Laggy X11 after updating to 8.0-RC1

[Rohit Grover]

On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 11:55 AM, Scott Lambert <lambert at lambertfam.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 07:29:46PM -0600, Warren Block wrote:
>> On Tue, 29 Sep 2009, Rohit Grover wrote:
>> >
>> >On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 7:30 AM, Warren Block <wblock at wonkity.com> wrote:
>> >>On Tue, 29 Sep 2009, Rohit Grover wrote:
>> >>
>> >>>I have upgraded to 8.0-RC1 (from 7.2-STABLE) on my MacBook 4,1. I
>> >>>did so by checking out stable/8 under /usr/src, rebuilding
>> >>>kernel/world, and using portupgrade to update all installed ports
>> >>>from packages available on the 8.0RC1 DVD-iso.
>> >>>
>> >>>Since the update, my X11 is laggy. Now, I often have to move the
>> >>>mouse before keystrokes/button presses take effect.
>> >>
>> >>Make sure hal and dbus are enabled in rc.conf and running.  In
>> >>xorg.conf, remove Option "AllowEmptyInput" "off".
>> >>
>> >>A bonus of using hal is that you can remove the keyboard and mouse
>> >>sections from xorg.conf.
>> >>
>> >>>As I've mentioned, I've updated the kernel/world, and updated
>> >>>libpciaccess. Perhaps I'm having issues because I need to remove
>> >>>old libs. How do I remove old libs?
>> >>
>> >>cd /usr/src make check-old-libs make delete-old-libs
>> >
>> >
>> >I deleted old libs using 'make delete-old-libs' from /usr/src,
>> >but that has led to many other problems.  It seems many libraries
>> >currently in use were deleted in the process.  I'm having to
>> >rebuild/reinstall many of my applications to get them working again.
>
> I'm seeing something similar to OP, apparent keyboard buffer delays, but
> maybe not exactly.  When I click from one xterm to another, it may be
> 1 - 30 seconds before my key entries show.  Firefox seems to have less
> delay after clicks into text fields, but sometimes it is noticeable maybe
> 0.25 to 1 second.  Just two xterms, the fluxbox toolbar, and firefox
> running.  No frufru stuff.
>
> I haven't had time to systematically try to narrow down the actual
> problem.
>
> Wiggling the mouse, hitting various keys all seemed like they helped
> at one time or another, but I think I was just trying things until the
> buffer released.  If I leave it alone, the delays seem to be of about
> the same length as when I'm trying random things to break it loose.
>
> Only clicking in a window (particularly an xterm) seems to stall the
> keyboard buffer.  Just wiggling the mouse above or around the focused
> window is no problem.  Clicks take effect immediately.  I can drag
> the window by the title bar or resize the window without stalling the
> keyboard buffer.
>
> I haven't lost a key press that I've noticed.  Now I just type blind
> until it catches up or I actually need to see the results of my typing.
>
> Oh, it seems like if there is something in the xterm which can use the
> mouse input, it may not be stalling the keyboard buffer.  I need to
> watch that more closely.
>
> I've tried with and without an explicit xorg.conf.  Switching
> back to the console works better without.  With doesn't leave me a
> usable display outside of X.
>
> It seems like the delays get longer and longer the longer the X session
> has been up.  But sometimes there will be no delay.  If I switch
> windows/desktops with alt-tab, ctrl-f#, there is no delay.  I've been
> wondering if it could be due to the synaptics touchpad.  I enabled the
> synaptics features about the same time to try to get rid of tap events
> from the touchpad.  I hate touchpads and still haven't figured out how
> to kill tapping.
>
> agp0: <Intel GM965 SVGA controller> on vgapci0
>
> I've done the delete-old stuff and got mad at KDE4 and did a pkg_delete
> -a in a fit of rage.  I went back with fluxbox, took about 2 to 3 hours
> to compile everything from source to have my multiple xterms back.
> Firefox took another 2 hours.  But I was able to *work* while that
> built.
>
> I was running FreeBSD 8-CURRENT pre-beta cycle.  KDE4 was giving me so
> many fits that I would just run Windows instead so I could get work
> done, sad.  I don't know if I would have noticed an input buffer delay
> before I upgraded to BETA2 and replaced KDE with fluxbox.  I just
> couldn't stand to spend that much time in X.  Windows finally annoyed me
> enough to try something different (fluxbox).  This problem has been with
> me through the BETAs and now into RC1, as far as I can remember.  I've
> been busy and trying really hard to ignore workstation issues to get
> work done ever since my PowerBook died.
>
>> When upgrading from one major release of FreeBSD to another, the
>> standard recommendation is to delete all installed applications
>> (pkg_delete -a) and then reinstall everything.  There may be some
>> incantation of portupgrade or portmaster that will do it.  pkg_libchk
>> from sysutils/bsdadminscripts may help.  But that is likely to take
>> longer than just pkg_delete -a and reinstalling applications.
>
> portmaster's man page suggests pkg_delete -a.  It has explicit
> instructions so you don't miss anything putting them back on.  Not
> that I've used the instructions yet.  Rage is not condusive to reading
> manuals.
>

I did a 'pkg_delete -a' to delete all packages, and then installed
fresh packages from the 8.0-RC1 DVD as necessary. I'm back to a useful
system and  X11 isn't lagging anymore.

I hope someone investigates why X11 didn't behave well right after
updating the kernel/world/some-packages.

Thanks.