SoftwareApp
0bbee25ab3
Fifteen rendering tests across four files are the first tests in this project that compose a screen, and they cover the claims that used to be prose only: the app bar's star exists where there is a folder to star and says Add or Remove according to the state, the selection bar offers Rename to several files and Details only to one, the batch dialog spells out the names it will produce and refuses a collision with the file named, the shared name dialog refuses a slash while it is typed, and a favourite that has gone says "Folder not found" rather than showing a path that is not there. They run on the JVM through Robolectric - the Compose test artifacts plus the test manifest - so they belong to the same verify.sh gate as everything else instead of needing a device: 386 tests in total. Writing them turned up one behaviour worth recording. The batch dialog continues the folder's series by default, so a collision cannot be shown unless the start number is forced back to 1 - which is precisely why the feature works in practice, and now also why two of these tests set the field explicitly. The debug build now enables StrictMode (disk reads and writes, network, leaked closables; logged, not fatal) and attaches LeakCanary. A file manager is the worst possible app for a blocking disk read on the main thread, and a debug build is the last place where noticing it is still cheap. Logging rather than a crash is deliberate: turning a slow screen into a crash on someone's phone is the worse trade. The flag is read from the manifest, not from BuildConfig, which this build does not generate. Performance has a number for the first time, and it immediately paid for itself. tools/measure-startup.sh takes cold start with `am start -W` - median of several runs, one warm-up discarded because the first launch after an install pays for dexopt - and docs/PERFORMANCE.md records 1814 ms over five runs, in the debug build, which is the slow case by construction. StrictMode's first run then produced five violations against that number: 492 ms resolving `app.cacheDir` inside the view-model factory, 397 ms reading free space with StatFs for every volume inside refresh(), 477 ms of the platform loading its own typefaces, and two 54 ms OEM font hooks. That is about 1.5 s of main-thread disk I/O in a 1.8 s start, of which ~0.9 s is ours and mechanical to move. Neither of ours is fixed here on purpose: the numbers and the two fixes are recorded in PERFORMANCE.md, and they are the first items of the speed work. What is not measured is stated in the same file rather than left to be assumed: folder open at 1 000 / 5 000 / 20 000 files, thumbnail paint while scrolling, and keystroke-to-result all need a `:benchmark` module and a profileable build under the release package id, and this device waits for a confirmation dialog on the first install of a new package id. The module is deliberately absent instead of half-configured: build wiring nobody can run is worse than a recorded gap. Gate green (map current, detekt, 386 tests, lint), and CHANGELOG, README, AGENTS.md, ROADMAP, PERFORMANCE.md, EDGE_CASE_TESTING and the regenerated map carry it.
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Performance
What has been measured, on what, and — explicitly — what has not been measured at all. The rule this file exists to enforce comes from the competitive survey: the market leader's top complaint is thumbnails that load late, its own support reply to a speed complaint was "your SD card is slow", and the lesson recorded there was to measure what was measured and never close a performance complaint by blaming the hardware.
Until this file existed, the app had no performance number of any kind.
Cold start
| build | device | runs (ms) | median |
|---|---|---|---|
debug, 1.0.0-debug |
Xiaomi phone, Android 15 | 1 758 · 1 773 · 1 814 · 1 926 · 2 043 | 1 814 ms |
Taken with ./tools/measure-startup.sh 5: am start -W, and one warm-up start discarded because the
first launch after an install pays for dexopt and folding that into a median is how a baseline gets
written that nothing can meet.
The debug build is deliberately the slow case — StrictMode on, LeakCanary attached, no R8 — so this is an upper bound rather than what a user sees. The release number is the one worth publishing, and it has not been taken yet. Until it is, no speed claim belongs in the README or the store listing.
What StrictMode found on the first cold start
The same debug build now logs StrictMode violations, and the first cold start produced five, against a 1 814 ms start:
| duration | where | ours? |
|---|---|---|
| 492 ms | BrowserViewModel.Factory → app.cacheDir |
yes — Context.getCacheDir() checks and creates the private cache directory while the view model is being created, on the main thread |
| 397 ms | BrowserViewModel.rootsOf → StorageProvider.space → VolumeRepository.stat |
yes — free space for every volume is read with StatFs inside refresh(), which the screen calls from a LaunchedEffect |
| 477 ms | FileManagerTheme → typography = FileManagerTypography |
no — the platform loading its own typefaces on first composition |
| 54 ms × 2 | miui.util.font.FontSettings via MainActivity.onCreate |
no — the OEM's font hook doing File.exists while the activity is created |
That is ~1.5 s of main-thread disk I/O inside a 1.8 s start, of which ~0.9 s is ours. Both of ours are mechanical to move and neither is fixed yet: the cache directory is only needed when a preview copies something, and the free-space line on the roots screen can arrive a frame later. They are the first items of the speed work.
Not measured yet, and why
| number | how it would be taken | why it is not here |
|---|---|---|
| Folder open, 1 000 / 5 000 / 20 000 files | macrobenchmark StartupTimingMetric over a fixture volume, or TraceSectionMetric around the listing |
needs a :benchmark module and a profileable build installed under the release package id; on this MIUI phone the first install of a new package id waits for a confirmation dialog, so it cannot run unattended |
| Thumbnail paint while scrolling a photo grid | FrameTimingMetric |
same |
| Keystroke → search result | TraceSectionMetric around the query and the index read |
same |
The module does not exist yet, deliberately: half-configured build wiring that nobody can run is worse than an honest gap. It is the next measurement step, and it belongs with the baseline-profile work, which needs the same module.
What is measured instead, meanwhile
The gate measures things that are not latency but do not rot: the test count, lint, detekt against its
baseline, and whether docs/CODE_MAP.md still matches the tree. Those are the numbers that can be
kept true by automation; the three above need a device and a decision about which device.
Two rules
- No number that was not taken from a real build on a real device. Not from a debug build pretending to be release, and not from reading the code.
- No performance change judged by reading the code. The bigger-thumbnail change (28 → 48 dp in a
row, 40 → 96 dp in a grid) is the standing example: it may be exactly right, and nobody measured
either side of it.
docs/COMPETITIVE_ANALYSIS.mdhad already written "a thumbnail that is bigger and slower is strictly worse than one that is smaller and instant" — which is a hypothesis until it is a number.