Introduce node object caching for all users

Here is the patch. It slao make calling node_load without specifying node->nid unwise. Only poll.module needs to be fixed.

That's a patch. The patch works well at my site. A patch for poll.module is forthcoming.

Here is an improved atch which does obliterate the patch to poll.module. Calling node_load without specifying node->nid is still safe.

The first attachement to this task. There seems to be still a problem with viewing polls. Needs investigation. This patch is very helpfull if you use many node types that use the _load hook (flexinode, event, ...).

The problem with poll.module is that its load hook's action depends on the uid of the user. This is legitimate use I guess. Anybody got an idea on how to work around that?

Upon reading some poll.module code, I think that we could move the user specific part to poll_view. Opinions?

Steven and I had a second look at the patch. As a result, revisions aren't cached anymore (they don't appear on node listings anyway) and bootstrap.inc doesn't need patching anymore.

Steven and I had a second look at the patch. As a result, revisions aren't cached anymore (they don't appear on node listings anyway) and bootstrap.inc doesn't need patching anymore.

Both patches apply again. I want to stress that this patch is important to avoid several popular contrib modules (flexinode, event) becoming "site killers" by using the nodeapie "load" hook.

I've extended the patch to store the $node object in a static var. This fixes http://drupal.org/node/view/10145

The book module needs a patch too.

It does the following:

It removes book_load. Treating nodes differently depending on if they are native book nodes or not makes no sense and is confusing for the user. This part of the codes was broken anyway.

It moves the query done in _nodeapi('view') to 'load' to take advantage of caching.

The static var didn't make too much sense.

The load will be executed only once and with my node object caching the result will be stored in the cache.

The current code is broken do to

if (arg(1) == 'edit' && !user_access('administer nodes')) {
^

Ok, here is an updated patch. It includes both the poll and the book patch. There is a small change from the previous patch: Only the last loaded node is cached in a static var. Otherwise the memory consumption would maybe have gone through the roof for a node/ page where the nodes have a lot of revisions.

I will provide new performance numbers shortly. I also believe that in most cases the cache _will_ kick in.

Without this patch:
754ms +- 16.2 for /node, 43 queries in total, 2 polls, 8 other.

With patch:
725ms +- 5.3 for /node, 36 queries in total, 2 polls, 8 other.

The "other" node types have a query in nodeapi('load') like many have (forum, ...)

The patched version is faster by 4%.

Another run with 2 polls, 7 other, and one flexinode node with four fields:

With patch:

761ms +- 2.5, 39 queries

Without patch:

797ms +- 3, 49 queries

4% again.

2 polls, 6 other, 2 flexinodes

With
762ms +- 6.0, 39 queries

without
798ms +- 5.6, 50 queries

4.5%

While this 4.x% improvement may look insignificant to some, it is a good improvement if a lot of registered users keep coming back to your front page. Other pages will also benefit (all the ones that call node_load). Also, the cost is only one entry in the cache table per node.

Here is an updated and simplified version of that patch. It will no longer store info in the DB but only use a static var.