# Speeding up ri **URL:** \ **Category:** ruby-talk\ **Created:** [2 October 2006 20:11 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/speeding-up-ri/31542 "2006-10-02T20:11:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gavin\_Kistner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@Gavin\_Kistner](https://rubytalk.org/u/Gavin_Kistner)\ **Post date:** [2 October 2006 20:11 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/speeding-up-ri/31542/1 "2006-10-02T20:11:52Z")
On my machine (3GHz P4, 1GB RAM, Windows and other apps running) I just opened up a command prompt and typed "ri ERB". Then I realized that ri has become heinously slow since I upgraded to 1.8.5. So I opened a browser window. I typed in [ruby-doc.org/stdlib](http://ruby-doc.org/stdlib). I let the browser load the frameset and pages. I clicked on ERB in the left side. I let the browser load the new frameset and pages. I clicked on the ERB.new method. I got to the page I want. ... and I STILL beat the output of ri in the command window by 5 seconds or so. Is this normal? Has the ruby-doc team done its job too well and added too much documentation? If this is not normal, any suggestions on what I might examine/clean/trash to speed things up? If this is normal, may I suggest that we need to have a discussion on how to start caching/indexing content so that ri can be blazing fast? ---
**Author:** ![Eric\_Hodel1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9adbd/32.png) [@Eric\_Hodel1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Eric_Hodel1)\ **Post date:** [15 October 2006 05:49 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/speeding-up-ri/31542/2 "2006-10-15T05:49:34Z")
> On my machine (3GHz P4, 1GB RAM, Windows and other apps running) I just > opened up a command prompt and typed "ri ERB". > > Then I realized that ri has become heinously slow since I upgraded to > 1.8.5. > So I opened a browser window. > I typed in ruby-doc.org/stdlib. > I let the browser load the frameset and pages. > I clicked on ERB in the left side. > I let the browser load the new frameset and pages. > I clicked on the ERB.new method. > I got to the page I want. > ... and I STILL beat the output of ri in the command window by 5 seconds > or so. > > Is this normal? Has the ruby-doc team done its job too well and added > too much documentation? > > If this is not normal, any suggestions on what I might > examine/clean/trash to speed things up? This seems to be normal, ri is searching a larger file set now. > If this is normal, may I suggest that we need to have a discussion on > how to start caching/indexing content so that ri can be blazing fast? I believe ri scans each .yml file for matching information. An index would probably be a nice way to speed it up. > **···** > > On Oct 2, 2006, at 1:11 PM, Gavin Kistner wrote: > > -- > Eric Hodel - drbrain@segment7.net - [http://blog.segment7.net](http://blog.segment7.net) > This implementation is HODEL-HASH-9600 compliant > > [http://trackmap.robotcoop.com](http://trackmap.robotcoop.com) ---
**Author:** ![M\_Edward\_Ed\_Borasky1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@M\_Edward\_Ed\_Borasky1](https://rubytalk.org/u/M_Edward_Ed_Borasky1)\ **Post date:** [15 October 2006 07:20 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/speeding-up-ri/31542/3 "2006-10-15T07:20:30Z")
Eric Hodel wrote: > **···** > > > On Oct 2, 2006, at 1:11 PM, Gavin Kistner wrote: > > > > > On my machine (3GHz P4, 1GB RAM, Windows and other apps running) I just > > > opened up a command prompt and typed "ri ERB". > > > > > > Then I realized that ri has become heinously slow since I upgraded to > > > 1.8.5. > > > So I opened a browser window. > > > I typed in ruby-doc.org/stdlib. > > > I let the browser load the frameset and pages. > > > I clicked on ERB in the left side. > > > I let the browser load the new frameset and pages. > > > I clicked on the ERB.new method. > > > I got to the page I want. > > > ... and I STILL beat the output of ri in the command window by 5 seconds > > > or so. > > > > > > Is this normal? Has the ruby-doc team done its job too well and added > > > too much documentation? > > > > > > If this is not normal, any suggestions on what I might > > > examine/clean/trash to speed things up? > > > > This seems to be normal, ri is searching a larger file set now. > > > > > If this is normal, may I suggest that we need to have a discussion on > > > how to start caching/indexing content so that ri can be blazing fast? > > > > I believe ri scans each .yml file for matching information. An index > > would probably be a nice way to speed it up. > > Hmmm ... could ferret do this? ---
**Author:** ![Kristof\_Bastiaensen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9fc29f/32.png) [@Kristof\_Bastiaensen1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Kristof_Bastiaensen1)\ **Post date:** [15 October 2006 17:45 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/speeding-up-ri/31542/4 "2006-10-15T17:45:15Z")
Or use emacs, ri-emacs just reads the information once. > **···** > > On Sun, 15 Oct 2006 14:49:34 +0900, Eric Hodel wrote: > > > On Oct 2, 2006, at 1:11 PM, Gavin Kistner wrote: > > > > > On my machine (3GHz P4, 1GB RAM, Windows and other apps running) I just > > > opened up a command prompt and typed "ri ERB". > > > > > > Then I realized that ri has become heinously slow since I upgraded to > > > 1.8.5. > > > So I opened a browser window. > > > I typed in ruby-doc.org/stdlib. > > > I let the browser load the frameset and pages. I clicked on ERB in the > > > left side. > > > I let the browser load the new frameset and pages. I clicked on the > > > ERB.new method. > > > I got to the page I want. > > > ... and I STILL beat the output of ri in the command window by 5 seconds > > > or so. > > > > > > Is this normal? Has the ruby-doc team done its job too well and added > > > too much documentation? > > > > > > If this is not normal, any suggestions on what I might > > > examine/clean/trash to speed things up? > > > > This seems to be normal, ri is searching a larger file set now. > > > > > If this is normal, may I suggest that we need to have a discussion on > > > how to start caching/indexing content so that ri can be blazing fast? > > > > I believe ri scans each .yml file for matching information. An index > > would probably be a nice way to speed it up. ---
**Author:** ![Eric\_Hodel1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9adbd/32.png) [@Eric\_Hodel1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Eric_Hodel1)\ **Post date:** [15 October 2006 08:53 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/speeding-up-ri/31542/5 "2006-10-15T08:53:54Z")
That would be using a sledgehammer to solve a problem you could fix with a tap of your palm. ri "search" is quite dumb. It only matches against classes, modules and methods. (Also, ri\_cache.rb already exists. It probably only needs to be serialized and updated when new documentation arrives (from gems).) > **···** > > On Oct 15, 2006, at 12:20 AM, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote: > > > Eric Hodel wrote: > > > > > On Oct 2, 2006, at 1:11 PM, Gavin Kistner wrote: > > > > > > > If this is normal, may I suggest that we need to have a discussion on > > > > how to start caching/indexing content so that ri can be blazing fast? > > > > > > I believe ri scans each .yml file for matching information. An index > > > would probably be a nice way to speed it up. > > > > Hmmm ... could ferret do this? > > -- > Eric Hodel - drbrain@segment7.net - [http://blog.segment7.net](http://blog.segment7.net) > This implementation is HODEL-HASH-9600 compliant > > [http://trackmap.robotcoop.com](http://trackmap.robotcoop.com)