Delay launching application launcher gets longer the more apps are open

Bug #1848009 reported by Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄
8
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
gnome-shell (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Marco Trevisan (Treviño)
Eoan
Fix Released
Undecided
Marco Trevisan (Treviño)

Bug Description

[ Impact ]

On latest up to date daily image on my ThinkPad X220 / i7 / 16GB / 150GB SSD.
If I launch a bunch of applications - possibly a slightly unreasonable number, but a lot anyway - with minimal CPU or memory in use, the button to launch applications in the bottom left takes progressively longer to run.

Video showing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRbFk-n9KzQ

[ Test case ]
- Launch lots of applications
- Click in the applications icon in the launcher (or press super+A)
- Animation should not be delayed (some delay is still expected depending
  on the number of installed applications)

[ Regression potential ]

Windows in activities overview might have wrong positioning

This is uploaded under the GNOME MRE: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates/GNOME

---

Steps to reproduce.
Open application launcher
Note a ~0.6s delay before the icons fly onto the screen
Open GNOME Software
Install all the editors picks
Launch a bunch of applications
Click the application launcher
Note a 4s delay before icons fly onto the screen.

Expectation
Honestly, no delay at all, but it should be at least consistent with when no applications are running, so 0.6s delay as per the state when no apps are launched.

ProblemType: BugDistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.10
Package: gnome-shell 3.34.1-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-18.19-generic 5.3.1
Uname: Linux 5.3.0-18-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Mon Oct 14 13:02:04 2019
DisplayManager: gdm3
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-10-13 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Beta amd64 (20191012)
RelatedPackageVersions: mutter-common 3.34.1-1ubuntu1SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Revision history for this message
Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey) wrote :
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

Thanks, seems it's not only the applications view but it's also slow to open the activities?

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → High
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

Discussed a bit at the gnome-shell hackfest, it's probably because the overview 'download sreenshots' of all the open windows for the overview (which also gets open when you open the app grid, as you can see if you press 'esc' from that view).

Upstream has a branch to remove that 'download' step but it's next-cycle-material

They suggested we could probably do optimize to not load the overview in app-grid-mode if we were after a solution for the current stable serie

Revision history for this message
Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey) wrote :

Yes, confirmed the Activites view is slow to load also.

tags: added: performance
tags: added: fixed-in-3.34.2
Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → In Progress
assignee: nobody → Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0)
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

I assume it's fixed-upstream if Marco says fixed-in-3.34.2 :)

tags: added: fixed-upstream
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

What's the upstream fix?

Iain Lane (laney)
Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu Eoan):
status: New → In Progress
assignee: nobody → Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0)
Iain Lane (laney)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :
Download full text (3.3 KiB)

This bug was fixed in the package gnome-shell - 3.34.1+git20191024-1ubuntu1

---------------
gnome-shell (3.34.1+git20191024-1ubuntu1) focal; urgency=medium

  * Merge with Debian. Remaining changes:
    + Replace gnome-backgrounds dep with ubuntu-wallpapers and Suggests
      gnome-themes-standard-data, gnome-backgrounds
    + Add some Recommends:
      - ubuntu-session (| gnome-session) to have the ubuntu session available
      - xserver-xorg-legacy
      - yaru-theme-gnome-shell for the default ubuntu theming
    + Update debian/gbp.conf with Ubuntu settings
    + gnome-shell-common.install: Install Ubuntu mode
    + gnome-shell-common.prerm: Remove deprecated ubuntu theme alternative
    + ubuntu/desktop_detect.patch:
      - add caching for desktop detection to avoid querying the current
        desktop env variable as iterate through the list each time. For the
        time of the Shell process, we can expect this env variable to stay
        stable.
    + ubuntu/smarter_alt_tab.patch:
      - quick alt-tab (without showing up the switcher) switch only between
        the last window of the last 2 applications to be focused instead of
        raising all windows of those apps.
    + ubuntu/lightdm-user-switching.patch:
      - Allow user switching when using LightDM.
    + ubuntu/lock_on_suspend.patch
      - Respect Ubuntu's lock-on-suspend setting.
    + ubuntu/gdm.patch
      - as gdm is system-wide and not session-wide, ensure gdm has an ubuntu
        styling by default, not impacting the gnome user session though.
    + ubuntu/background_login.patch
      - Change default background color as we modified the default GDM color
        for our ubuntu session. Change it as well here, still applying the
        background noise loading.
    + ubuntu/gdm_alternatives.patch
      - Add support for GDM3 theme alternatives
    + optional-hot-corner.patch
      - enable patch proposed by upstream developer already in package (but
        not in series) to add a settings for optional hot corner activation.
    + volume-Add-back-sound-feedback-on-scroll.patch
      - Fix regression causing missing feedback on volume slider scroll
    + main-show-an-error-message-on-gnome-shell-crash.patch,
      global-make-possible-to-set-debug-flags-dynamically.patch,
      main-increase-the-granularity-of-backtraces-in-SHELL_DEBU.patch,
      main-add-backtrace-crashes-all-and-backtrace-all.patch,
      sessionMode-add-support-for-debugFlags-parameter.patch:
      - Improve debug JS tracing for crash reports
    + st-scroll-view-Handle-the-case-where-scrollbars-are-NULL.patch,
      st-scroll-view-Remove-scrollbars-references-on-dispose.patch:
      - Fix crash on theme changes
    + ubuntu/search-call-XUbuntuCancel-method-on-providers-when-no-dat.patch:
      - stop searches when requested from UI
    + magnifier-Show-cursor-when-magnifier-is-enabled-and-scale.patch:
      - Show monitor scaled cursor when magnifier is enabled

gnome-shell (3.34.1+git20191024-1) unstable; urgency=medium

  * New upstream snapshot release
    + Fix some animations using invalid parameters
    + Compute lock timeout fade duration using animations parameters
    + Ensure un...

Read more...

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: In Progress → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote : Please test proposed package

Hello Alan, or anyone else affected,

Accepted gnome-shell into eoan-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/3.34.1+git20191024-1ubuntu1~19.10.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-eoan to verification-done-eoan. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-eoan. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu Eoan):
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
tags: added: verification-needed verification-needed-eoan
Revision history for this message
Florian W. (florian-will) wrote :

Upstream fix is most likely https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/merge_requests/763

I have installed gnome-shell{,-common} 3.34.1+git20191024-1ubuntu1~19.10.1 from eoan-proposed and verified that the "opening activities" delay goes down from ~4 seconds in 3.34.1-1ubuntu1 to <1 second in the -proposed package, while having a total of 22 windows open.

I have not done any serious regression testing, so not changing the tag.

Revision history for this message
Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0) wrote :

Marking as verified as no further issue has been found.

tags: added: verification-done verification-done-eoan
removed: verification-needed verification-needed-eoan
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :
Download full text (3.5 KiB)

This bug was fixed in the package gnome-shell - 3.34.1+git20191024-1ubuntu1~19.10.1

---------------
gnome-shell (3.34.1+git20191024-1ubuntu1~19.10.1) eoan; urgency=medium

  * Backport to eoan.
  * debian/control, gbp.conf: Update for ubuntu/eoan branch

gnome-shell (3.34.1+git20191024-1ubuntu1) focal; urgency=medium

  * Merge with Debian. Remaining changes:
    + Replace gnome-backgrounds dep with ubuntu-wallpapers and Suggests
      gnome-themes-standard-data, gnome-backgrounds
    + Add some Recommends:
      - ubuntu-session (| gnome-session) to have the ubuntu session available
      - xserver-xorg-legacy
      - yaru-theme-gnome-shell for the default ubuntu theming
    + Update debian/gbp.conf with Ubuntu settings
    + gnome-shell-common.install: Install Ubuntu mode
    + gnome-shell-common.prerm: Remove deprecated ubuntu theme alternative
    + ubuntu/desktop_detect.patch:
      - add caching for desktop detection to avoid querying the current
        desktop env variable as iterate through the list each time. For the
        time of the Shell process, we can expect this env variable to stay
        stable.
    + ubuntu/smarter_alt_tab.patch:
      - quick alt-tab (without showing up the switcher) switch only between
        the last window of the last 2 applications to be focused instead of
        raising all windows of those apps.
    + ubuntu/lightdm-user-switching.patch:
      - Allow user switching when using LightDM.
    + ubuntu/lock_on_suspend.patch
      - Respect Ubuntu's lock-on-suspend setting.
    + ubuntu/gdm.patch
      - as gdm is system-wide and not session-wide, ensure gdm has an ubuntu
        styling by default, not impacting the gnome user session though.
    + ubuntu/background_login.patch
      - Change default background color as we modified the default GDM color
        for our ubuntu session. Change it as well here, still applying the
        background noise loading.
    + ubuntu/gdm_alternatives.patch
      - Add support for GDM3 theme alternatives
    + optional-hot-corner.patch
      - enable patch proposed by upstream developer already in package (but
        not in series) to add a settings for optional hot corner activation.
    + volume-Add-back-sound-feedback-on-scroll.patch
      - Fix regression causing missing feedback on volume slider scroll
    + main-show-an-error-message-on-gnome-shell-crash.patch,
      global-make-possible-to-set-debug-flags-dynamically.patch,
      main-increase-the-granularity-of-backtraces-in-SHELL_DEBU.patch,
      main-add-backtrace-crashes-all-and-backtrace-all.patch,
      sessionMode-add-support-for-debugFlags-parameter.patch:
      - Improve debug JS tracing for crash reports
    + st-scroll-view-Handle-the-case-where-scrollbars-are-NULL.patch,
      st-scroll-view-Remove-scrollbars-references-on-dispose.patch:
      - Fix crash on theme changes
    + ubuntu/search-call-XUbuntuCancel-method-on-providers-when-no-dat.patch:
      - stop searches when requested from UI
    + magnifier-Show-cursor-when-magnifier-is-enabled-and-scale.patch:
      - Show monitor scaled cursor when magnifier is enabled

gnome-shell (3.34.1+git20191024-1) unstable; urgency=medium

  * Ne...

Read more...

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu Eoan):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100) wrote : Update Released

The verification of the Stable Release Update for gnome-shell has completed successfully and the package is now being released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

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