Big files stored on the Desktop slow down Desktop appearance after login

[Simone Bordet]

In Natty, fully up-to-date, did not see this problem before Natty.

If I store a big file (say 250+ MiB) on the Desktop, then the display of the initial desktop after login may take up to 30-40 seconds.

When finally the desktop displays after login, I can see from the multi-load appindicator I have installed that there have been 30-40 seconds of heavy disk I/O activity and of high system CPU usage.

Removing the big files from the Desktop solves the problem, and the display of the desktop after login is back to 2-3 seconds (which I assume is normal time).

I could not figure out what is it that causes this slow-down (I cannot see it reported by bootchart).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-11.48-generic 2.6.38.8
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-11-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 270.41.06 Mon Apr 18 14:53:56 PDT 2011
 GCC version: gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-8ubuntu4)
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,place,vpswitch,move,snap,gnomecompat,regex,resize,imgpng,unitymtgrabhandles,mousepoll,grid,session,animation,workarounds,wall,expo,ezoom,staticswitcher,fade,scale,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Mon Aug 29 10:29:11 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-04-25 17:12:14.184748
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38-11-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38-10-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38-8-generic, x86_64: installed
 vboxhost, 4.0.12, 2.6.38-11-generic, x86_64: installed
 vboxhost, 4.0.12, 2.6.38-10-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard:
 nVidia Corporation G94M [Quadro FX 2700M] [10de:063a] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:019b]
JockeyStatus:
 xorg:nvidia_173 - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
 xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, Not in use)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Precision M6400
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic root=UUID=6aac1edf-16a5-4076-a8d6-b835cc873171 ro vga=799 splash quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-07-14 (45 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 11/05/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A09
dmi.board.name: 0D138P
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA09:bd11/05/2009:svnDellInc.:pnPrecisionM6400:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0D138P:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Precision M6400
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110606-0ubuntu1~natty2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu13
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7

[Simone Bordet (simone-bordet)]

Please disregard this bug report.
I have made more investigations, and the presence of big files on desktop was not relevant, although it seemed on first attempt to diagnose the issue.
Thanks !

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hey simone-bordet,

You filed this bug report against natty, but I see it's still open and
doesn't appear to have much activity recently. So, now that oneiric
is released and stable, this may be a good point for you to upgrade
and re-test if this issue is still present there.

If it's solved in the new release and you think it's worth backporting
the fix, please indicate that. Or if having the fix in the new release
is good enough, feel free to close out the bug (or let us know and we'll
close it.)

If it's not solved, leave the bug report open. I can't promise we'll
get to it (we get way more bugs filed than we can usually get to), but
your testing and feedback can help out if and when we do.

[Simone Bordet (simone-bordet)]

Bryce,

as I said in the second comment, please close this bug (I can't find any way to close it myself).

The slowdown was caused by Zeitgeist, but it seems that this behavior is much improved in Oneiric (although not completely gone yet), so for now I am ok to wait a few seconds after logging in for the Desktop to appear.

Thanks.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for nvidia-graphics-drivers (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]