gulp is sometimes slow to start

[kud]

On my machine with lots of softwares (sketch, firefox as frontend dev, VMs, etc), I don't have enough ram for gulp and its start is in this case really slow.

Once it was started, all is ok, the compilation is really fast and the next time I start gulp, it'll be fast too.

Note : This issue is for the moment a memo, I'll be back with more information. ;)

An indication of a compilation without troubles:

Thu 21 Aug 2014 12:08:33 CEST
[12:08:34] Using gulpfile ~/xxx/xxx/xxx/gulpfile.js
[12:08:34] Starting 'clean:dist'...
[12:08:34] Finished 'clean:dist' after 16 ms
[12:08:34] Starting 'clean:build'...
[12:08:34] Finished 'clean:build' after 252 μs
[12:08:34] Starting 'assets'...
[12:08:34] Starting 'images'...
[12:08:34] Starting 'svg'...
[12:08:34] Starting 'templates'...
[12:08:34] Finished 'assets' after 170 ms
[12:08:34] Finished 'templates' after 177 ms
[12:08:34] Starting 'scripts'...
[12:08:34] Finished 'svg' after 384 ms
[12:08:34] Starting 'styles:all'...
[12:08:38] Finished 'styles:all' after 3.92 s
[12:08:38] Finished 'scripts' after 4.15 s
[12:08:38] Finished 'images' after 4.43 s
[12:08:38] Starting 'compile'...
[12:08:38] Finished 'compile' after 9.18 μs
Thu 21 Aug 2014 12:08:38 CEST

---

Packages:

{
    "gulp": "3.8.6",
    "gulp-concat": "2.2.0",
    "gulp-consolidate": "0.1.2",
    "gulp-declare": "0.2.0",
    "gulp-define-module": "0.1.1",
    "gulp-filter": "0.5.0",
    "gulp-handlebars": "2.1.0",
    "gulp-iconfont": "0.1.0",
    "gulp-imagemin": "0.6.1",
    "gulp-jshint": "1.6.3",
    "gulp-livereload": "2.1.0",
    "gulp-minify-css": "0.3.5",
    "gulp-myth": "0.3.1",
    "gulp-plumber": "0.6.3",
    "gulp-rename": "1.2.0",
    "gulp-replace": "0.3.0",
    "gulp-rev": "0.4.2",
    "gulp-svg-symbols": "0.1.2",
    "gulp-svgmin": "0.4.6",
    "gulp-uglify": "0.3.1",
    "gulp-util": "2.2.17"
  }

---

gulpfile.js:

/**
 * Imports
 */
var gulp       = require('gulp')
var livereload = require('gulp-livereload')

/**
 * Helpers
 */
var path = __dirname + '/gulp/'

/**
 * Private tasks
 */
gulp.task('clean:dist', require(path + 'clean').dist)
gulp.task('clean:build', require(path + 'clean').build)
gulp.task('assets', require(path + 'assets'))
gulp.task('images', require(path + 'images'))
gulp.task('glyphicons', require(path + 'glyphicons'))
gulp.task('svg', require(path + 'svg'))
gulp.task('styles', require(path + 'styles'))
gulp.task('styles:all', ['svg'], require(path + 'styles'))
gulp.task('jshint', require(path + 'jshint'))
gulp.task('scripts', ['templates'], require(path + 'scripts'))
gulp.task('templates', require(path + 'templates'))

/**
 * Public tasks
 */
gulp.task('compile', ['clean:dist', 'clean:build', 'assets', 'images', 'styles:all', 'scripts'])
gulp.task('watch', ['compile'], function() {

  livereload.listen()

  gulp.watch('src/frontend/assets/**/*}', ['assets'])
  gulp.watch('src/frontend/images/**/*}', ['images'])
  gulp.watch('src/frontend/**/{*.js, *.hbs}', ['scripts'])
  gulp.watch('src/frontend/styles/**/*.css', ['styles'])
  gulp.watch(['web/assets/**/*', 'resources/views/**/*.tpl']).on('change', livereload.changed)

})

---

node : v0.10.31 macosx : 10.9.4

---

An example of task:

var gulp     = require('gulp')

var es       = require('event-stream')

var gutil    = require('gulp-util')
var imagemin = require('gulp-imagemin')
var svgmin   = require('gulp-svgmin')

module.exports = function() {

  var bitmap = gulp.src('src/frontend/images/**/{*.png,*.gif,*.jpg,*.jpeg}')
      .pipe( gutil.env.dist ? imagemin( { optimizationLevel: 5 } ) : gutil.noop()  )

  var vector = gulp.src('src/frontend/images/**/*.svg')
      .pipe( gutil.env.dist ? svgmin() : gutil.noop()  )

  return es.merge( bitmap, vector).pipe( gulp.dest('web/assets/images') )

}

[yocontra]

gulpfile? node version? OS?

[yocontra]

First guess: too many dependencies being loaded on start is taxing the fs?

Solution: lazily load plugins and deps in each task instead of at the top of the file

[kud]

Updated ;) What do you think so?

[kud]

It's certainly the loading of tasks/dependencies which is slow, but how to do it better? my code isn't correct there? it doesn't lazyload 'em?

[yocontra]

To lazyload, this

var gulp     = require('gulp')

var es       = require('event-stream')

var gutil    = require('gulp-util')
var imagemin = require('gulp-imagemin')
var svgmin   = require('gulp-svgmin')

module.exports = function() {

  var bitmap = gulp.src('src/frontend/images/**/{*.png,*.gif,*.jpg,*.jpeg}')
      .pipe( gutil.env.dist ? imagemin( { optimizationLevel: 5 } ) : gutil.noop()  )

  var vector = gulp.src('src/frontend/images/**/*.svg')
      .pipe( gutil.env.dist ? svgmin() : gutil.noop()  )

  return es.merge( bitmap, vector).pipe( gulp.dest('web/assets/images') )

}

would become this

module.exports = function() {

  var gulp     = require('gulp')

  var es       = require('event-stream')

  var gutil    = require('gulp-util')
  var imagemin = require('gulp-imagemin')
  var svgmin   = require('gulp-svgmin')

  var bitmap = gulp.src('src/frontend/images/**/{*.png,*.gif,*.jpg,*.jpeg}')
      .pipe( gutil.env.dist ? imagemin( { optimizationLevel: 5 } ) : gutil.noop()  )

  var vector = gulp.src('src/frontend/images/**/*.svg')
      .pipe( gutil.env.dist ? svgmin() : gutil.noop()  )

  return es.merge( bitmap, vector).pipe( gulp.dest('web/assets/images') )

}

[yocontra]

Also I would recommend using gulp-if instead of the gutil.env.dist ? work() : gutil.noop() thing you are doing

[sindresorhus]

You could also lazy require the gulp plugins so they're only required on first use.

[kud]

Thank you, I'll try all your advice. ;)

[kud]

After some tests, I must admit on a whole compilation, it changes not really (but it was premeditated). Instead of taking lots of time to start, gulp takes some times on each task.

[sindresorhus]

@kud you can use time-require to figure out which require is the slowest. But the require mechanism is expensive, especially on non-SSD harddrives.

[kud]

grazie mille ;)

[kud]

Interesting:

Start time: (2014-08-22 13:34:47 UTC) [treshold=1%]
 #  module                                             time  %
 1  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.8s  ▇▇ 3%
 2  ./lib/src (node_module...-fs/lib/src/index.js)     1.8s  ▇▇ 3%
 3  vinyl-fs (node_modules...es/vinyl-fs/index.js)     2.5s  ▇▇ 4%
 4  gulp (node_modules/gulp/index.js)                  4.7s  ▇▇▇▇ 7%
 5  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.4s  ▇ 2%
 6  lodash._createwrapper...eatewrapper/index.js)     843ms  ▇ 1%
 7  lodash.bind (node_modu...lodash.bind/index.js)    889ms  ▇ 1%
 8  lodash._basecreatecall...atecallback/index.js)    977ms  ▇ 1%
 9  lodash.merge (node_mod...odash.merge/index.js)     1.9s  ▇▇ 3%
10  gulp-livereload (node_...d/gulp-livereload.js)     3.9s  ▇▇▇ 6%
11  gulp-util (node_modules/gulp-util/index.js)        1.4s  ▇ 2%
12  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.2s  ▇ 2%
13  bin-wrapper (node_modu...bin-wrapper/index.js)    728ms  ▇ 1%
14  gifsicle (node_modules...es/gifsicle/index.js)     1.3s  ▇ 2%
15  imagemin-gifsicle (nod...in-gifsicle/index.js)     1.8s  ▇▇ 3%
16  imagemin-jpegtran (nod...in-jpegtran/index.js)    751ms  ▇ 1%
17  imagemin-optipng (node...min-optipng/index.js)    736ms  ▇ 1%
18  imagemin-pngquant (nod...in-pngquant/index.js)    727ms  ▇ 1%
19  ./schema/default_safe...hema/default_safe.js)      1.6s  ▇▇ 2%
20  ./js-yaml/loader (node...ib/js-yaml/loader.js)       2s  ▇▇ 3%
21  ./lib/js-yaml.js (node...-yaml/lib/js-yaml.js)     2.2s  ▇▇ 3%
22  js-yaml (node_modules/...les/js-yaml/index.js)     2.3s  ▇▇ 3%
23  ./svgo/config (node_mo...o/lib/svgo/config.js)     2.6s  ▇▇ 4%
24  svgo (node_modules/gul...les/svgo/lib/svgo.js)     3.4s  ▇▇▇ 5%
25  imagemin-svgo (node_mo...agemin-svgo/index.js)     3.5s  ▇▇▇ 5%
26  imagemin (node_modules...es/imagemin/index.js)     8.1s  ▇▇▇▇▇▇ 12%
27  gulp-imagemin (node_mo...lp-imagemin/index.js)     9.4s  ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ 14%
28  ./lib/_stream_readable.../_stream_readable.js)    866ms  ▇ 1%
29  readable-stream (node_...e-stream/readable.js)     1.3s  ▇ 2%
30  bufferstreams (node_mo...streams/src/index.js)     1.4s  ▇ 2%
31  ./json (node_modules/g...-yaml/schema/json.js)    722ms  ▇ 1%
32  ./core (node_modules/g...-yaml/schema/core.js)    747ms  ▇ 1%
33  ./schema/default_safe...hema/default_safe.js)      1.4s  ▇ 2%
34  ./schema/default_full...hema/default_full.js)     708ms  ▇ 1%
35  ./js-yaml/loader (node...ib/js-yaml/loader.js)     2.3s  ▇▇ 3%
36  ./lib/js-yaml.js (node...-yaml/lib/js-yaml.js)     2.7s  ▇▇ 4%
37  js-yaml (node_modules/...les/js-yaml/index.js)     3.4s  ▇▇▇ 5%
38  ./svgo/config (node_mo...o/lib/svgo/config.js)     3.5s  ▇▇▇ 5%
39  svgo (node_modules/gul...les/svgo/lib/svgo.js)       4s  ▇▇▇ 6%
40  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.6s  ▇▇ 2%
41  gulp-svgmin (node_modu...gulp-svgmin/index.js)     7.2s  ▇▇▇▇▇ 10%
42  /Users/kud/Projects/_p...ages (gulp/images.js)    18.3s  ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ 27%
43  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.6s  ▇▇ 2%
44  svgicons2svgfont (node...svgfont/src/index.js)    894ms  ▇ 1%
45  lodash.template (node_...sh.template/index.js)    690ms  ▇ 1%
46  ./lib/template (node_m...util/lib/template.js)    695ms  ▇ 1%
47  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     2.6s  ▇▇ 4%
48  gulp-svgicons2svgfont...svgfont/src/index.js)      3.8s  ▇▇▇ 6%
49  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.1s  ▇ 2%
50  gulp-svg2ttf (node_mod...svg2ttf/src/index.js)     2.1s  ▇▇ 3%
51  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.3s  ▇ 2%
52  gulp-ttf2eot (node_mod...ttf2eot/src/index.js)     1.7s  ▇▇ 2%
53  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.7s  ▇▇ 2%
54  gulp-ttf2woff (node_mo...tf2woff/src/index.js)     2.4s  ▇▇ 3%
55  gulp-iconfont (node_mo...confont/src/index.js)    11.9s  ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ 17%
56  /Users/kud/Projects/_p...(gulp/glyphicons.js)     12.1s  ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ 18%
57  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.8s  ▇▇ 3%
58  gulp-plumber (node_mod...ulp-plumber/index.js)     2.1s  ▇▇ 3%
59  lodash.template (node_...sh.template/index.js)    719ms  ▇ 1%
60  ./lib/template (node_m...util/lib/template.js)    722ms  ▇ 1%
61  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.6s  ▇▇ 2%
62  ./lib/math.js (node_mo...s/mathjs/lib/math.js)     2.3s  ▇▇ 3%
63  mathjs (node_modules/g...ules/mathjs/index.js)     2.3s  ▇▇ 3%
64  ./lib/format-svg-data...b/format-svg-data.js)        3s  ▇▇ 4%
65  gulp-svg-symbols (node...svg-symbols/index.js)     5.4s  ▇▇▇▇ 8%
66  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)       1s  ▇ 2%
67  gulp-filter (node_modu...gulp-filter/index.js)     1.5s  ▇ 2%
68  /Users/kud/Projects/_p...ulp/svg (gulp/svg.js)       9s  ▇▇▇▇▇▇ 13%
69  ./features (node_modul...myth/lib/features.js)     1.3s  ▇ 2%
70  myth (node_modules/myth/lib/index.js)              1.4s  ▇ 2%
71  gulp-myth (node_modules/gulp-myth/index.js)        2.1s  ▇▇ 3%
72  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.2s  ▇ 2%
73  gulp-minify-css (node_...-minify-css/index.js)     1.7s  ▇▇ 3%
74  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)    695ms  ▇ 1%
75  gulp-rev (node_modules/gulp-rev/index.js)         731ms  ▇ 1%
76  /Users/kud/Projects/_p...yles (gulp/styles.js)     4.6s  ▇▇▇▇ 7%
77  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.8s  ▇▇ 3%
78  jshint/src/cli (node_m...es/jshint/src/cli.js)    711ms  ▇ 1%
79  ./extract (node_module...shint/src/extract.js)    877ms  ▇ 1%
80  gulp-jshint (node_modu...-jshint/src/index.js)     2.9s  ▇▇ 4%
81  /Users/kud/Projects/_p...hint (gulp/jshint.js)     2.9s  ▇▇ 4%
82  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)     1.4s  ▇ 2%
83  gulp-concat (node_modu...gulp-concat/index.js)     1.9s  ▇▇ 3%
84  gulp-uglify (node_modu...gulp-uglify/index.js)    915ms  ▇ 1%
85  /Users/kud/Projects/_p...pts (gulp/scripts.js)     2.8s  ▇▇ 4%
86  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)       1s  ▇ 2%
87  gulp-handlebars (node_...-handlebars/index.js)     1.2s  ▇ 2%
88  gulp-util (node_module...s/gulp-util/index.js)    983ms  ▇ 1%
89  gulp-define-module (no...fine-module/index.js)     1.1s  ▇ 2%
90  /Users/kud/Projects/_p...s (gulp/templates.js)       3s  ▇▇▇ 4%
91  /Users/kud/Projects/_p...file.js (gulpfile.js)  1m 1.5s  ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ 89%
Total require(): 6755
Total time: 1m 8.9s

[sindresorhus]

Lol, there's something really wrong with your computer. It seems like everything takes 60x the time it should.

gulp (node_modules/gulp/index.js) 4.7s

On my computer:

gulp (node_modules/gulp/index.js) 84ms

[kud]

My computer needs more ram and a SSD. :)

[yocontra]

Outside the scope of gulp, your computer is loading modules really slow. Closing.

[kud]

I think I've found the problem.

As loading gulp modules ask lots of require, it does some I/O, and as I'm swapping at the same time, the hard disk hurts a lot. :)