Hi guys, We have a lot of compression options now for mkinitcpio, so I figured I'd try to measure which one gives us the fastest boot. I guess boot speed is the most important metric when deciding which one to choose. The measurements were done on an Lenovo ThinkPad x60, with an Intel Core 2 processor and an 5400 rpm HDD, so your milage might obviously vary. Here are my numbers: xz Startup finished in 710ms (kernel) + 2526ms (initrd) + 14335ms (userspace) = 17572ms Startup finished in 610ms (kernel) + 2448ms (initrd) + 48159ms (userspace) = 51218ms Startup finished in 710ms (kernel) + 2458ms (initrd) + 11294ms (userspace) = 14462ms Startup finished in 720ms (kernel) + 2488ms (initrd) + 12271ms (userspace) = 15480ms Startup finished in 710ms (kernel) + 2446ms (initrd) + 9602ms (userspace) = 12758ms gzip Startup finished in 560ms (kernel) + 2422ms (initrd) + 9917ms (userspace) = 12899ms Startup finished in 560ms (kernel) + 2445ms (initrd) + 9734ms (userspace) = 12740ms Startup finished in 560ms (kernel) + 2451ms (initrd) + 10544ms (userspace) = 13556ms Startup finished in 560ms (kernel) + 2427ms (initrd) + 9756ms (userspace) = 12744ms Startup finished in 570ms (kernel) + 2439ms (initrd) + 9823ms (userspace) = 12832ms bzip2 Startup finished in 810ms (kernel) + 2428ms (initrd) + 9690ms (userspace) = 12928ms Startup finished in 810ms (kernel) + 2448ms (initrd) + 9635ms (userspace) = 12893ms Startup finished in 810ms (kernel) + 2504ms (initrd) + 10212ms (userspace) = 13526ms Startup finished in 810ms (kernel) + 2445ms (initrd) + 8838ms (userspace) = 12094ms Startup finished in 820ms (kernel) + 2438ms (initrd) + 9613ms (userspace) = 12871ms lzma Startup finished in 790ms (kernel) + 2441ms (initrd) + 9335ms (userspace) = 12567ms Startup finished in 790ms (kernel) + 2442ms (initrd) + 9662ms (userspace) = 12895ms Startup finished in 770ms (kernel) + 2432ms (initrd) + 10199ms (userspace) = 13401ms Startup finished in 770ms (kernel) + 2425ms (initrd) + 9922ms (userspace) = 13117ms Startup finished in 770ms (kernel) + 2435ms (initrd) + 9502ms (userspace) = 12708ms lzop Startup finished in 550ms (kernel) + 2461ms (initrd) + 10730ms (userspace) = 13742ms Startup finished in 570ms (kernel) + 2421ms (initrd) + 20680ms (userspace) = 23671ms Startup finished in 550ms (kernel) + 2435ms (initrd) + 8752ms (userspace) = 11738ms Startup finished in 570ms (kernel) + 2454ms (initrd) + 9575ms (userspace) = 12600ms Startup finished in 550ms (kernel) + 2453ms (initrd) + 8540ms (userspace) = 11543ms Cheers, Tom