Linux Patches Allow Changing Hibernation Compression Format For Better Performance

Currently when hibernating a Linux system LZO compression is used for preserving the memory contents while a new patch series posted today by Qualcomm allow for changing out the compression API used and makes LZ4 a new option during Linux hibernation.

LZO compression is currently used during the Linux hibernation process while the Qualcomm patches allow for targeting the Linux crypto (compression) API to support alternatives. In turn the patches go on to enable LZ4 compression as an alternative to LZO.

When switching over to LZ4 compression, the decompression rate jumped from 335 MB/s to 501 MB/s and in turn shaved off around a half-second from the system restore time.

With the proposed patches LZO would remain the default compression mode for hibernation but the to-be-added CONFIG_HIBERNATION_DEF_COMP_LZ4 Kconfig option would allow changing the default or at run-time via a new hib_compression=lz4 option.