Synaptic rebuilds search index very often and inefficient

[Norbert]

Steps to reproduce:
1. Launch Synaptic.
2. Click Reload.
3. Close Synaptic.
4. After some time open Synaptic again (without 'apt-get update', 'aptitude update').
5. Get 'Rebuilding search index' message with background process /usr/sbin/update-apt-xapian-index and high CPU load and high temperature as the result.

Expected results:
Synaptic runs update-apt-xapian-index only when it's really needed.

Actual results:
Synaptic rebuilds search index very often and inefficient.

Note:
see https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2277471 as proof-link.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: synaptic 0.83
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-72.93-generic 4.4.49
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-72-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.5
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sat Apr 22 00:48:46 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-02-07 (1169 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20140204)
SourcePackage: synaptic
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2017-04-15 (5 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

I suspect that "apt-daily-upgrade.service" and "apt-daily.service" (both call /usr/lib/apt/apt.systemd.daily) cause Synaptic to rebuild apt-xapian-index. I disabled them with
sudo systemctl disable apt-daily.timer
sudo systemctl disable apt-daily-upgrade.timer

I'm not on production server, so I think I can do so. Do not repeat this if unsure.

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

I'm using SSD. May my mount options cause problems?
I have "errors=remount-ro,discard,noatime,nodiratime" for rootfs("/").

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

May bug 1612948 be related to this issue?

[Khurshid Alam (khurshid-alam)]

I don't think stopping systemd timers helped at all. But did installing python2 version from debian strech help?

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

What is interesting - during reinstallation of apt-xapian-index 0.47 from xenial here is interesting message:
"The index /var/lib/apt-xapian-index/index is not CJK-compatible, rebuilding it"

I installed version 0.49 from Debian Stretch. It does not report any specific messages:
$ sudo dpkg -i apt-xapian-index_0.49_all.deb
Selecting previously unselected package apt-xapian-index.
(Reading database ... 662973 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack apt-xapian-index_0.49_all.deb ...
Unpacking apt-xapian-index (0.49) ...
Setting up apt-xapian-index (0.49) ...
apt-xapian-index: Building new index in background... # <- it is expected
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...

I'll test it and report back. I installed `muon` for comparison with Synaptic.

[Doug McMahon (mc3man)]

apt-xapian-index isn't default installed anymore, why do you have it?

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Ubuntu 17.10 is affected too. Synaptic rebuilds its index very often.

[dino99 (9d9)]

@mc3man

apt-xapian-index is required to get the "Quick Filter" working, which is a great feature.

[Doug McMahon (mc3man)]

Well the quick search never worked great, xapian was dropped from Ubuntu
image some time back & synaptic itself is currently ill maintained. So
likely nothing will happen to change this.

On Sep 29, 2017 10:11 AM, "dino99" <email address hidden> wrote:

> @mc3man
>
> apt-xapian-index is required to get the "Quick Filter" working, which is
> a great feature.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1685376
>
> Title:
> Synaptic rebuilds search index very often and inefficient
>
> Status in synaptic package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Steps to reproduce:
> 1. Launch Synaptic.
> 2. Click Reload.
> 3. Close Synaptic.
> 4. After some time open Synaptic again (without 'apt-get update',
> 'aptitude update').
> 5. Get 'Rebuilding search index' message with background process
> /usr/sbin/update-apt-xapian-index and high CPU load and high temperature
> as the result.
>
> Expected results:
> Synaptic runs update-apt-xapian-index only when it's really needed.
>
> Actual results:
> Synaptic rebuilds search index very often and inefficient.
>
> Note:
> see https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2277471 as proof-link.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
> Package: synaptic 0.83
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-72.93-generic 4.4.49
> Uname: Linux 4.4.0-72-generic x86_64
> ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.5
> Architecture: amd64
> CurrentDesktop: Unity
> Date: Sat Apr 22 00:48:46 2017
> InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-02-07 (1169 days ago)
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64
> (20140204)
> SourcePackage: synaptic
> UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2017-04-15 (5 days ago)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synaptic/+bug/
> 1685376/+subscriptions
>

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Bug exists in Ubuntu 17.10 final.

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Just made clean installation of 16.04 LTS. Bug exists.

[dino99 (9d9)]

Have the feeling that apt-xapian-index is the package to blame (instead of synaptic itself)

[dino99 (9d9)]

Hope to get the newer version for Bionic at least:
http://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs/main/a/apt-xapian-index/apt-xapian-index_0.49_changelog

and something to test to change the index update instead of rebuilt:
https://sapnwnewbie.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/high-cpu-usage-by-update-apt-xapi.html

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

It seems that bug 1612948 about axi-cache is related to this bug report. Please take care to it.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Bib (bybeu)]

What a pity. apt-xapian-index worked perfectly well in Trusty. It brought a very fast/easy way to dig dependencies, locked packages.

[Martin Dünkelmann (nc-duenkekl3-deactivatedaccount)]

And now in 16.04 and 17.10 it is slow.

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

18.04 LTS with all updates, bug exists.

[dino99 (9d9)]

Got the indexing (xapi-cache) working better lp:#1760608

[Karim Rekik (wkrekik)]

There is an old work-around that still works (at least for me) : adding noautogroup after quiet splash in /etc/default/grub (GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line).
Xubuntu 18.04 64 bits

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Bug still exists in 22.04 LTS.
How long?