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[Reece <reece@xxxxxxxxx>]

Public bug reported:

System: Ubuntu 15.10, x86_64, SSD drive

Nautilus is sporadically extremely slow to start up or refresh a view
even when already running. The effect is bimodal: response is either
nearly immediate or extremely slow. For example, "nautilus ~/" is either
immediately responsive or takes ~10 seconds.

The behavior is independent of directory and invocation method; for
example, invoking via Unity Dash or Chrome's "show in folder" exhibits
similar bimodal responsiveness.

The bimodal switch seems to be related to a combination of when the
directory was last read (likely a cache effect) and whether the
directory had been modified (e.g., perhaps based on directory mtime).

The attached script and output demonstrate the effect on my laptop. It
executes "nautilus ~/" ten times, with sleep times of 0-5 seconds
between each. The data suggest that the bimodal switch due to a putative
cache timeout is ~5 seconds. That is, *all* invocations separated by
more that 5 seconds exhibit the slow mode responsiveness.

This is consistent with my experience, namely that nautilus startup is
*always* slow because real-world use invocations are always more than 5
seconds apart.

Access to the same directories in the terminal are never slow. I am not
aware of any general filesystem sluggishness (e.g., with libreoffice,
emacs, etc).

** Affects: nautilus (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Attachment added: "nautilus invocation timings"
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522177/+attachment/4528782/+files/nautilus-timing

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522177

Title:
  nautilus sporadically very slow to start/refresh

Status in nautilus package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  System: Ubuntu 15.10, x86_64, SSD drive

  Nautilus is sporadically extremely slow to start up or refresh a view
  even when already running. The effect is bimodal: response is either
  nearly immediate or extremely slow. For example, "nautilus ~/" is
  either immediately responsive or takes ~10 seconds.

  The behavior is independent of directory and invocation method; for
  example, invoking via Unity Dash or Chrome's "show in folder" exhibits
  similar bimodal responsiveness.

  The bimodal switch seems to be related to a combination of when the
  directory was last read (likely a cache effect) and whether the
  directory had been modified (e.g., perhaps based on directory mtime).

  The attached script and output demonstrate the effect on my laptop. It
  executes "nautilus ~/" ten times, with sleep times of 0-5 seconds
  between each. The data suggest that the bimodal switch due to a
  putative cache timeout is ~5 seconds. That is, *all* invocations
  separated by more that 5 seconds exhibit the slow mode responsiveness.

  This is consistent with my experience, namely that nautilus startup is
  *always* slow because real-world use invocations are always more than
  5 seconds apart.

  Access to the same directories in the terminal are never slow. I am
  not aware of any general filesystem sluggishness (e.g., with
  libreoffice, emacs, etc).

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