Software manager opens sloooowwwwly

[Ali Shtarbanov]

Linux Mint 9 RC

In Linux Mint 8, the software manager was opening as soon I clicked the button in the menu. However in the new version, it takes between 50-70 seconds for it to open.

The synaptics package manager opens as usual on the other hand. It is just the Software Manager that is sooo slow.

Also, It appears to me that Mint 9 is OVERALL quite slower than Mint 8.

[Clement Lefebvre (clementlefebvre)]

Please open a terminal, type "mintinstall" and paste the output here.

Also, please indicate your hardware specs (CPU, RAM).

[kmb42vt (tbeposts)]

This is happening to me with LM9 since the last couple of updates. Not only myself but a couple of others so far on the "Isadora RC" Announcement thread on the Linux Mint forums. I have a feeling that the testers that are posting to this thread haven't really focused on the Software Manager yet bit that's just a (rather experienced) feeling on my part. For what it's worth, the Software Manager opened within a couple seconds on a fresh load of LM9 RC, Ubuntu 10.04 and LM8.

Here's the output I get when I type "mintinstall" into the terminal:

"add_categories took 20.452 ms
add_packages took 5894.735 ms
add_reviews took 9326.501 ms
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintInstall/mintinstall.py:1259: GtkWarning: gtk_container_add: assertion `GTK_IS_CONTAINER (container)' failed
  gtk.main()
Overwriting reviews file in /home/kmb42vt/.linuxmint/mintinstall/reviews.list
update_reviews took 10200.248 ms"

**[and after 60 to 90 seconds]**

"org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name :1.59 was not provided by any .service files
A problem occured but the transaction loop was kept running"

Watching via the System Monitor, CPU usage runs at 100% while the Software Manager loads and 75% to 100% whenever I attempt to navigate within the interface. If I don't do anything and just let the window sit there CPU usage returns to 5% to 25% (typical CPU usage with the System Monitor running).

***********
Linux Mint, Ubuntu and other distros all run fast and stable on this machine including LM9 RC with the exception of the Software Manager. Once it is fully loaded though it seems to work okay. System specs below.

Upgraded HP a645c: AMD 3200+ single core w/1.0GB memory, Nvidia GeForce 6200 w/256 mb dedicated, 200GB HDD, 1-CD/DVD ROM, 1-CD/DVD+RW (both "Lite On" drives)

[Ali Shtarbanov (ametedinov)]

I just want to verify that there is not even a bit of exaggeration in my first report. It did take about 50-70 seconds on all of the attempt that I made. Those were the results which I got by testing Mint on a desktop with 512MB of ram with a 2GHz processor. I purposefully tested it on THAT particular computer because Mint 8, ON THE SAME COMPUTER opened software manager immediately after the click.

Thank you, kmb42vt, for posting YOUR terminal output because I currently have my Mint 9 removed.

I removed Mint 9 and installed Ubuntu 10.04 to see if I would get the same problem there, since after all Mint is based on Ubuntu. However I was surprised to see that on Ubuntu 10.04 I do not experience any unusually long delays, It just happens on Mint 9 RC.

[Robert Clayton (bobclayton53)]

In addition to software manager being slow to open. actually clicking on some of the packages is very slow. The largest, system packages, takes nearly 3 minutes !

I have this on more than one machine.

[kmb42vt (tbeposts)]

I see there was an update to "mintinstall" in today's updates. Once I installed the update and rebooted (just to be sure) I ran "mintinstall" in the terminal again:

********************

add_categories took 2.057 ms
build_matched_packages took 0.268 ms
add_packages took 4616.036 ms
add_reviews took 5688.703 ms
__init__ took 11015.911 ms
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintInstall/mintinstall.py:1292: GtkWarning: gtk_container_add: assertion `GTK_IS_CONTAINER (container)' failed
  gtk.main()

********************

There's definitely an improvement in the start up time. And the update knocked about 5 seconds off the (perceived) start up time (from clicking on the menu item to the Software Manager window presenting itself). On my machine it boils down to 10 second start up time for the Software Manager.

Not too sure about the failure at the end of the terminal output though.

[Clement Lefebvre (clementlefebvre)]

Sorry, yes, this was fixed, I forgot to update this bug report.

To illustrate I'll use the stats from kmb42vt:
add_categories took 20.452 ms
add_packages took 5894.735 ms
add_reviews took 9326.501 ms
update_reviews took 10200.248 ms

--> Total: 25 seconds

New version:

__init__ took 11015.911 ms

--> Total: 11 seconds

The failure is only a warning, it's nothing to worry about.

Make sure to update mintinstall to the latest version as we're continuing to make it more performant.

ametedinov: The Software Manager deals with 30,000 packages.. as opposed to 300 in Mint 8 so it's meaningless to compare their performance. The Software Center in Ubuntu has nothing to do with this tool either. They're completely separate projects.

[DragonDon (dragondon)]

It seems this problem has returned.

LM 17

mint@mint ~ $ gksu mintinstall
add_categories took 1.608 ms
build_matched_packages took 0.207 ms
add_packages took 41997.929 ms
add_reviews took 1280.695 ms
__init__ took 114035.348 ms
show_category took 10.202 ms
Overwriting reviews file in /root/.linuxmint/mintinstall/reviews.list
update_reviews took 826.570 ms

Regardless that this is running from a USB drive, 41 seconds to add packages is rather long to the point that it looks like nothing is happening at all.

"gksu mintinstall" is the exact command when clicked on in the menu, hence why it was used. apples-to-apples and all that.

[mtsec (j-mint)]

I see this bug on LM 17.3, running on an Intel N3050 with 4GB of RAM and a SSD.

Vector smash protection is enabled.
add_categories took 6.445 ms
build_matched_packages took 0.330 ms
add_packages took 10996.004 ms
add_reviews took 3513.107 ms
__init__ took 16679.871 ms
show_category took 69.368 ms
Overwriting reviews file in /root/.linuxmint/mintinstall/reviews.list
update_reviews took 1403.523 ms
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea 2.6.4) (7u95-2.6.4-0ubuntu0.14.04.1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.95-b01, mixed mode)
Killed