bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Dan Espen]

running Emacs on a remote system using X protocol.
Started Emacs with -q.

Opening a small file from dired with a button 2 click takes 15 seconds.
Opening a small file from dired using the keyboard is sub-second.

Remote connection is using FIOS (fast) and ssh with compression.

Moving the pointer around a dired buffer makes Emacs unusable for long      
periods of time.  This is true even after disabling tool-tip
mode.





In GNU Emacs 23.1.1 (i386-redhat-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.18.9)
 of 2010-04-01 on x86-04.phx2.fedoraproject.org
Windowing system distributor `Fedora Project', version 11.0.10802000
configured using `configure  '--build=i386-redhat-linux-gnu' '--host=i386-redhat-linux-gnu' '--target=i686-redhat-linux-gnu' '--program-prefix=' '--prefix=/usr' '--exec-prefix=/usr' '--bindir=/usr/bin' '--sbindir=/usr/sbin' '--sysconfdir=/etc' '--datadir=/usr/share' '--includedir=/usr/include' '--libdir=/usr/lib' '--libexecdir=/usr/libexec' '--localstatedir=/var' '--sharedstatedir=/var/lib' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--infodir=/usr/share/info' '--with-dbus' '--with-gif' '--with-jpeg' '--with-png' '--with-rsvg' '--with-tiff' '--with-xft' '--with-xpm' '--with-x-toolkit=gtk' 'build_alias=i386-redhat-linux-gnu' 'host_alias=i386-redhat-linux-gnu' 'target_alias=i686-redhat-linux-gnu' 'CFLAGS=-DMAIL_USE_LOCKF -O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector --param=ssp-bu
 ffer-size=4 -m32 -march=i686 -mtune=atom -fasynchronous-unwind-tables''

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: C
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: nil
  default-enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Fundamental

Minor modes in effect:
  tooltip-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  global-auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
C-x C-f . / / t m p <return> <help-echo> <down-mouse-2> 
<mouse-2> <help-echo> <down> <down> <down> <down> <f10> 
C-x o <down> <down> e <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <menu-bar> <help-menu> <send-emacs-bug
-report>

Recent messages:
Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/emacs-goodies-loaddefs.el (source)...done
Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/focus-init.el (source)...done
Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/php-mode-init.el (source)...done
Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/po-mode-init.el (source)...done
Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/rpm-spec-mode-init.el (source)...done
For information about GNU Emacs and the GNU system, type C-h C-a.
Note: file is write protected
call-interactively: Text is read-only

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 22:28:34 -0400
> From: Dan Espen <despen@telcordia.com>
> Cc: 
> 
> Moving the pointer around a dired buffer makes Emacs unusable for long      
> periods of time.  This is true even after disabling tool-tip
> mode.

Probably because of the mouse highlight (which causes lots of X
traffic).

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Stefan Kangas]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 22:28:34 -0400
>> From: Dan Espen <despen@telcordia.com>
>> Cc: 
>> 
>> Moving the pointer around a dired buffer makes Emacs unusable for long      
>> periods of time.  This is true even after disabling tool-tip
>> mode.
>
> Probably because of the mouse highlight (which causes lots of X
> traffic).

I think the diagnosis here sounds correct.  So is there anything here
we can do?  In other words, is this a bug in Emacs or just an inherent
limitation in the X protocol?

Best regards,
Stefan Kangas

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
> Cc: Dan Espen <despen@telcordia.com>,  7092@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2020 01:55:26 +0100
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> >> Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 22:28:34 -0400
> >> From: Dan Espen <despen@telcordia.com>
> >> Cc: 
> >> 
> >> Moving the pointer around a dired buffer makes Emacs unusable for long      
> >> periods of time.  This is true even after disabling tool-tip
> >> mode.
> >
> > Probably because of the mouse highlight (which causes lots of X
> > traffic).
> 
> I think the diagnosis here sounds correct.  So is there anything here
> we can do?  In other words, is this a bug in Emacs or just an inherent
> limitation in the X protocol?

Maybe we should have a feature whereby mouse highlight is ignored, for
those who use a slow X connection.

But is it indeed the case that X traffic caused by mouse highlight is
the culprit here?

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Stefan Kangas]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> Maybe we should have a feature whereby mouse highlight is ignored, for
> those who use a slow X connection.

That could make sense, if it's deemed to be worth the effort.

> But is it indeed the case that X traffic caused by mouse highlight is
> the culprit here?

I have seen that kind of thing before, but I unfortunately have no
data to back up that claim in this case.  Sorry if my email here was a
bit insubstantial.

Best regards,
Stefan Kangas

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Stefan Kangas]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
>> Cc: Dan Espen <despen@telcordia.com>,  7092@debbugs.gnu.org
>> Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2020 01:55:26 +0100
>>
>> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>>
>> >> Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 22:28:34 -0400
>> >> From: Dan Espen <despen@telcordia.com>
>> >> Cc:
>> >>
>> >> Moving the pointer around a dired buffer makes Emacs unusable for long
>> >> periods of time.  This is true even after disabling tool-tip
>> >> mode.
>> >
>> > Probably because of the mouse highlight (which causes lots of X
>> > traffic).
>>
>> I think the diagnosis here sounds correct.  So is there anything here
>> we can do?  In other words, is this a bug in Emacs or just an inherent
>> limitation in the X protocol?
>
> Maybe we should have a feature whereby mouse highlight is ignored, for
> those who use a slow X connection.

Isn't this just

    (setq mouse-highlight nil)

?

IOW, should we just document somehow that if you are using X forwarding,
you might want to disable mouse highlighting?

> But is it indeed the case that X traffic caused by mouse highlight is
> the culprit here?

Though, to be fair, we indeed don't yet have concrete data to back this
analysis up.  It's more of an educated guess, I suppose.

But other than adding documentation, I'm not sure I see how we can make
much more progress on this decade-old bug report.

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
> Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 12:43:37 -0700
> Cc: despen@telcordia.com, 7092@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > Maybe we should have a feature whereby mouse highlight is ignored, for
> > those who use a slow X connection.
> 
> Isn't this just
> 
>     (setq mouse-highlight nil)
> 
> ?
> 
> IOW, should we just document somehow that if you are using X forwarding,
> you might want to disable mouse highlighting?

Maybe this is all that's needed, yes.

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Stefan Kangas]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> IOW, should we just document somehow that if you are using X forwarding,
>> you might want to disable mouse highlighting?
>
> Maybe this is all that's needed, yes.

Hmm, I wonder where this should best go.  etc/PROBLEMS perhaps?

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
> Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2021 01:12:28 -0700
> Cc: despen@telcordia.com, 7092@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> >> IOW, should we just document somehow that if you are using X forwarding,
> >> you might want to disable mouse highlighting?
> >
> > Maybe this is all that's needed, yes.
> 
> Hmm, I wonder where this should best go.  etc/PROBLEMS perhaps?

I had the doc string in mind, but we could also add something to
PROBLEMS.

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Stefan Kangas]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> I had the doc string in mind, but we could also add something to
> PROBLEMS.

How about this?

diff --git a/etc/PROBLEMS b/etc/PROBLEMS
index daff102a0d..e428e27089 100644
--- a/etc/PROBLEMS
+++ b/etc/PROBLEMS
@@ -1654,6 +1654,12 @@ This happens on the proprietary X server
ASTEC-X when the number of
 monitors is changed after the server has started.  A workaround is to
 restart the X server after the monitor configuration has been changed.

+*** With X forwarding, mouse highlighting can make Emacs slow.
+If you see slow updates when moving the mouse in an Emacs running on a
+remote X server, try this:
+
+    (setq mouse-highlight nil)
+
 * Runtime problems on character terminals

 ** The meta key does not work on xterm.

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
> Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2021 15:08:27 -0700
> Cc: despen@telcordia.com, 7092@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > I had the doc string in mind, but we could also add something to
> > PROBLEMS.
> 
> How about this?
> 
> diff --git a/etc/PROBLEMS b/etc/PROBLEMS
> index daff102a0d..e428e27089 100644
> --- a/etc/PROBLEMS
> +++ b/etc/PROBLEMS
> @@ -1654,6 +1654,12 @@ This happens on the proprietary X server
> ASTEC-X when the number of
>  monitors is changed after the server has started.  A workaround is to
>  restart the X server after the monitor configuration has been changed.
> 
> +*** With X forwarding, mouse highlighting can make Emacs slow.
> +If you see slow updates when moving the mouse in an Emacs running on a
> +remote X server, try this:
> +
> +    (setq mouse-highlight nil)
> +

LGTM, thanks.

bug#7092: 23.1; Dired slow using Emacs remotely

[Stefan Kangas]

close 7092 28.1
thanks

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> How about this?
>>
>> diff --git a/etc/PROBLEMS b/etc/PROBLEMS
>> index daff102a0d..e428e27089 100644
>> --- a/etc/PROBLEMS
>> +++ b/etc/PROBLEMS
>> @@ -1654,6 +1654,12 @@ This happens on the proprietary X server
>> ASTEC-X when the number of
>>  monitors is changed after the server has started.  A workaround is to
>>  restart the X server after the monitor configuration has been changed.
>>
>> +*** With X forwarding, mouse highlighting can make Emacs slow.
>> +If you see slow updates when moving the mouse in an Emacs running on a
>> +remote X server, try this:
>> +
>> +    (setq mouse-highlight nil)
>> +
>
> LGTM, thanks.

Thanks, installed on emacs-28 (commit 4cc22f8918).