Performance of javac in 1.5 vs 1.4.2

Question

Our tests indicate javac in JDK 1.5 seems to be quite a bit slower than JDK 1.4.2. I have a test that tries to compile 100 Java files using 1.5 and 1.4.2:
#Results from JDK 1.5 javac
% /usr/bin/time /dx/oracleom/jdk1.5.0/bin/javac *.java
real 40.7
user 1:01.3
sys 3.2
#Results from JDK 1.4.2 javac
% /usr/bin/time javac *.java
real 28.7
user 27.0
sys 0.8
#Results from JDK 1.5 with -client option
% /usr/bin/time /dx/oracleom/jdk1.5.0/bin/javac -J-client *.java
real 51.0
user 48.1
sys 1.4
Are there any options that helps to improve javac performance in JDK1.5? Is using the -J-client option appropriate?
(The test is run on a 12-CPU 400Mhz Solaris 9 machine. Tests on a Intel-Linux machine shows similar degradation)
Thanks
Sam

Answer 1

#Results from JDK 1.5 javac
% /usr/bin/time /dx/oracleom/jdk1.5.0/bin/javac
*.java
real 40.7
user 1:01.3
sys 3.2
#Results from JDK 1.4.2 javac
% /usr/bin/time javac *.java
real 28.7
user 27.0
sys 0.8
Are there any options that helps to improve javac
performance in JDK1.5? Is using the -J-client option
appropriate?You will have to measure both ways to answer that: using -J-client and -J-server
How much time is spent in GC? If there is any significant amount, you should be able to eliminate that by increasing the size of the heap.
For more information, take a look at:
Tuning Garbage Collection with the 5.0 Java Virtual Machine
http://java.sun.com/docs/hotspot/gc5.0/gc_tuning_5.html
Ergonomics in the 5.0 Java Virtual Machine
http://java.sun.com/docs/hotspot/gc5.0/ergo5.html
Performance Documentation for the Java HotSpot VM
http://java.sun.com/docs/hotspot/index.html
Hope this helps.
"Troubleshooting Guide for J2SE 5.0",
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5/pdf/jdk50_ts_guide.pdf