logging in to gnome-classic session takes over 45 seconds

[Alistair Buxton]

To reproduce:

1. sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback
2. on login screen select gnome classic session and enter password

It now takes over 45 seconds between pressing enter and the panel loading up, with the default session configuration.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: gnome-session-fallback 3.2.1-0ubuntu8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.37-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri May 18 09:14:20 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta amd64 (20120328)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-session
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton)]

This only happens when using classic, and not classic (no effects) - ie it is caused by compiz somehow.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report, could you install pybootchargui bootchart, restart, log into classic, go to /var/log/bootchart and copy the png of the boot to the bug report?

[Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton)]

This is a bootchart from Unity which is now doing the same thing.

[Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton)]

And this is the bootchart from classic (no effects) which logs in instantly.

Also the delay effect is much greater when I log out and then log in for the second time, so bootchart isn't really capturing it.

I tried to make a new user to test this but for some reason that user always gets unity-2d no matter what session is selected.

[Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton)]

I've now managed to reproduce this in a fresh user account. It seems that after making a new account if you immediately log in to gnome classic it will log in instantly. You can do that over and over and it is always fast. But as soon as you have logged into a Unity session, both Unity and Gnome Classic logins become extremely slow. It may also work the other way.

Here is the bootchart of Unity with fresh user after I've triggered the bug.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Could you add your .xsession-errors from a session having the issue?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

> compiz (core) - Error: Couldn't load plugin '/home/al/.compiz-1/plugins/libgrid.so' : /home/al/.compiz-1/plugins/libgrid.so: undefined symbol: compSetDisplayOption

does move .compiz-1 away fixes the issue?

[Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton)]

No. I can reproduce with a freshly made user account.

[Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton)]

Note: moving .compiz-1 doesn't make any difference after the bug has been triggered.

[Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton)]

Moving .config aside makes the problem go away, until the next time I log in to (or out of) gnome-classic. I was able to diff the .config before and after and this is what I found:

al@al-desktop:~$ diff -Nur .config .config-bad1
diff -Nur .config/compiz-1/compizconfig/config .config-bad1/compiz-1/compizconfig/config
--- .config/compiz-1/compizconfig/config 2012-06-04 19:47:36.242075999 +0100
+++ .config-bad1/compiz-1/compizconfig/config 2012-06-04 19:46:08.210076005 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[gnome_session]
+profile =
+
diff -Nur .config/nautilus/desktop-metadata .config-bad1/nautilus/desktop-metadata
--- .config/nautilus/desktop-metadata 2012-06-04 19:47:37.214076002 +0100
+++ .config-bad1/nautilus/desktop-metadata 2012-06-04 19:46:54.890076001 +0100
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@

 [directory]
 nautilus-icon-view-keep-aligned=true
-nautilus-icon-view-layout-timestamp=1338835657
+nautilus-icon-view-layout-timestamp=1338835614

[Alistair Buxton (a-j-buxton)]

Deleting just the thee added lines from .config/compiz-1/compizconfig/config makes the problem go away until the next time I log into gnome-classic.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Bachi (m-bachmann)]

Two years later, this issue is still there. Removing the file .config/compiz-1/compizconfig/config solves it.

The file contained nothing but

[gnome_session]
profile =