[gentoo-user] Slow UI for firefox 68

[gentoo-user] Slow UI for firefox 68

[Emmanuel Vasilakis]

Hi!

Just finished compiling www-client/firefox 68.1.0 and I'm seeing a very 
big lag mainly in UI operations. I.e., clicking on the menu button (or 
any other button on the UI) takes 5-6 seconds for the menu to appear, 
during which firefox goes up to using 100% of my CPU.

Even typing something in the URI bar has a lag of 1 sec between key 
presses and text appearing.

I've compiled firefox using these use flags:

clang custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus gmp-autoupdate hwaccel lto 
pgo screenshot startup-notification system-av1 system-harfbuzz 
system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite 
system-webp

(Didn't really change anything from previous firefox versions I compiled).

firefox-bin (69.0) behaves ok.

firefox using --safe-mode is also ok.

I did use refresh firefox which wiped clean firefox and removed all 
extensions, but I'm getting the same laggy behaviour.

Anyone else having similar experience? Previous firefox versions where 
all okay.

Thanks,
Emmanuel

Re: [gentoo-user] Slow UI for firefox 68

[Walter Dnes]

On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 06:16:22PM +0300, Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote

> I've compiled firefox using these use flags:
> 
> clang custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus gmp-autoupdate hwaccel lto 
> pgo screenshot startup-notification system-av1 system-harfbuzz 
> system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite 
> system-webp
> 
> (Didn't really change anything from previous firefox versions I compiled).

  You may not have changed, but the ebuild defaults changed to use
system libs, and some people have reported crashes, etc with Firefox 68.
Try disabling the system-av1 system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg
system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite system-webp USE flags.  This
will force Firefox to build with its own internal versions of these
libs.  The build may take longer.

> firefox-bin (69.0) behaves ok.

  firefox-bin is self-contained, and uses its own internal libs...  hmmm.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications

Re: [gentoo-user] Slow UI for firefox 68

[Philip Webb]

190917 Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote:
> Just finished compiling www-client/firefox 68.1.0
> and I'm seeing a very big lag mainly in UI operations.
> I.e., clicking on the menu button or any other button on the UI
> takes 5-6 seconds for the menu to appear, 
> during which firefox goes up to using 100% of my CPU.
> Even typing something in the URI bar has a lag of 1 sec
> between key presses and text appearing.

Nothing like that here.  Generally, it's a bit faster than before.

> I've compiled firefox using these use flags:
>   clang custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus gmp-autoupdate hwaccel lto 
>   pgo screenshot startup-notification system-av1 system-harfbuzz 
>   system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite 
>   system-webp

root:520 ~> eix firefox
  ...
  Installed versions: 68.1.0^d([2019-09-15 03:03:10])
  (dbus -bindist -clang -custom-cflags -custom-optimization -debug -eme-free
  -geckodriver -gmp-autoupdate -hardened -hwaccel -jack -lto -neon -pgo
  -pulseaudio -screenshot -selinux -startup-notification -system-av1
  -system-harfbuzz -system-icu -system-jpeg -system-libevent -system-libvpx
  -system-sqlite -system-webp -test -wayland -wifi
  CPU_FLAGS_X86="-avx2"
  L10N="-ach -af -an -ar -ast -az -be -bg -bn -br -bs -ca -cak -cs -cy -da -de
  -dsb -el -en-CA -en-GB -eo -es-AR -es-CL -es-ES -es-MX -et -eu -fa -ff -fi
  -fr -fy -ga -gd -gl -gn -gu -he -hi -hr -hsb -hu -hy -ia -id -is -it -ja -ka
  -kab -kk -km -kn -ko -lij -lt -lv -mk -mr -ms -my -nb -nl -nn -oc -pa -pl
  -pt-BR -pt-PT -rm -ro -ru -si -sk -sl -son -sq -sr -sv -ta -te -th -tr
  -uk -ur -uz -vi -xh -zh-CN -zh-TW")

I've always had '-*' to start the USE list in 'make.conf',
which is widely denounced, but useful more often than not.

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] Slow UI for firefox 68

[Emmanuel Vasilakis]

On 18/9/19 1:19 π.μ., Walter Dnes wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 06:16:22PM +0300, Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote
> 
>> I've compiled firefox using these use flags:
>>
>> clang custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus gmp-autoupdate hwaccel lto
>> pgo screenshot startup-notification system-av1 system-harfbuzz
>> system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite
>> system-webp
>>
>> (Didn't really change anything from previous firefox versions I compiled).
> 
>    You may not have changed, but the ebuild defaults changed to use
> system libs, and some people have reported crashes, etc with Firefox 68.
> Try disabling the system-av1 system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg
> system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite system-webp USE flags.  This
> will force Firefox to build with its own internal versions of these
> libs.  The build may take longer.
> 
>> firefox-bin (69.0) behaves ok.
> 
>    firefox-bin is self-contained, and uses its own internal libs...  hmmm.
> 

Hi, thanks.

I've always used system-% use flags for firefox, never had a problem, 
but yeah things could have changed in this version.

Right now I'm compiling with disabled custom-cflags. Next will be to 
disable custom-optimization and if those don't help, I'll start 
disabling system-% flags.

I've done an strace and it seems to hang waiting for a futex...

Only problem is each try is gonna take ~5 hours on my poor machine. :-)

We'll see!

Re: [gentoo-user] Slow UI for firefox 68

[Mick]

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On Wednesday, 18 September 2019 08:51:54 BST Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote:
> On 18/9/19 1:19 π.μ., Walter Dnes wrote:
> > On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 06:16:22PM +0300, Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote
> > 
> >> I've compiled firefox using these use flags:
> >> 
> >> clang custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus gmp-autoupdate hwaccel lto
> >> pgo screenshot startup-notification system-av1 system-harfbuzz
> >> system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite
> >> system-webp
> >> 
> >> (Didn't really change anything from previous firefox versions I
> >> compiled).
> >> 
> >    You may not have changed, but the ebuild defaults changed to use
> > 
> > system libs, and some people have reported crashes, etc with Firefox 68.
> > Try disabling the system-av1 system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg
> > system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite system-webp USE flags.  This
> > will force Firefox to build with its own internal versions of these
> > libs.  The build may take longer.
> > 
> >> firefox-bin (69.0) behaves ok.
> >> 
> >    firefox-bin is self-contained, and uses its own internal libs...  hmmm.
> 
> Hi, thanks.
> 
> I've always used system-% use flags for firefox, never had a problem,
> but yeah things could have changed in this version.

Things have definitely changed with this version.  From a previous thread on 
FF 68 posted in this M/L and some experimentation on my systems it seems the 
way addons are processed in FF 68 could cause FF to barf when being launched.  
The fact FF works fine when launched with --safe-mode pointed to this and 
(re)moving addonStartup.json.lz4 fixed the problem here.


> Right now I'm compiling with disabled custom-cflags. Next will be to
> disable custom-optimization and if those don't help, I'll start
> disabling system-% flags.
> 
> I've done an strace and it seems to hang waiting for a futex...

So the browser is waiting for some value in memory to change or to be released 
from some other process before it can be used by FF ... I think.


> Only problem is each try is gonna take ~5 hours on my poor machine. :-)
> 
> We'll see!

The high CPU could be indicating a graphics issue, where the browser cannot 
use hardware acceleration for some reason on your system and it falls back on 
software rendering.  It may be worth running some browser rendering tests to 
confirm this.

-- 
Regards,

Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Slow UI for firefox 68

[Emmanuel Vasilakis]

Hi!

On 18/9/19 3:40 μ.μ., Mick wrote:
> On Wednesday, 18 September 2019 08:51:54 BST Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote:
>> On 18/9/19 1:19 π.μ., Walter Dnes wrote:
>>> On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 06:16:22PM +0300, Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote
>>>
>>>> I've compiled firefox using these use flags:
>>>>
>>>> clang custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus gmp-autoupdate hwaccel lto
>>>> pgo screenshot startup-notification system-av1 system-harfbuzz
>>>> system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite
>>>> system-webp
>>>>
>>>> (Didn't really change anything from previous firefox versions I
>>>> compiled).
>>>>
>>>     You may not have changed, but the ebuild defaults changed to use
>>>
>>> system libs, and some people have reported crashes, etc with Firefox 68.
>>> Try disabling the system-av1 system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg
>>> system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite system-webp USE flags.  This
>>> will force Firefox to build with its own internal versions of these
>>> libs.  The build may take longer.
>>>
>>>> firefox-bin (69.0) behaves ok.
>>>>
>>>     firefox-bin is self-contained, and uses its own internal libs...  hmmm.
>>
>> Hi, thanks.
>>
>> I've always used system-% use flags for firefox, never had a problem,
>> but yeah things could have changed in this version.
> 
> Things have definitely changed with this version.  From a previous thread on
> FF 68 posted in this M/L and some experimentation on my systems it seems the
> way addons are processed in FF 68 could cause FF to barf when being launched.
> The fact FF works fine when launched with --safe-mode pointed to this and
> (re)moving addonStartup.json.lz4 fixed the problem here.

Did that, no change. I'm also using a fresh profile, so it should 
exclude things like that.

> 
> 
>> Right now I'm compiling with disabled custom-cflags. Next will be to
>> disable custom-optimization and if those don't help, I'll start
>> disabling system-% flags.
>>
>> I've done an strace and it seems to hang waiting for a futex...
> 
> So the browser is waiting for some value in memory to change or to be released
> from some other process before it can be used by FF ... I think.
> 
> 
>> Only problem is each try is gonna take ~5 hours on my poor machine. :-)
>>
>> We'll see!
> 
> The high CPU could be indicating a graphics issue, where the browser cannot
> use hardware acceleration for some reason on your system and it falls back on
> software rendering.  It may be worth running some browser rendering tests to
> confirm this.
> 

Well, the browsing itself seems fine (i.e. navigating pages). It's when 
I use it's UI that I experience these slowdowns.

I have disabled custom-cflags & custom-optimization, did a build with 
clang 8 instead of 7, no change...

I've also killed compton, and messed with the browser's acceleration 
settings with no luck.

Next try I'll disable system-libevent & system-sqlite and see what 
happens...

Emmanuel

Re: [gentoo-user] Slow UI for firefox 68

[Emmanuel Vasilakis]

On 17/9/19 6:16 μ.μ., Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> Just finished compiling www-client/firefox 68.1.0 and I'm seeing a very 
> big lag mainly in UI operations. I.e., clicking on the menu button (or 
> any other button on the UI) takes 5-6 seconds for the menu to appear, 
> during which firefox goes up to using 100% of my CPU.
> 
> Even typing something in the URI bar has a lag of 1 sec between key 
> presses and text appearing.
> 
> I've compiled firefox using these use flags:
> 
> clang custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus gmp-autoupdate hwaccel lto 
> pgo screenshot startup-notification system-av1 system-harfbuzz 
> system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite 
> system-webp
> 
> (Didn't really change anything from previous firefox versions I compiled).
> 
> firefox-bin (69.0) behaves ok.
> 
> firefox using --safe-mode is also ok.
> 
> I did use refresh firefox which wiped clean firefox and removed all 
> extensions, but I'm getting the same laggy behaviour.
> 
> Anyone else having similar experience? Previous firefox versions where 
> all okay.
> 
> Thanks,
> Emmanuel
> 

Ok, so by disabling hwaccell and all system-* flags, I got a build that 
works.

Now to see which one causes the problem...

Thanks!
Emmanuel

Re: [gentoo-user] Slow UI for firefox 68

[Emmanuel Vasilakis]

On 21/9/19 12:18 μ.μ., Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote:
> On 17/9/19 6:16 μ.μ., Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote:
>> Hi!
>>
>> Just finished compiling www-client/firefox 68.1.0 and I'm seeing a 
>> very big lag mainly in UI operations. I.e., clicking on the menu 
>> button (or any other button on the UI) takes 5-6 seconds for the menu 
>> to appear, during which firefox goes up to using 100% of my CPU.
>>
>> Even typing something in the URI bar has a lag of 1 sec between key 
>> presses and text appearing.
>>
>> I've compiled firefox using these use flags:
>>
>> clang custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus gmp-autoupdate hwaccel 
>> lto pgo screenshot startup-notification system-av1 system-harfbuzz 
>> system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite 
>> system-webp
>>
>> (Didn't really change anything from previous firefox versions I 
>> compiled).
>>
>> firefox-bin (69.0) behaves ok.
>>
>> firefox using --safe-mode is also ok.
>>
>> I did use refresh firefox which wiped clean firefox and removed all 
>> extensions, but I'm getting the same laggy behaviour.
>>
>> Anyone else having similar experience? Previous firefox versions where 
>> all okay.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Emmanuel
>>
> 
> Ok, so by disabling hwaccell and all system-* flags, I got a build that 
> works.
> 
> Now to see which one causes the problem...
> 
> Thanks!
> Emmanuel
> 

Ok, just for the history, it's the hwaccel flag that causes the problem.

It could be a combination of things and not just a firefox bug, but ok. 
Apart from full screen youtube which seems to run slower than before, 
it's ok....

I can reproduce the same behaviour if I turn on 
layers.acceleration.force-enabled.

Thanks,
Emmanuel

Re: [gentoo-user] Slow UI for firefox 68

[Adam Carter]

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>
> Ok, just for the history, it's the hwaccel flag that causes the problem.
>
> It could be a combination of things and not just a firefox bug, but ok.
> Apart from full screen youtube which seems to run slower than before,
> it's ok....
>
> I can reproduce the same behaviour if I turn on
> layers.acceleration.force-enabled.
>

What graphics card / driver are you using?

about:support -> GPU #1 -> Description & Driver Vendor & Driver Version

So far i've not had any problems with AMD Radeon R9 380 and RX 580, with
mesa/radeonsi

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