[Upstream] 100% CPU and freeze when scrolling inside document that has embedded EPS graphics

[Jens]

Binary package hint: openoffice.org

Hello,

I have a document, created with OOo 2.1, edited with OOo 2.2 (after upgrading to Feisty) which has four embedded EPS graphics (linked to external files).

Everytime I scroll over these images, Openoffice shows an empty box with "Broken image" inside it (translated back from German, maybe different wording), then freezes completely for two seconds, while refreshing the EPS image. During this time the CPU usage is at 100%. I would expect OOo to cache these files (at least the rendered images) so they "stay" in the text, like it does with other graphics formats. It seems this does not happen.

"strace" shows that Openoffice is indeed hanging in a "read(...)" call, with a file handle that belongs to the linked object (EPS file). But I don't understand why it takes two seconds for Openoffice to open a 20kb EPS file.

As you might imagine, this is extremely annoying. I am preparing a scientific paper with Openoffice and so far it has been very pleasant to work with, almost up to par with LaTeX :-), except for this major annoyance.

I can provide the document in question, but I would ask not to publish it in the bugtracker.

Thank you!

Jens

[Jens (jens-launchpad-net)]

Addendum: I did the following to corner this bug.

Using OOo 2.2.0 from Feisty, Feisty on all machines, all i386., all upgraded from Edgy.

I have a second machine (notebook) where this bug does not appear (or rather, not after scrolling once through the whole document so that all images and EPS graphics are loaded). This is a P-4 Mobile 1800 running at 600MHz. The "problematic" machine is an AMD sempron 2800+ running at 1500 MHz, so CPU speed should not be an issue. Maybe CPU caching is?

I exchanged the harddisk of the problematic machine because I suspected read errors. No change.
I copied the file to a different directory. No change.

I started "oowriter" on the console and noticed that whenever it froze for a second, it would output this:
-------------------------------------------
        plot-hpgl: .hpgl: hpgl via GNU libplot (/usr/lib/pstoedit/libp2edrvlplot.so)
This driver supports the following additional options: (specify using -f "format:-option1 -option2")
[ plotformat : string : plotutil format to generate]

The notebook's oowriter version (also Feisty) would output this too, but only on the first scroll-through, not on subsequent scrolls. The problematic machine outputs this text everytime I scroll past an EPS graphic, and evertime it freezes for a second.

So *something* is wrong with my OOo configuration. But I deleted the whole .openoffice.org2 directory and even then the problem did not go away. And, as I said, on my notebook it doesn't exist at all.

I compared the "Memory" settings in the Extras > Options > Openoffice.org > "Arbeitsspeicher" menu and they are identical (100 undo steps, graphics cahe 9 MB / 2.4 MB / 10 min, 20 objects) on both machines.

Please help! =;()

Jens

[Jens (jens-launchpad-net)]

Got it. (I think)

Reproduce: Start any program that runs "nice", level 19, priority 39 (the absolute minimum there is), but eats 100% CPU. For example: seti@home or folding@home or something like that.

Then open an OOo document with lots of embedded EPS graphics.
Watch OOo freeze for 2-5 seconds before displaying each and every EPS graphic.

The same without the CPU eater running - even if niced to the max! - will incur only a small delay (1/2s), barely noticeable if you don't have too many graphics.

So: IMHO this is still a bug, since the EPS previews could well be cached inside the document and displayed faster, plus, the constant preview regeneration eats CPU time. Plus, if a "niced" program is running, it should not interfere with software running at normal priority - and I've been running this background task (it's a computing cluster daemon) for three years now and this is the first time that it actually *had* a noticeable impact on foreground tasks.

Could any OOo developer or packager comment on this please?

Jens

[Jens (jens-launchpad-net)]

This is already known upstream. Link to Openoffice Bug: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=77068

And it is a real bug - depending on scrolling speed even without background tasks it might take up to 5 seconds to render a 5x8cm EPS file. Not good.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Jens, this issue is unreproducible in LibreOffice Writer via the Terminal:

cd ~/Desktop && wget https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libreoffice/+bug/115052/+attachment/2126396/+files/eps-example.odt && lowriter -nologo eps-example.odt

scrolled down with no problem. Does this work for you?

lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 11.04
Release: 11.04

apt-cache policy libreoffice-writer
libreoffice-writer:
  Installed: 1:3.3.2-1ubuntu5
  Candidate: 1:3.3.2-1ubuntu5
  Version table:
 *** 1:3.3.2-1ubuntu5 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-proposed/main i386
Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:3.3.2-1ubuntu4 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main i386 Packages

[Jens (jens-launchpad-net)]

Hello,

I just tried on Libreoffice 3.4 on Mac OS X (cannot try Ubuntu right now) and there is still a delay in scrolling and CPU usage goes up, but only once after opening the file. After that, it is not as smooth as scrolling within text, but Libreoffice does not (seem to) regenerate the EPS preview every time any more.

Regards

[Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen)]

[This is an automated message.]
There are no new official OpenOffice.org releases in Ubuntu packaging anymore => Won't Fix

If the problem persists, please mark this bug as "also affects project Libreoffice" or "also affects distribution Libreoffice (Ubuntu)" if that has not happened already.

Please leave references to upstream OpenOffice.org bugs in place to allow cross pollination.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Jens, this bug report is being closed due to your last comment regarding this being fixed with an update to LibreOffice. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.

[Thomas Kluyver (takluyver)]

I'm still experiencing this with Libreoffice 3.6, and now 4.0 (from the Libreoffice PPA) on Quantal.

[Thomas Hotz (thotz-deactivatedaccount)]

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=41407 seems to show us that this bug also affects LibreOffice.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Thomas Kluyver / Thomas Hotz, please see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/115052/comments/8 .

If you have a bug in Ubuntu, could you please file a new report by executing the following in a terminal:
ubuntu-bug libreoffice

For more on this, please see the Ubuntu Bug Control team and Ubuntu Bug Squad team article:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/BestPractices#X.2BAC8-Reporting.Focus_on_One_Issue

and Ubuntu Community article:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette

When opening up the new report, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

Please note, not filing a new report may delay your problem being addressed as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your understanding.