How much faster Linux is than macOS to access and create small files

4 greatgib 2 9/7/2025, 12:34:52 PM twitter.com ↗

Comments (2)

latexr · 2h ago
Maybe this is true, but this test is so flawed that you cannot trust it in the slightest. For starters it’s comparing two entirely different machines, so there’s more at play here than Linux VS macOS.

But even then, DHH is running two different commands! macOS uses the BSD tar while the Linux laptop is presumably running GNU tar. Why does it matter? Because on an M1 on a MacBook Air (i.e. significantly more underpowered than an M4 Pro on a MacBook Pro), that same command takes me 18 seconds on BSD tar VS 8 seconds on GNU tar.

That’s such an insane difference that it invalidates the whole test. Run it with both operating systems on the same machine and using the same tool.

adithyassekhar · 3h ago
Why