microsoft / microsoft/vscode-wasm

memoryFileSystemDriver write has O(n^2) overhead due to repeatedly concatenating buffers

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bug
Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
456
Forks
40
Avg merge
3d 2h
Merged PRs (30d)
4

Description

See https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-wasm/blob/5932f9ac413dc788ec772f71dd4e6714ac7c9d57/wasm-wasi-core/src/common/memoryFileSystemDriver.ts#L214, when a lot of small writes happen, there's an O(n^2) overhead due to repeatedly concatenating buffers and copying over old content. Might also be the culprit of #234.

I noticed this when working on https://github.com/bjorn3/browser_wasi_shim/pull/95; almost all wasi in-memory vfs implementation written in js/ts I can find has the same issue, including this one.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at wasm-wasi-core/src/common/memoryFileSystemDriver.ts#L214 and inspect how repeated small writes build and copy buffer contents. Exercise the memory file system with many small writes, then verify that the resulting data remains correct and that the repeated-copying overhead is removed.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
55/100

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