Plugin Benchmark Add-On

This is a small script to measure the performance of a Plugin. Plugin authors can use it to measure and document the TWiki:Plugins/Benchmark numbers.

Usage

• Specify Plugin name and other topics to benchmark. The first parameter is the Plugin name, followed by topic names. The TWiki web is assumed unless specified.

Notes:

• Before running the benchmarks, disable mod_perl or SpeedyCGI in case used
• Run the script on the web server's shell where TWiki is installed
• Measure when there is no load on the server
• All Plugins are automatically disabled except for the DefaultPlugin and the specified Plugin. The 'default' TWiki skin is enabled.

Running the script:

• Choose a topic that renders your plugin variables. That may be the plugin topic, or an example topic.
• Go to your bin directory and call (for instance):
• % ./pluginbenchmark TablePlugin GoodStyle FormattedSearch Main.TWikiUsers

Example output

% ./pluginbenchmark SpreadSheetPlugin FormattedSearch GoodStyle
TWiki Plugin benchmark tool. Time::HiRes is used.
Measuring, please be patient...
Topic:                          Without:  With:     Percent:
------------------------------  --------  --------  --------
TWiki.SpreadSheetPlugin            0.481     0.506       95%
TWiki.FormattedSearch              1.677     1.694       99%
TWiki.GoodStyle                    0.301     0.304       99%

Add-On Installation Instructions

Instructions for TWiki plugin authors:

• Download the ZIP file from the Add-on Home (see below)
• Unzip PluginBenchmarkAddOn.zip in your twiki installation directory. Content:

  File:	Description:
  data/TWiki/PluginBenchmarkAddOn.txt	Add-on topic
  data/TWiki/PluginBenchmarkAddOn.txt,v	Plugin topic repository
  bin/pluginbenchmark	Benchmark utility script

• Install CPAN:Time::HiRes if needed:
  • Run the pluginbenchmark utility from the shell without parameters, it will tell you if Time::HiRes is installed or not.
  • It is strongly recommended to run the utility only with Time::HiRes installed (it will work without the module, but it is very slow and the result is not accurate)
• Test if the installation was successful:
  • Run the pluginbenchmark utility from your bin directory:
    % ./pluginbenchmark TablePlugin GoodStyle

Add-On Info

• Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Measure the performance of a TWiki plugin

Related Topic: TWikiAddOns