BetterLoginSpeed
Launchpad Entry: better-login-speed
Packages affected: xorg, gdm, gnome-settings-daemon, compiz, gnome-session, gnome-control-center, jockey, evolution, tracker, network-manager, xdg-user-dirs-gtk, system-config-printer, gnome-screensaver
Summary
The time that ubuntu takes to go from the gdm login prompt to an usable desktop is too long, is should be made faster
Release Note
the intrepid login time has been reduced
Rationale
Users don't like to wait for a minute before being able to use their computer and the slow loading is visually not nice
Use Cases
- Daniel starts his work day, he turn on his computer and go to get a cup of coffee, when he comes back he expect to be able to read his mails and not to have to wait for an another 15 seconds
Design
Several issues have been listed during the uds session and should be addressed
- xorg is taking a lot of time to start
- the gdmprefetch binaries seems to do nothing, it should either be fix or replaced
- xrdb is ran 3 times at login, figure why and reduce the number of calls if possible
- commands are running in a sequential way because they use the environment previously set
- compiz is taking a lot of time and using the disk a lot
- gnome-panel is light but applets are using the disk a lot
- several processes using the disk at the same time is slower, the new gnome-session address that
- gnome-at-visual is using gconftool
- jockey-gtk is not delayed as expected
- evolution-alarm should be started later
- trackerd is still using lot of disk when it's told to do nothing
- nm-applet should be started first
- xdg-user-dir-gtk should run only if the language has changed and maybe go to gnome-settings-daemon
- system-config-printer should be started after the desktop is loaded
- gnome-screensaver not needed there
Implementation
The previously indicated issue should be investigated before determining what changes are required exactly
Comments
KamilPáral: ionice with idle priority could be used to load some files during periods of heavy cpu usage activity
KrisMarsh: I notice that when I log in currently, an applet (I think it may be the clock + weather lookup applet) blocks the top gnome panel and effectively disables it for a few seconds. It would be nice if this wasn't allowed to happen (maybe if gnome-panel loaded applets in a different thread or something?)
MertDirik: "* xrdb is ran 3 times at login, figure why and reduce the number of calls if possible" This document has the answer http://www.colitti.com/lorenzo/publications/gnome-sane.pdf