[Bug 55026] New: Expose save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

Bug ID: 55026
           Summary: Expose save_period as a configurable option via
                    winecfg
           Product: Wine
           Version: 8.10
          Hardware: x86
                OS: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P2
         Component: wineserver
          Assignee: [e-mail]
          Reporter: [e-mail]
      Distribution: ---

Wine dumps registry files to the disk every 30 seconds which might not be good
for users of SSD/NVMe disks considering it involves completely rewriting them
since they are text files, not binary databases as the real Windows registry is
where updates are local and small.

E.g after installing Microsoft Office the system.reg file can easily blow up to
tens of megabytes and it's not that funny having this file being rewritten so
often.

Would be nice to have this option exposed via winecfg.

[Bug 55026] Expose save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #1 from Artem S. Tashkinov  ---
Oh, I've changed the variable to 600 and it instantly overflown:

server/registry.c:125:42: warning: integer overflow in expression of type ‘int’
results in ‘-1705032704’ [-Woverflow]
  125 | static const timeout_t save_period = 600 * -TICKS_PER_SEC;  /* delay
between periodic saves */
      |

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

Artem S. Tashkinov  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Summary|Expose save_period as a     |Expose registry save to
                   |configurable option via     |disk save_period as a
                   |winecfg                     |configurable option via
                   |                            |winecfg

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #2 from Artem S. Tashkinov  ---
Oh, and I'd love to see 0 or -1 as an option: dump the registry files only when
the last running Windows application exits.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

Fabian Maurer  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #3 from Fabian Maurer  ---
Are they actually changing (even minor changes) or are they 100% the same?
Maybe the could only be written if there is actual changes.

Would you be okay with having a registry key? After all, there's a lot of
settings not in winecfg, and I would find it hard to justify this feature
getting in there while others don't. I could try and implement it, but I fear a
winecfg change might be rejected.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #4 from Artem S. Tashkinov  ---
(In reply to Fabian Maurer from comment #3)
> Are they actually changing (even minor changes) or are they 100% the same?
> Maybe the could only be written if there is actual changes.

From what I've noticed the registry is dumped every 30 seconds regardless.
> Would you be okay with having a registry key? After all, there's a lot of
> settings not in winecfg, and I would find it hard to justify this feature
> getting in there while others don't. I could try and implement it, but I
> fear a winecfg change might be rejected.

I'm totally fine with a registry only setting somewhere in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wine

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #5 from Artem S. Tashkinov  ---
In a perfect world it would be great if Wine supported/used some DB backend for
registry files. SQLite maybe? No idea if it works for registry though.

I remember Wine used to support native registry files at least for reading.
That would have been even better.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #6 from Nikolay Sivov  ---
Do you actually see it being written every 30 seconds? It's meant to only save
branches that have changes in them.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #7 from Rafał Mużyło  ---
(In reply to Nikolay Sivov from comment #6)
> Do you actually see it being written every 30 seconds? It's meant to only
> save branches that have changes in them.

Well, technically, it's possible...

Let's say there's a game (or a different type of app), that autosaves, but
keeps its save in the registry...

Though if it happened on its own, that would be really bad...

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #8 from Fabian Maurer  ---
Created attachment 74631
  --> https://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=74631
Make automatic registry save interval configurable

For me it seems to only save if there's changes. I tested by opening regedit
and then the system.reg file in notepadqq. I only got notified that the file
changed when I changed values in regedit.
Of course, it could be that some program you're running makes constant minor
registry changes and wineserver needs to flush all these.

Anyways, I added the functionality you want in a patch. Would you mind testing
if that works for you?

It's a DWORD called "RegistrySaveInterval" under
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wine\Server", representing the number of seconds
between automatic saves. 0 means never - flushing at wineserver shutdown is
unaffected. This setting does require a wineserver restart though.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #9 from Artem S. Tashkinov  ---
Created attachment 74634
  --> https://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=74634
Registry

(In reply to Fabian Maurer from comment #8)
> Created attachment 74631 [details]
> Make automatic registry save interval configurable
>
> For me it seems to only save if there's changes. I tested by opening regedit
> and then the system.reg file in notepadqq. I only got notified that the file
> changed when I changed values in regedit.
> Of course, it could be that some program you're running makes constant minor
> registry changes and wineserver needs to flush all these.
>
> Anyways, I added the functionality you want in a patch. Would you mind
> testing if that works for you?
>
> It's a DWORD called "RegistrySaveInterval" under
> "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wine\Server", representing the number of
> seconds between automatic saves. 0 means never - flushing at wineserver
> shutdown is unaffected. This setting does require a wineserver restart
> though.

Thanks for the patch, I've I've applied it but the server still writes out
registry files every 30 seconds despite 0 set as an update interval.

Maybe I created the wrong key?

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #10 from Artem S. Tashkinov  ---
Nah, looks like I did everything correctly, here's the export of the
appropriate branch:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wine\Server]
"RegistrySaveInterval"=dword:00000000
"Test"="1111"

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

Fabian Maurer  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Attachment #74631|0                           |1
        is obsolete|                            |

--- Comment #11 from Fabian Maurer  ---
Created attachment 74636
  --> https://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=74636
Make automatic registry save interval configurable (v2)

Sorry, I accidentally broke the 0 interval handling in my latest patch.
Attaching a fixed version, this should work.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #12 from Artem S. Tashkinov  ---
This patch works. Thanks!

For the future:

* There's some multiplication going on, so this variable has a maximum of
around 280 seconds or something (would be nice if someone told me what's its
maximum is exactly) - which is a bit of bummer.

* wineserver only reads it on startup, so you cannot adjust it at runtime i.e.
dynamically.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

Fabian Maurer  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|UNCONFIRMED                 |NEW
     Ever confirmed|0                           |1

--- Comment #13 from Fabian Maurer  ---
> - There's some multiplication going on, so this variable has a maximum of
>
> around 280 seconds or something (would be nice if someone told me what's its
> maximum is exactly) - which is a bit of bummer.

It's a 64bit multiplication, so there isn't really a limit. Only limit is, it
can't be bigger than the 32bit signed integer maximum. Unless I overlooked
something, of course. Did you run into troubles using bigger numbers?

The problem with the original code you modified
> timeout_t save_period = 600 * -TICKS_PER_SEC

was this being 32bit multiplication.
> - wineserver only reads it on startup, so you cannot adjust it at runtime
>
> i.e. dynamically.

As it currently is, every time the registry is saved, it re-evaluates the
save-time interval. That should make it easy switching from a 30 second
interval to never, but the other way round is impossible.
Is that good enough, or do you have a suggestion on how to improve it?
Not sure how that would reasonably work. I could monitor all changes to the
registry, but that seems like a bad performance impact.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #14 from Artem S. Tashkinov  ---
(In reply to Fabian Maurer from comment #13)
> > - There's some multiplication going on, so this variable has a maximum of
> >
> > around 280 seconds or something (would be nice if someone told me what's its
> > maximum is exactly) - which is a bit of bummer.
>
> It's a 64bit multiplication, so there isn't really a limit. Only limit is,
> it can't be bigger than the 32bit signed integer maximum. Unless I
> overlooked something, of course. Did you run into troubles using bigger
> numbers?
>
> The problem with the original code you modified
> > timeout_t save_period = 600 * -TICKS_PER_SEC
>
> was this being 32bit multiplication.

I don't follow, sorry. My manual method resulted in an overflow due to
multiplication in 32bit mode, now you say it's a 64bit variable. I'm confused.
> > - wineserver only reads it on startup, so you cannot adjust it at runtime
> >
> > i.e. dynamically.
>
> As it currently is, every time the registry is saved, it re-evaluates the
> save-time interval. That should make it easy switching from a 30 second
> interval to never, but the other way round is impossible.
> Is that good enough, or do you have a suggestion on how to improve it?
> Not sure how that would reasonably work. I could monitor all changes to the
> registry, but that seems like a bad performance impact.

That's actually fine! I've already wasted too much of your time to ask for
more.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #15 from Fabian Maurer  ---
> I don't follow, sorry. My manual method resulted in an overflow due to
> multiplication in 32bit mode, now you say it's a 64bit variable. I'm
> confused.

I rewrote the code to use 64bit integers, so no more overflows during
multiplication.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

Artem S. Tashkinov  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED
         Resolution|---                         |FIXED

--- Comment #16 from Artem S. Tashkinov  ---
(In reply to Fabian Maurer from comment #15)
> > I don't follow, sorry. My manual method resulted in an overflow due to
> > multiplication in 32bit mode, now you say it's a 64bit variable. I'm
> > confused.
>
> I rewrote the code to use 64bit integers, so no more overflows during
> multiplication.

All good then, thanks a ton!

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

Fabian Maurer  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|RESOLVED                    |REOPENED
         Resolution|FIXED                       |---

--- Comment #17 from Fabian Maurer  ---
Good to hear! It's not fixed though, I'll try to get this into upstream soon.

[Bug 55026] Expose registry save to disk save_period as a configurable option via winecfg

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55026

--- Comment #18 from Fabian Maurer  ---
Currently watching https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/merge_requests/3124,
this will make this feature a lot simpler to implement.