Ubuntu
texlive-base package

  1. Bug #132399
  2. Comment #8

Comment 8 for bug 132399

Revision history for this message
Christoph Lechleitner (lech) wrote :

I solved my performance problem with tex stuff run as non-root, using top and Google:

In this article ...
http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/MacOSX-TeX-Digests/2001/MacOSX-TeX_Digest_11-26-01.html
... from 2001 (!) I found:
--- SNIP ---
- Added '$HOME contains //' check to TeXGSInstaller installation script
(if a directory ends on /, kpathsea can become extremely slow)
--- SNIP ---

Due to certain circumstances (see below) my home directory was set to /home/johndoe/./
After I removed the trailing /./ (and rebooted), latex and xdvi performed well again.

Just in order not be declared crazy, I admit that such home directory settings are extremely rare.
Such as:
1. Certain FTP daemons are taking /./ in a user's home dir as chroot-him-there hint.
2. When doing domain/mail/web/application hosting (even on our small level with some 20 customers) appending /./ to most user's home directory allows to easily chroot them for FTP access while still granting more freedom to a few trusted users.
3. To guarantee synchronity of uids, group memberships, passwords etc. we include most of our internal servers and workstations in the ISP administration system we created for ourselfes.

Despite my extremely rare circumstances, adding a protection towards this problem would definitively be an enhancement after all ;-))