Here is some more data. Before I left work on Friday, I rebooted my
work machine and left it running. Since the reboot, it is now up to
32% CPU usage. This was a clean reboot. I didn't start any other
running process other than ubuntu's default desktop.

I ran perf top -p {compiz PID}  :

   PerfTop:     311 irqs/sec  kernel: 1.6%  exact:  0.0% [1000Hz
cycles],  (target_pid: 1898)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

             samples  pcnt function
                                               DSO
             _______ _____
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________

             4302.00 96.7% __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<int*,
std::vector<int, std::allocator<int> > > std::__find<__
libnux-graphics-1.0.so.0.1600.0
               24.00  0.5% __libc_malloc
                                               libc-2.13.so
               20.00  0.4% cfree
                                               libc-2.13.so
               16.00  0.4% nux::Layout::DoneRedraw()

/usr/lib/libnux-1.0.so.0.1600.0
                9.00  0.2% PrivateGLScreen::paintOutputRegion(GLMatrix
const&, CompRegion const&, CompOutput*, unsign
/usr/lib/compiz/libopengl.so
                8.00  0.2% PluginClassHandler<GLWindow, CompWindow,
3>::get(CompWindow*)
/usr/lib/compiz/libopengl.so
                8.00  0.2% nux::WindowCompositor::RenderTopViews(bool,
std::list<nux::ObjectWeakPtr<nux::BaseWindow>,
/usr/lib/libnux-1.0.so.0.1600.0
                5.00  0.1% CompWindow::id()
                                               /usr/bin/compiz
                5.00  0.1% CompositeWindow::damaged()

/usr/lib/compiz/libcomposite.so
                5.00  0.1% _nv012250rm
                                               [nvidia]



On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 10:25 AM, Michael Knap <email address hidden> wrote:
> I have installed perf, and am gathering some data. I am afraid my data
> may be slightly skewed, though, as I am seeing nvidia stuff topping
> the list of performance hogs. But, I thought that someone above had
> commented that they see the same bug even without nvidia hardware. I
> have a couple of machines I can test with, but they all have nvidia
> cards.
>
> Currently, on the machine from which I am reporting, compiz has
> climbed to about 8% CPU usage. I ran perf record -p {compiz PID} for
> only a few seconds.
>
> I then ran perf report to get the following output.
>
> # Events: 2K cycles
> #
> # Overhead  Command                    Shared Object
> # ........  .......  ...............................
> ....................................................................................................................................
> #
>    23.72%   compiz  libnvidia-glcore.so.280.13       [.] 0x1213c01
>    15.94%   compiz  libnux-graphics-1.0.so.0.1600.0  [.]
> __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<int*, std::vector<int,
> std::allocator<int> > > std::__find<__gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<int*,
> std::
>     9.67%   compiz  [kernel.kallsyms]                [k] 0xffffffff81031dba
>     4.64%   compiz  libc-2.13.so                     [.] __cfree
>     3.84%   compiz  libc-2.13.so                     [.] _int_malloc
>     3.74%   compiz  libc-2.13.so                     [.] __GI___libc_malloc
>     1.91%   compiz  libGL.so.280.13                  [.] 0x71d95
>     1.71%   compiz  libc-2.13.so                     [.] _int_free
>     1.29%   compiz  libcomposite.so                  [.]
> CompositeWindow::damaged()
>
>
> Of course, there is more output. I can attach it if anyone would like
> to see it. I will use perf some more as compiz CPU escalates.
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 9:45 AM, Ben Gamari <email address hidden> wrote:
>> Daniel, this seems like exactly the task for a statistical profiler such
>> as perf (https://perf.wiki.kernel.org/).
>>
>> --
>> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
>> report.
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/888039
>>
>> Title:
>>  Gradual degradation in desktop performance.
>>
>> Status in Compiz:
>>  Confirmed
>> Status in “compiz” package in Ubuntu:
>>  Confirmed
>>
>> Bug description:
>>  Over the span of 1-3 days I see my desktop consistently become more
>>  sluggish. The functions most affected are window movement, file icon
>>  movement, and sometimes window resizing. Other animations (such as
>>  minimizing fades, switching desktops, expo mode) are not affected when
>>  this degradation occurs. They remain smooth; however, I have let the
>>  problem go on as long as to find out that eventually all desktop
>>  animations/effects will degrade, it just takes a lot lot longer. I
>>  find that my actual 3D gaming goes unaffected (though I have no data
>>  to back that up, perhaps it does).
>>
>>  I have recorded the output of 'ps auxw' and have slowly watched the
>>  VSZ and RSS memory columns creep upwards. A fresh compiz session will
>>  see 675164 and 169860, respectively. After a day or two it will result
>>  in as high as 878552 and 255664. I have attached a log output from an
>>  hourly cron job (though I had suspended for a few days because of
>>  travel).
>>
>>  After the degradation has occurred compiz will consistently use higher
>>  CPU. Dragging a terminal window while watching top: before: ~10%,
>>  after: ~30 percent.
>>
>>  This has been an issue since 11.04 for me on both my Intel i915 and
>>  Nvidia (proprietary) machines (had an 8600 GT and upgraded to 560 GTX,
>>  both having the same issue). However, the nvidia machine is where it
>>  really hurts, _always_ happening within a day or two, while the i915
>>  machine is pretty reliable overall with certain instances of
>>  degradation (used to be affected just as badly in 11.04).
>>
>>  I will attach two videos demonstrating behavior before and after.
>>  ---
>>  ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
>>  Architecture: amd64
>>  CheckboxSubmission: 33c9cec13de798ee31ce4ea2f2cbd4df
>>  CheckboxSystem: 4ed15c40009aa6f7770f606350a390a2
>>  CompizPlugins: [core,detection,composite,opengl,decor,regex,winrules,compiztoolbox,animation,grid,vpswitch,snap,place,gnomecompat,resize,move,mousepoll,imgpng,workarounds,session,expo,wall,fade,scale,unityshell]
>>  DistroCodename: oneiric
>>  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
>>  DistroVariant: ubuntu
>>  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
>>  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
>>  Package: compiz 1:0.9.6+bzr20110929-0ubuntu5vv1
>>  PackageArchitecture: all
>>  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
>>  Tags:  oneiric running-unity oneiric running-unity ubuntu
>>  Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
>>  UnreportableReason: This is not a genuine Ubuntu package
>>  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-10-13 (26 days ago)
>>  UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
>>
>> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/compiz/+bug/888039/+subscriptions