Features For Phoronix Test Suite 1.2

In the update that succeeds Trondheim, there is also an analyze option. When passing a batch result file to the analyze command, it will pair up all of the common tests that can be compared and it will then plot out this information on a line graph. For example, with this command you can then see how the changing in resolution affects the graphics performance. Just run phoronix-test-suite batch-benchmark quake4-demo and then run phoronix-test-suite analyze <saved results file from the batch-benchmark>. Other options to assist the user in analyzing their test results are also being worked on now.

For those that are on a slow Internet connection or experience issues with some mirrors, by setting the PromptForDownloadMirror tag in the ~/.phoronix-test-suite/user-config.xml file to TRUE will allow the user to select their own download mirror. Normally, pts-core will automatically chose a random mirror to download a selected file from, but when this option is enabled, it will show the user all available mirrors and prompt them to select the one they wish to use.

There are also a number of fixes and new improvements with the Phoronix Test Suite. One area in particular is improved merging support of test results. In addition, all test times are now reported in UTC, backwards support for RandR 1.1 has been added (RandR 1.2 has been supported since pre-1.0), various PTS External Dependency fixes, code clean-ups, and much more. We have also written basic caching support for tandem_XmlReader (our XML parser) that should yield in less disk reads and increased performance of the Phoronix Test Suite.

In total, there are about 75 official changes for Phoronix Test Suite 1.2 "Malvik" as of today -- with many of these changes being noticeable to the end-user. In addition, found in our git repository is the basics of a graphical user interface for the Phoronix Test Suite. This GUI is still being hooked into the Phoronix Test Suite and we don't know if this will be completed prior to the release of Malvik, but for those interested in helping out with the GUI it can be found on Phorogit. We're also not yet in a feature freeze for Phoronix Test Suite 1.2, so more features will certainly be adopted along with other fixes and improvements.

For information on downloading the Phoronix Test Suite from git, to join the mailing list, or to read more about this leading GPLv3 benchmarking software, visit Phoronix-Test-Suite.com. As the release of PTS Malvik nears in September, we will have more information available. In addition, we are planning a new web site and a new version of PTS Global that will launch with this new release.