± 0.03

Generated with:

$ hyperfine \
  --parameter-list lix "lix-2.90.0,lix-2.91.0,lix-2.91.3,lix-2.92.3,lix-2.93.0,lix-2.93.3,lix-2.94.0,lix-2.95.1,lix-main" \
  "./result-{lix}/bin/nix --option use-cgroups false --option auto-allocate-uids false --no-link --store ./store-tmp -f ./closure-info.nix closureInfo --rebuild" \
  --setup "./result-{lix}/bin/nix --option use-cgroups false --option auto-allocate-uids false --no-link --store ./store-tmp -f ./closure-info.nix closureInfo"

Contents of closure-info.nix:

{
  pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> { },
  lib ? pkgs.lib,
}: lib.fix (self: {
  closureInfo = pkgs.closureInfo {
    rootPaths = [
      self.root.drvPath
    ];
  };

  nixos = import "${pkgs.path}/nixos" {
    configuration = { pkgs, ... }: {
      nixpkgs.hostPlatform = "x86_64-linux";
      system.stateVersion = "26.05";

      boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable = true;
      fileSystems."/" = {
        device = "/dev/sda";
        fsType = "ext4";
      };

      environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; ([
        wl-clipboard
        waypipe
        lldb
        musescore
        rustc
        rust-analyzer
        cargo-clone
        colmena
        nixfmt
        rr
        quickemu
        gh
        systemd-lsp
        alacritty
        ghostty
        mpv
        ffmpeg-full
        pulseview
        krita
        aegisub
        firefox
        curl
        tesseract
        kdePackages.kcalc
        kdePackages.kwin
        perl
        which
        strace
        kdePackages.plasma-desktop
        zstd
        weston
        llvmPackages.lld
        llvmPackages.libcxx
        pkgsLLVM.hello
      ]);
    };
  };

  root = self.nixos.config.system.build.vm;
})

We recently noticed `pkgs.closureInfo` having much worse performance with daemon stores than local stores, and also found that this wasn't the case in Lix 2.90.0, so we dug deeper. We benchmarked `pkgs.closureInfo` (with a somewhat large but arbitrary set of packages) with a **local** store across Lix releases: | Command | Mean [s] | Min [s] | Max [s] | Relative | |:---|---:|---:|---:|---:| | lix-2.90.0 | 26.701 ± 0.521 | 25.976 | 27.661 | 1.01 ± 0.03 | | lix-2.91.0 | 26.359 ± 0.402 | 25.886 | 26.916 | 1.00 | | lix-2.91.3 | 26.853 ± 0.331 | 26.268 | 27.237 | 1.02 ± 0.02 | | lix-2.92.3 | 29.236 ± 0.539 | 28.350 | 30.045 | 1.11 ± 0.03 | | lix-2.93.0 | 52.845 ± 1.076 | 50.890 | 54.069 | 2.00 ± 0.05 | | lix-2.93.3 | 52.509 ± 0.876 | 50.944 | 53.482 | 1.99 ± 0.05 | | lix-2.94.0 | 38.055 ± 0.517 | 37.155 | 38.837 | 1.44 ± 0.03 | | lix-2.95.1 | 38.487 ± 0.527 | 37.736 | 39.308 | 1.46 ± 0.03 | | lix-main | 39.213 ± 0.480 | 38.241 | 39.816 | 1.49 ± 0.03 | Generated with: ```bash $ hyperfine \ --parameter-list lix "lix-2.90.0,lix-2.91.0,lix-2.91.3,lix-2.92.3,lix-2.93.0,lix-2.93.3,lix-2.94.0,lix-2.95.1,lix-main" \ "./result-{lix}/bin/nix --option use-cgroups false --option auto-allocate-uids false --no-link --store ./store-tmp -f ./closure-info.nix closureInfo --rebuild" \ --setup "./result-{lix}/bin/nix --option use-cgroups false --option auto-allocate-uids false --no-link --store ./store-tmp -f ./closure-info.nix closureInfo" ``` <hr> <details> <summary>Contents of <code>closure-info.nix</code>:</summary> ```nix { pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> { }, lib ? pkgs.lib, }: lib.fix (self: { closureInfo = pkgs.closureInfo { rootPaths = [ self.root.drvPath ]; }; nixos = import "${pkgs.path}/nixos" { configuration = { pkgs, ... }: { nixpkgs.hostPlatform = "x86_64-linux"; system.stateVersion = "26.05"; boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable = true; fileSystems."/" = { device = "/dev/sda"; fsType = "ext4"; }; environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; ([ wl-clipboard waypipe lldb musescore rustc rust-analyzer cargo-clone colmena nixfmt rr quickemu gh systemd-lsp alacritty ghostty mpv ffmpeg-full pulseview krita aegisub firefox curl tesseract kdePackages.kcalc kdePackages.kwin perl which strace kdePackages.plasma-desktop zstd weston llvmPackages.lld llvmPackages.libcxx pkgsLLVM.hello ]); }; }; root = self.nixos.config.system.build.vm; }) ``` </details>

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Performance of exportReferencesGraph/pkgs.closureInfo in Lix over time #1180

Performance of `exportReferencesGraph`/`pkgs.closureInfo` in Lix over time #1180