Profiling the X Protocol

Abstract:

This paper describes a system for tracing the X Window System
Protocol. We have analyzed these traces by breaking the protocol down
into discrete instructions or messages, and analyzing the frequency
and network resource requirements of these messages. This analysis
has resulted in preliminary results in 4 areas: the relative
importance of X messages, how X usage changes during different
application stages, differing application idioms for accomplishing
similar tasks, and the size distributions of X messages and groups of
X messages. Some of these results have architectural implications
for network protocols and implementations.