So a few days ago, Phoronix published a performance comparison between XMir and X.org. Not surprisingly, XMir was slower in most of the tests. I say not surprising, because at this point its beta code (maybe even Alpha?) and is relatively new. Also, because it requires a compatibility layer for existing X applications.
When they asked the Mir team, Kevin Gunn said,
“at glance nothing looks completely out of place….except maybe the one nexuiz run, seems odd to be almost double. I suppose we might need to dig into those with >10% delta & determine the limiting factor.”
Or perhaps in emotes: *shrug*.
As a developer, I can appreciate that. I’m sure they are not focused on performance at this point and they have months to go.
Of course, a XMir review requires a follow up review of Wayland versus X.org. And so they did.
What I find interesting is that despite Wayland not being ready to run all the tests, including any 3D tests, the author concludes:
“I’m not an expert but I believe this may serve as an evidence that Wayland is architecturally superior than Mir.”
Huh? What? I have tremendous respect for Phoronix and their articles are great. They’ve forgotten more about this stuff than I’ll likely ever know. But that was a reach I think. It’s a bit … anxious š
UPDATE: Thanks to Assa for pointing out that Phoronix was simply quoting the tester and this was not their opinion.
Anyhow, I will be less than proud of the Linux community over the next 6 months as the FUD flies and the typical Ubuntu haters come crawling out of the wood work. Let me be clear: I am not saying Phoronix or this article falls into that category. It just made me sit back and realize that there are going to be people who are salty about the Wayland/Mir decision Ubuntu made. I personally like to see innovation and applaud anybody doing anything new and anything that suits their needs. It’s what Open Source is all about. Wayland or Mir, Unity or MATE, it’s all good.
But let’s not jump to conclusions in an effort to declare the next Ubuntu endeavor a failure. Let’s let it breath and see what goodness they will have for the open source community. And if you still don’t like it, great, there are lots of other great options.