Bug#686213: gnome-shell: cpu consumption of gnome-shell violates purpose of GPU-based compositing
Dimitri Nüscheler
dimitri.nuescheler at sunrise.ch
Wed Aug 29 22:04:53 UTC 2012
Package: gnome-shell
Version: 3.4.2-1
Severity: important
Tags: upstream
By observation this bug does not just affect gnome-shell and Debian,
but also Ubuntu 12.04, Linux Mint 13 and the DEs KDE 4.8 (kwin), Unity (compiz) and Cinnamon,
but I will now provide information based on the current situation.
It also affects 3 of my computers, 7 to 2 years old, intel and nvidia graphics.
The bug does not seem to affect older DEs such as KDE3.5 and Gnome2, but I cannot say for sure,
because I did not test these DEs on any current distro release, so it might be caused by Xorg or similar.
On my machine I observe CPU utilization when moving windows and during
animations introduced by the window manager (such as the overview you get when
you move the mouse to the upper left corner) of 60% (measured with top) which is more or less the same
consumption as when I don't have GPU-based composition, rendering the whole purpose of laying off
these tasks to the GPU entirely useless, because I get more or less the same CPU consumption when I
move windows on a window manager that doesn't use the GPU.
I expect that the CPU utilization by the process 'gnome-shell' is around 6% during animations
and window movement on this machine, because on another system when moving windows heavily (Acer Aspire 1640, Intel Celerino)
I get 4% CPU Utilization when running Ubuntu 10.04 with compiz, but 40% when running Ubuntu 12.04 with compiz.
I cannot see any improved visual experience compared to the old compositors, so I don't expect improved CPU utilization.
I can also often observe low framerates, when I'd expect constant 60 frames per second with very few glitches.
If I don't have too many windows open I can get 60 frames per second (not really measuring that, I just have the feeling
that it is in sync with the monitor, because I'd see the glitches (double frames) in the animations.), but the CPU utilization is still 60%.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 3.2.0-3-rt-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=de_CH.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_CH.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Versions of packages gnome-shell depends on:
ii dconf-gsettings-backend [gsettings-backend] 0.12.1-2
ii gconf-service 3.2.5-1+build1
ii gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0 0.6.21-6
ii gir1.2-atk-1.0 2.4.0-2
ii gir1.2-caribou-1.0 0.4.2-2
ii gir1.2-clutter-1.0 1.10.8-2
ii gir1.2-cogl-1.0 1.10.2-6
ii gir1.2-coglpango-1.0 1.10.2-6
ii gir1.2-folks-0.6 0.6.9-1+b1
ii gir1.2-freedesktop 1.32.1-1
ii gir1.2-gconf-2.0 3.2.5-1+build1
ii gir1.2-gcr-3 3.4.1-3
ii gir1.2-gdesktopenums-3.0 3.4.2-1
ii gir1.2-gdkpixbuf-2.0 2.26.1-1
ii gir1.2-gee-1.0 0.6.4-2
ii gir1.2-gkbd-3.0 3.4.0.2-1
ii gir1.2-glib-2.0 1.32.1-1
ii gir1.2-gmenu-3.0 3.4.2-3
ii gir1.2-gnomebluetooth-1.0 3.4.2-1
ii gir1.2-gtk-3.0 3.4.2-3
ii gir1.2-json-1.0 0.14.2-1
ii gir1.2-mutter-3.0 3.4.1-5
ii gir1.2-networkmanager-1.0 0.9.4.0-5
ii gir1.2-pango-1.0 1.30.0-1
ii gir1.2-polkit-1.0 0.105-1
ii gir1.2-soup-2.4 2.38.1-2
ii gir1.2-telepathyglib-0.12 0.18.2-1
ii gir1.2-telepathylogger-0.2 0.4.0-1
ii gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0 0.9.17-1
ii gjs 1.32.0-2
ii gnome-bluetooth 3.4.2-1
ii gnome-icon-theme-symbolic 3.4.0-2
ii gnome-settings-daemon 3.4.2-4+b1
ii gnome-shell-common 3.4.2-1
ii gnome-themes-standard 3.4.2-1
ii gsettings-desktop-schemas 3.4.2-1
ii libatk1.0-0 2.4.0-2
ii libc6 2.13-35
ii libcairo-gobject2 1.12.2-2
ii libcairo2 1.12.2-2
ii libcanberra0 0.28-4
ii libclutter-1.0-0 1.10.8-2
ii libcogl-pango0 1.10.2-6
ii libcogl9 1.10.2-6
ii libcroco3 0.6.5-1
ii libdbus-1-3 1.6.0-1
ii libdbus-glib-1-2 0.100-1
ii libebook-1.2-13 3.4.3-1
ii libecal-1.2-11 3.4.3-1
ii libedataserver-1.2-16 3.4.3-1
ii libedataserverui-3.0-1 3.4.3-1
ii libffi5 3.0.10-3
ii libfolks25 0.6.9-1+b1
ii libgck-1-0 3.4.1-3
ii libgconf-2-4 3.2.5-1+build1
ii libgcr-3-1 3.4.1-3
ii libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 2.26.1-1
ii libgee2 0.6.4-2
ii libgirepository-1.0-1 1.32.1-1
ii libgjs0b [libgjs0-libmozjs185-1.0] 1.32.0-2
ii libgl1-mesa-glx [libgl1] 8.0.4-2
ii libglib2.0-0 2.32.3-1
ii libgnome-keyring0 3.4.1-1
ii libgnome-menu-3-0 3.4.2-3
ii libgstreamer0.10-0 0.10.36-1
ii libgtk-3-0 3.4.2-3
ii libical0 0.48-2
ii libjson-glib-1.0-0 0.14.2-1
ii libmozjs185-1.0 1.8.5-1.0.0+dfsg-3.1
ii libmutter0 3.4.1-5
ii libnm-glib4 0.9.4.0-5
ii libnm-util2 0.9.4.0-5
ii libnspr4 2:4.9.1-1
ii libnspr4-0d 2:4.9.1-1
ii libp11-kit0 0.12-3
ii libpango1.0-0 1.30.0-1
ii libpolkit-agent-1-0 0.105-1
ii libpolkit-gobject-1-0 0.105-1
ii libpulse-mainloop-glib0 2.0-6
ii libpulse0 2.0-6
ii libsoup2.4-1 2.38.1-2
ii libstartup-notification0 0.12-1
ii libtelepathy-glib0 0.18.2-1
ii libtelepathy-logger2 0.4.0-1
ii libx11-6 2:1.5.0-1
ii libxcomposite1 1:0.4.3-2
ii libxdamage1 1:1.1.3-2
ii libxext6 2:1.3.1-2
ii libxfixes3 1:5.0-4
ii libxi6 2:1.6.1-1
ii libxml2 2.8.0+dfsg1-5
ii python 2.7.3~rc2-1
ii telepathy-mission-control-5 1:5.12.1-2
Versions of packages gnome-shell recommends:
ii gnome-contacts 3.4.1-1+b1
ii gnome-control-center 1:3.4.2-2
ii gnome-session-fallback 3.4.2.1-1
ii gnome-user-guide 3.4.2-1+build1
gnome-shell suggests no packages.
-- no debconf information
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