# Julia startup time on macOS vs. Linux

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-startup-time-on-macos-vs-linux/118239>\
**Category:** Offtopic\
**Created:** [August 15, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-startup-time-on-macos-vs-linux/118239 "2024-08-15T20:26:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![piechologist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/piechologist/32/27662_2.png) [@piechologist](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/piechologist)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-startup-time-on-macos-vs-linux/118239/1 "2024-08-15T20:26:31Z")

</div>

I need to replace my aging Mac but I’m concerned about macOS’ Gatekeeper checks. Currently, I’m running Monterey on an Intel MacBook. I frequently run small julia scripts so, startup times matter.

Consider running `time julia --startup-file no -e ""` in a terminal. The first run after waking up my Mac takes 5…10 sec and subsequent runs take about 1 sec.

Newer macOS versions check binaries on each run and I have no idea how long the checks take on current hardware.

So, could somebody share the timings of `time julia --startup-file no -e ""` on an Apple Silicon Mac? Cheers!

PS: I’m aware that that snippet finishes in just 200/300 msec on the same laptop when running Linux. I might even switch the OS.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Satvik](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/satvik/32/20486_2.png) [@Satvik](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Satvik)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 8:34pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-startup-time-on-macos-vs-linux/118239/2 "2024-08-15T20:34:16Z")

</div>

Here’s a bunch of runs on my M1 Max macbook:

```julia
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.18s user 0.08s system 132% cpu 0.196 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.15s user 0.05s system 120% cpu 0.162 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.16s user 0.06s system 116% cpu 0.188 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.14s user 0.08s system 111% cpu 0.200 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.14s user 0.09s system 125% cpu 0.185 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.11s user 0.08s system 125% cpu 0.147 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.13s user 0.04s system 116% cpu 0.151 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.13s user 0.04s system 128% cpu 0.135 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.11s user 0.08s system 125% cpu 0.146 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.13s user 0.04s system 129% cpu 0.139 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.12s user 0.06s system 123% cpu 0.143 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.13s user 0.10s system 155% cpu 0.143 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.14s user 0.05s system 118% cpu 0.156 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.13s user 0.04s system 126% cpu 0.138 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.14s user 0.04s system 123% cpu 0.146 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.18s user 0.04s system 153% cpu 0.144 total
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ time julia --startup-file no -e ""
julia --startup-file no -e "" 0.13s user 0.04s system 128% cpu 0.136 total

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![piechologist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/piechologist/32/27662_2.png) [@piechologist](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/piechologist)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 8:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-startup-time-on-macos-vs-linux/118239/3 "2024-08-15T20:42:00Z")

</div>

Thank you very much! I didn’t expect it to be _that_ fast! Good news!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 8:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-startup-time-on-macos-vs-linux/118239/4 "2024-08-15T20:42:43Z")

</div>

And on Linux:

```julia
ufechner@framework:~$ time julia --startup-file no -e ""

real	0m0,104s
user	0m0,062s
sys	0m0,050s

```

Framework 13 with Ryzen 7840U

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 11:23pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-startup-time-on-macos-vs-linux/118239/5 "2024-08-15T23:23:05Z")

</div>

You may want to use a tool like [`hyperfine`](https://github.com/sharkdp/hyperfine), instead of doing that

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Satvik](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/satvik/32/20486_2.png) [@Satvik](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Satvik)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-startup-time-on-macos-vs-linux/118239/6 "2024-08-15T23:30:01Z")

</div>

Thanks, this is helpful!

```julia
(base) ➜ temple git:(master) ✗ hyperfine --runs 200 'julia --startup-file no -e ""'
Benchmark 1: julia --startup-file no -e ""
  Time (mean ± σ): 129.1 ms ± 6.2 ms [User: 131.0 ms, System: 62.9 ms]
  Range (min … max): 121.4 ms … 171.0 ms 200 runs 

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Palli](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/palli/32/3380_2.png) [@Palli](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Palli)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2024, 7:58pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-startup-time-on-macos-vs-linux/118239/7 "2024-08-17T19:58:13Z")

</div>

> [@piechologist](#):
>
> Consider running `time julia --startup-file no -e ""`

EDIT2: This is actually not a bug, no worry, just ignore me, and is equivalent it seems, and disabled “the” startup-file. It happens either way and I only confirmed, with strace, the file opened when not trying to disable it, and actually then also a different file I didn’t know of…:

```julia
statx(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.0-rc2+0.x64.linux.gnu/etc/julia/startup.jl", AT_STATX_SYNC_AS_STAT, STATX_ALL, {stx_mask=STATX_ALL|STATX_MNT_ID, stx_attributes=0, stx_mode=S_IFREG|0644, stx_size=162, ...}) = 0
statx(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.0-rc2+0.x64.linux.gnu/etc/julia/startup.jl", AT_STATX_SYNC_AS_STAT, STATX_ALL, {stx_mask=STATX_ALL|STATX_MNT_ID, stx_attributes=0, stx_mode=S_IFREG|0644, stx_size=162, ...}) = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.0-rc2+0.x64.linux.gnu/etc/julia/startup.jl", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 21
read(21, "# This file should contain site-"..., 32768) = 162
close(21) = 0
statx(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/config/startup.jl", AT_STATX_SYNC_AS_STAT, STATX_ALL, {stx_mask=STATX_ALL|STATX_MNT_ID, stx_attributes=0, stx_mode=S_IFREG|0664, stx_size=54, ...}) = 0
statx(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/config/startup.jl", AT_STATX_SYNC_AS_STAT, STATX_ALL, {stx_mask=STATX_ALL|STATX_MNT_ID, stx_attributes=0, stx_mode=S_IFREG|0664, stx_size=54, ...}) = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/config/startup.jl", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 21

```

EDIT: It’s actually not slower, my timing was bad, machine loaded, comparable with hyperfine.

strace show a lot of intriguing work happening, that I waded through, such as not opening some files, and others I didn’t know of, some for juliaup actually (for best timing, slightly faster you run julia directly, not indirectly through juliaup):

```julia
statx(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup/juliaup.json", AT_STATX_SYNC_AS_STAT, STATX_ALL, {stx_mask=STATX_ALL|STATX_MNT_ID, stx_attributes=0, stx_mode=S_IFREG|0664, stx_size=4424, ...}) = 0
mkdir("/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup", 0777) = -1 EEXIST (File exists)
statx(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup", AT_STATX_SYNC_AS_STAT, STATX_ALL, {stx_mask=STATX_ALL|STATX_MNT_ID, stx_attributes=0, stx_mode=S_IFDIR|0775, stx_size=4096, ...}) = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup/.juliaup-lock", O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_CLOEXEC, 0666) = 3
flock(3, LOCK_SH|LOCK_NB) = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup/juliaup.json", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 4
read(4, "{\n \"Default\": \"1.10\",\n \"Instal"..., 8192) = 4424
getrandom("\x96\x2e\xc4\xd4\x78\x77\x46\x2b\xb4\xed\xeb\x96\xa7\x48\xac\x71", 16, GRND_INSECURE) = 16
read(4, "", 8192) = 0
close(4) = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup/juliaupself.json", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 4
..
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.0-rc2+0.x64.linux.gnu/bin/../lib/julia/librt.so.1", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
..
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libjulia-codegen.so.1.11", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libjulia-codegen.so.1.11", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
..
prlimit64(0, RLIMIT_STACK, NULL, {rlim_cur=8192*1024, rlim_max=RLIM64_INFINITY}) = 0
getrandom("\xc9\x02\x9c\x9d\xe0\x2f\xa9\x88", 8, 0) = 8
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/sys/devices/system/cpu/online", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 20
..
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/proc/meminfo", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 20
read(20, "MemTotal: 32754160 kB\nMemF"..., 4095) = 1419
..
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.0-rc2+0.x64.linux.gnu/bin/../lib/julia/libpcre2-8", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/pharaldsson/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.0-rc2+0.x64.linux.gnu/bin/../lib/julia/../libpcre2-8", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)

```

~~No, that’s buggy~~ , and I’m ~~not sure what it does without `=no`, but at least it’s slower~~ :

```julia
time julia --startup-file no -e ""

real	0m0,904s
user	0m0,298s
sys	0m0,330s

compared to:

time julia --startup-file=no -e ""

real	0m0,228s
user	0m0,137s
sys	0m0,106s

and even better for RC2:

time julia +1.11 --startup-file=no -e ""

real	0m0,181s
user	0m0,133s
sys	0m0,063s

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-startup-time-on-macos-vs-linux/118239/8 "2024-08-17T20:04:34Z")

</div>

> [@Palli](#):
>
> but at least it’s slower

```console
% hyperfine -w 1 'julia --startup-file no -e ""' 'julia --startup-file=no -e ""'
Benchmark 1: julia --startup-file no -e ""
  Time (mean ± σ): 108.8 ms ± 1.1 ms [User: 84.6 ms, System: 23.8 ms]
  Range (min … max): 106.8 ms … 112.2 ms 26 runs

Benchmark 2: julia --startup-file=no -e ""
  Time (mean ± σ): 109.3 ms ± 1.0 ms [User: 84.7 ms, System: 23.5 ms]
  Range (min … max): 107.9 ms … 112.7 ms 25 runs

Summary
  'julia --startup-file no -e ""' ran
    1.00 ± 0.01 times faster than 'julia --startup-file=no -e ""'

```