Baltix

A first document opens very slowly

Bug #592176 reported by Lordinux
64
This bug affects 9 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
LibreOffice
Invalid
Wishlist
Baltix
New
Undecided
Unassigned
libreoffice (Ubuntu)
Won't Fix
Undecided
Unassigned
Nominated for Lucid by i.raynov
openoffice.org (Ubuntu)
Won't Fix
Undecided
Unassigned
Nominated for Lucid by i.raynov

Bug Description

Binary package hint: openoffice.org

It is very slow to open any first document in OOo. Either by double-clicking it, either by opening it after the opening of OOo, either a quite empty document just created with the same version of OOo, either a word processing document, either a spreadsheet...
It takes about 10 seconds on a quite fast machine and about 30 seconds on a slower machine. Once a first document is opened, following documents open in less than one second.
During the waiting time the machine does nothing visible : neither disk access, neither CPU activity.
This problem seems to be new with Lucid and OOo 3.2 : I didn't notice it with Karmic and OOo 3.1. Lucid has been installed with fresh install on my both machines.
I've tried to launch OOo with command line : openoffice.org essai.odt
It's the same issue and nothing is written on standard output.
I've also used strace (see attached file strace_OOo.txt) : the wait time occurs inside one of the last lines (just after "wait4(-1, " :
wait4(-1, [{WIFEXITED(s) && WEXITSTATUS(s) == 0}], 0, NULL) = 7162

This issue has already been reported on french forums (OOo and Ubuntu-fr) but nobody seems to have the beginning of a solution :
http://user.services.openoffice.org/fr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=22415&p=125249#p125249
http://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?pid=3539161#p3539161

Feel free to ask for more information !
Regards,
Alain

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: openoffice.org 1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.36-generic-pae 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: hsfengine nvidia
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Jun 10 13:56:18 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100427.1)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: openoffice.org

See original description
Revision history for this message
Lordinux (lordinux) wrote :
Revision history for this message
papukaija (papukaija) wrote :

OOo.org isn't indeed very fast to start. However, for me this has always been the case. Don't forget that OO.org uses java (either the GPL'ed openjdk or Oracle's closed source version).

description: updated
Revision history for this message
papukaija (papukaija) wrote :

Adding the regression tag as you haven't had this issue in Karmic.

tags: added: regression-release
Revision history for this message
Lordinux (lordinux) wrote :

I have discovered that sometimes this issue doesn't appear. As I can use 2 different ISP, I've discovered that there is a problem only with one of them : Orange (french ISP) and its Livebox. And no problem with Free (another french ISP) and its Freebox.
Both of these equipments are used as DHCP servers and give a DNS to the machine. The matter is that the Livebox gives itself as DNS and that it isn't capable to forward IPv6 DNS request to external DNS. So after a timeout it forwards an IPv4 DNS request which is finally OK. This wait until timeout is responsible of the delay when opening first document in OOo.
Then I have solved my problem by using static address and DNS for eth0.

BUT :
1/ why does OOo send a DNS request when opening a document ???
2/ what change in Lucid or in OOo 3.2 can explain why there is such an issue now and not before (Karmic + OOo 3.1) ???
3/ Does anybody know if such an issue has already been reported about IPv6 and Lucid ? As far for me I don't see anything by looking for "Lucid IPv6" in "bugs" on Launchpad...

Revision history for this message
Dan (dorjedan) wrote :

Lordinux, I am also experiencing this issue (actually, on a friends machine that I support). He's a new user and is a bit impatient with the issue. Are there any workarounds for this bug? Would simply changing the DNS get around it? Also, I concur that it was not an issue on Karmic + OO 3.1 but is on Lucid + OO 3.2.

Revision history for this message
Mahendra Tallur (mahen) wrote :

I also encountered this issue at work, when using the Orange ISP + its Livebox router / modem.

Revision history for this message
Lordinux (lordinux) wrote :

Dan, for me this workaround works perfectly (I hope english translation of french labels is ok...) :
- right click on NetworkManager
- select the right connection (wired or wireless) and click modify
- on IPv4 tab choose "Manual" method
- add the IP address of the PC, the mask and the gateway (the livebox itself)
- add DNS servers : you can check the right ones for you on the web admin interface of the livebox (tools / system information / general)

Revision history for this message
Dan (dorjedan) wrote :

Thanks for the tip Lordinux. I took a slightly different approach but changing to another DNS server did solve the issue. I find it strange that Open Office is sending an IPv6 request (or any network request) on opening a document.

Revision history for this message
Alick Wilson (alickwilson) wrote :

I have this problem with OpenOffice.org 3.2.0 on Lucid.

There was no such problem on OpenOffice.org (version?) on Karmic.

Starting up OpenOffice.org Calc with new worksheet is fast.

Saving it is very very slow.

Opening it is very very slow.

Further to comment #7, I disabled networking. The problem disappeared.

My networking is set up in Lucid exactly the same way it was set up earlier in Karmic and Jaunty.

As no other software exhibits this problem it seems clear, therefore, that the problem is indeed related to network requests from OpenOffice.org 3.2 on Lucid.

Revision history for this message
clubsoda (clubsoda) wrote :

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this bug a security issue, broadcasting the user's machine name to the external network? It seems that information would assist an external attacker.

Not to mention a privacy issue - do the ISP and DNS provider need to know I'm opening a document?

This kind of rogue network access is why people have been asking for application-specific firewall protection in linux for years.

Revision history for this message
Lordinux (lordinux) wrote :

I've just discovered this : http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/double-clicking-on-open-office-files-leads-to-very-slow-opening-808048/
So, this is an easiest workaround than #7 : just adding the following line in /etc/hosts :
127.0.0.1 galaxy localhost galaxy.(none)
replace "galaxy" with whatever you have named your computer

Revision history for this message
Kainourgiakis Giorgos (kaingeo) wrote :

This bug still exists in Ubuntu 10.10. We somehow wait for upstream OpenOffice to fix it? Could the Ubuntu community do something about it? Is this reported upstream?

Revision history for this message
penalvch (penalvch) wrote :

Lordinux, thank you for reporting this bug and helping make Ubuntu better. Does LibreOffice Writer work for you?

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade && sudo apt-get -y install libreoffice-writer

Changed in openoffice.org (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
stecklum (stecklum) wrote :

Libre/Open-Office perform a DNS request on opening the first document. The delay results if the name resolution fails. The workaround Lordinux mentioned holds only for the special case of localhost. I encountered the problem on my laptop but modifying /etc/hosts did not solve it. Using wireshark it turned out that Libre/Open-Office wanted to resolve the cups server since the default printer was set to be the one in the office. This DNS request failed at home since the business intranet could not be reached, therefore causing the issue. The easiest solution in this case was to set the printer to a local one, e.g. cups-pdf.

penalvch (penalvch)
Changed in openoffice.org (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → New
Revision history for this message
Lordinux (lordinux) wrote :

Sorry Christopher, I had no time to test whith LibreOffice.
But I've just read on the french Ubuntu forum that's it's OK with Natty 11.04 beta and LibreOffice 3.3.2 !

Revision history for this message
penalvch (penalvch) wrote :

Lordinux, marking to Incomplete until you get a chance to test in LibreOffice. If it still continues please feel free to mark back to New.

Changed in libreoffice (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
timo skrempel (timoskrempel) wrote :

The same problem happens for me with LibreOffice and OpenOffice.

Revision history for this message
timo skrempel (timoskrempel) wrote :

Disabling networking makes it open files instantly. Reseting the profile and changing options (file dialogs, disable java, ...) does not help. I have set up a cups server in /etc/cups/client.conf.

Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen)
Changed in openoffice.org (Ubuntu):
status: New → Won't Fix
Revision history for this message
Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen) wrote : migrating packaging from OpenOffice.org to Libreoffice

[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)
summary: - OOo opens very slowly a first document in Lucid
+ A first document opens very slowly
Revision history for this message
In , Peter-schmidt-z (peter-schmidt-z) wrote :

I have installed LO 3.4.3 on some very old PCs (P3, 500 MHz, 512 MB RAM) running Windows XP.
When starting up, it takes about 1:20 minutes for the application to start. Once LO is up and running, it runs quite well. Even opening new documents via the quickstarter only takes seconds but is not an option (see Bug No. 41229 about that). We also tried to improve startup by disabling the JRE but this only brought us some 5 seconds (btw. Oracle JRE6_27 is installed).

The system is very optimized so there are no unnecessary jobs running in the back. System memory is almost free after windows startup. Almost no hard disc activity can be seen while starting LO, but the job runs at 99% CPU. Only in the last 10 seconds you can hear the HDD work heavily but this might be because some binaries are loaded late. This makes me think that this is _not_ a problem of low memory and swapping (and even if the HDD activity was because of swapping, this would only explain the last 10-20 seconds of the slow startup).
There must be some way to improve the startup procedure, maybe by offering an alternative setup that does not load so many extensions/tool/translations or similar additions.

We only have these very old PCs because this is a ground school with no almost no budget for the pupils PCs. Also, I think many educational projects in developing or third world countries have a similar problem (very old hardware) and deserve a bearable fast launching office solution.

Revision history for this message
In , Wolf (drechsel) wrote :

The same on a PowerMac G4 at 1350 MHz. Opening a odt text file takes as long as 20 sec., from clicking into the editing window till being able to type the first character takes another 5 sec. This cannot really be true… (-;

Revision history for this message
In , Peter-schmidt-z (peter-schmidt-z) wrote :

Obviously this problem is multiplatform/multi-OS.

Revision history for this message
In , Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen) wrote :

[This is an automated message.]
This bug was filed before the changes to Bugzilla on 2011-10-16. Thus it
started right out as NEW without ever being explicitly confirmed. The bug is
changed to state NEEDINFO for this reason. To move this bug from NEEDINFO back
to NEW please check if the bug still persists with the 3.5.0 beta1 or beta2 prereleases.
Details on how to test the 3.5.0 beta1 can be found at:
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/BugHunting_Session_3.5.0.-1

more detail on this bulk operation: http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/RFC-Operation-Spamzilla-tp3607474p3607474.html

Revision history for this message
In , Reisi007 (reisi007) wrote :

Dear bug submitter!

Due to the fact, that there are a lot of NEEDINFO bugs with no answer within the last six months, we close all of these bugs.

To keep this message short, more infos are available @ https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/NeedinfoClosure#Statement

Thanks for understanding and hopefully updating your bug, so that everything is prepared for developers to fix your problem.

Yours!

Florian

Revision history for this message
In , Peter-schmidt-z (peter-schmidt-z) wrote :

This is also an issue on WinXP, SP2 on a P4 2.8 GHz with 504 MB RAM.

I started LO by clicking the "Libre Office" link (so no module is started directly) and measured the time.
For the first 20 seconds nothing happend at all (no UI feedback). Then the spashscreen showed up and 6 seconds later the main menu for creating new documents was shown.

The problem is, that the user does not notice the startup of the program for the first 20 seconds until the splash screen shows up.

This is a corporate network setup, the software is deployed centralized. I will try and see if the newer versions are still affected and update this bug if it is still present.

Revision history for this message
Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen) wrote :

wontfix in ubuntu packaging -- scope of bug is too broad: startup performance is not a single issue and is not quanifiable as "fixed".

Changed in libreoffice (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Won't Fix
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in df-libreoffice:
importance: Unknown → Wishlist
status: Unknown → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Eduard Hasenleithner (eduard-hasenleithner) wrote :

What is the new bug number for dealing with the DNS lookup delay at startup then?

Revision history for this message
In , P-weissenbacher (p-weissenbacher) wrote :

(In reply to comment #8)
> This is also an issue on WinXP, SP2 on a P4 2.8 GHz with 504 MB RAM.
>
> I started LO by clicking the "Libre Office" link (so no module is started
> directly) and measured the time.
> For the first 20 seconds nothing happend at all (no UI feedback). Then the
> spashscreen showed up and 6 seconds later the main menu for creating new
> documents was shown.
>
> The problem is, that the user does not notice the startup of the program for
> the first 20 seconds until the splash screen shows up.
>
> This is a corporate network setup, the software is deployed centralized. I
> will try and see if the newer versions are still affected and update this
> bug if it is still present.

Can you please try with the latest Fresh version and see of things have improved? Please note that during the first run LO is doing some added configuration steps that can make the start up appear long. After that it should start up quicker. That's the figure we'd be interested in.

Revision history for this message
In , Jmadero-dev (jmadero-dev) wrote :

Never independently confirmed by QA team - moving to UNCONFIRMED to make sure they see it. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in df-libreoffice:
status: Confirmed → New
Revision history for this message
In , Barta-c (barta-c) wrote :

I send back this one to NEEDINFO waiting for update of the bug status with current LibO releases...

anyway with such old and powerless equipment is probably not possible to achieve great performances... I wonder how MS Word behaves in the same computers....

(In reply to peter.schmidt from comment #0)
> I have installed LO 3.4.3 on some very old PCs (P3, 500 MHz, 512 MB RAM)
> running Windows XP.

(In reply to peter.schmidt from comment #8)
> This is also an issue on WinXP, SP2 on a P4 2.8 GHz with 504 MB RAM.

Revision history for this message
In , Jmadero-dev (jmadero-dev) wrote :

Actually moving this to NOTABUG - it's clearly a hardware issue. I can't reproduce on 4 machines that are newer. It's one thing to request that we continue supporting outdated hardware, it's another to expect for us to have great performance on these machines while continuing to improve all other areas of the project including filters, performance on newer machines, etc . . .

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in df-libreoffice:
status: New → Invalid
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