firefox

Size of mozilla-central compared

When I posted a graph comparing the size of the mozilla-central repository by Firefox version my colleague gszorc was quick to point out that the 4k blocksize of the filesystem meant that the on-disk size of a working copy might not accurately reflect the true size of the repository. I considered this and compared the working copy size (with blocksize =1) to the typical 4k blocksize. This is the result.

Trends in Mozilla’s central codebase

As part of my recent duties I’ve been looking at trends in Mozilla’s monolithic source code repository mozilla-central. As we’re investigating growth patterns and scalability I thought it would be useful to get metrics about the size of the repositories over time, and in what ways it changes. It should be noted that the sizes are for all of mozilla-central, which is Firefox and several other Mozilla products. I chose Firefox versions as they are useful historical points.

Working around flaky internet connections

Unfortunately not all WiFi connections work perfectly all the time. They’re fraught with unexpected problems including dropping out entirely, abruptly killing connections, and running into connection limits. Thankfully with a little knowledge it is possible to regain productivity that would otherwise be lost to a flaky internet connection. These techniques are applicable to coffee shops, hotels, and other places with semi-public WiFi. Always have a backup connection Depending on a WiFi connections as your sole source of connectivity is a losing proposition.