[sldev] Texture caching

[Soft Noel]

On Tue, March 20, 2007 6:12 pm, Jason Giglio wrote:
> Alex Suter wrote:
>>
>> Usually because of disk space issues, in that you can rapidly fill it
>> all up.
>>
>> Could be a slick alternative implementation... trade disk space for
>> speed.
>>
>
> It doesn't have to be an alternative.
>
> We can have a three level cache, each level maintaining its own
> replacement list, discard policy, and size.
>
> Memory
> Uncompressed Disk
> Compressed Disk
> Network

Adding on -- It would be nice not to repurpose a chunk of the existing
cache in a way that increases network activity for the same amount of
cache use.

Is there value in having the uncompressed part exist when the viewer isn't
running? If the uncompressed cache is temporary, users may be willing to
configure it many times larger than the permanent cache. The uncompressed
disk part could exist in /tmp or OS equivalent, with a thread unpacking
the most recently used textures in the cache from the log-on screen
onward, and clearing it all out on exit.