Bug#977514: mutter-common: gnome-shell crashed on Wayland and lags on Xorg with nVidia drivers (nouveau unusable)

Tue Dec 15 22:11:43 GMT 2020

Package: mutter-common
Version: 3.38.2-1
Severity: important
Tags: upstream
X-Debbugs-Cc: kamil.wilczek at protonmail.com

I have an nVidia GTX 1650 GPU and installed weekly
testing system with GNOME desktop.

* nouveau is basically unusable, it displays the desktop,
  but lags heavily and simple tasks, like editing a file
  in Vim is impossible, keyboard strokes are missed, or
  unwanted symbols appear (multiple letters are added
  or several letters are removed after single backspace press).

So I installed nvidia-driver (currently 450.80.02) from non-free.
I had to do it from a TTY, otherwise it was impossible.
After reboot Wayland was still enabled (as default).
Performance was great, but after a moment gnome-shell crashed,
rebooted itself, then, for example gnome-terminal was lagging,
some windows too (not often). This was in the logs just before
the crash:

gru 15 21:33:35 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Can't update stage views actor
overviewGroup is on because it needs an allocation.
gru 15 21:33:35 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Can't update stage views actor overview
is on because it needs an allocation.
gru 15 21:33:35 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Can't update stage views actor
Gjs_ui_overviewControls_ControlsManager is on because it needs an allocation.
gru 15 21:33:35 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Can't update stage views actor
overview-group is on because it needs an allocation.
gru 15 21:33:35 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Can't update stage views actor
Gjs_ui_overviewControls_ThumbnailsSlider is on because it needs an allocation.
gru 15 21:33:35 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Can't update stage views actor
Gjs_ui_workspaceThumbnail_ThumbnailsBox is on because it needs an allocation.
gru 15 21:33:35 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Can't update stage views actor
Gjs_ui_workspaceThumbnail_WorkspaceThumbnail is on because it needs an
allocation.
gru 15 21:33:35 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Can't update stage views actor
ClutterActor is on because it needs an allocation.
gru 15 21:33:35 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Can't update stage views actor
Gjs_ui_workspaceThumbnail_WindowClone is on because it needs an allocation.
gru 15 21:33:47 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Window manager warning: MetaSyncRing:
Sync object is not ready -- were events handled properly?
gru 15 21:33:58 wilk /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[1322]: (II) event5  -
SteelSeries SteelSeries Sensei 310 eSports Mouse: SYN_DROPPED event - some
input events have been lost.
gru 15 21:33:58 wilk /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[1322]: (EE) client bug: timer
event5 debounce: scheduled expiry is in the past (-877ms), your system is too
slow
gru 15 21:33:58 wilk /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[1322]: (EE) client bug: timer
event5 debounce short: scheduled expiry is in the past (-890ms), your system is
too slow
gru 15 21:34:03 wilk /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[1322]: (WW) NVIDIA: Wait for
channel idle timed out.
gru 15 21:34:04 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Window manager warning: Failed to start
restart helper: Wykonanie procesu potomnego (child process failed)
„/usr/libexec/mutter-restart-helper” (Nie ma takiego pliku ani katalogu) się
nie powio> (no such file or directory)
gru 15 21:34:04 wilk gnome-shell[1438]: Window manager warning:
META_CURRENT_TIME used to choose focus window; focus window may not be correct.

This is not a keyboard/mouse issue. I used both on two other computers without
problems (gnome-shell 3.36) or on Intel integrated GPU. I also connected
a different keyboard to this machine with the same effect.

I switched to Xorg (WaylandEnable=false in /etc/gdm3/daemon.conf).
Performance is good, but there are issues unfortunately:

* gnome-terminal is lagging, I have to wait for a cursor to move
  sometimes, it can hang even for a second or two.
* I have to wait for a response from simple, usually immediate
  programs like htop, sometimes quitting is lagging to,
  quittin vim, etc.
* switching between terminal tabs also hangs sometimes for a moment.
* Not all programs are affected, browsers are fine mostly (I had
  one issue, but couldn't reproduce).

I checked KDE and as far as I know it is unaffected at all.
I only experience this on GNOME.

I tried xterm instead of gnome-terminal, it seems unaffected.
I wrote this report using reportbug-gtk and I had some problems
with lags (waiting seconds for Enter to kick in, etc.), same in gnome-terminal.
Scrolling sometimes hangs too.
libinput messages about compositor being slow are appearing in logs.

Similar problems were reported on GNOME's Gitlab, it looks
like only some programs are affected.
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/-/issues/1561
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/-/issues/1516

Someone in those issues pinpointed this behaviour to mutter,
that is why I'm reporting this as a mutter issue (I also
consulted #debian IRC before submitting here).

This issue basically makes terminal annoying to use, and
sometimes unusable. Stuttering and hanging is a no go
for a programmer or a system administrator (like me),
who depends on terminal (I use gnome-shell).

I'm happy to help more, but I could use some help on how
to debug more. I did some things mentioned in those Gitlab
issues (DEBUG mutter, etc.) and check logs, etc., but the
only relevant information that appear in logs is related
to libinput and system/compositor being slow.

Dec 15 22:58:25 wilk /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[1323]: (EE) event2  - Logitech
G513 Carbon Tactile: client bug: event processing lagging behind by 20ms, your
system is too slow
Dec 15 22:59:33 wilk /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[1323]: (EE) event2  - Logitech
G513 Carbon Tactile: client bug: event processing lagging behind by 38ms, your
system is too slow

My other system information:
* Linux wilk 5.9.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.9.11-1 (2020-11-27) x86_64 GNU/Linux
* GNOME Shell 3.38.2
* NVIDIA Driver Version: 450.80.02
* X.Org X Server 1.20.10
  X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
  Build Operating System: Linux 4.19.0-12-amd64 x86_64 Debian
  Current Operating System: Linux wilk 5.9.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.9.11-1
(2020-11-27) x86_64
  Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.9.0-4-amd64
root=UUID=e5e998e7-9b31-4de8-8bce-e516b41bf84c ro quiet
* Ryzen 3100, B550M chipset motherboard, nVidia GTX 1650 GPU, 32 GB RAM)

-- System Information:
Debian Release: bullseye/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 5.9.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU threads)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_PROPRIETARY_MODULE, TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=pl_PL.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=pl_PL.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages mutter-common depends on:
ii  dconf-gsettings-backend [gsettings-backend]  0.38.0-1

mutter-common recommends no packages.

mutter-common suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information