[csw-users] slow startup of desktop apps

[Jon LaBadie]

I've few desktop icons, the ones in question here are staroffice, mozilla,
firefox, and thunderbird.  Though I'm using kde at the moment, I'm pretty
sure I see the similar behavior under gnome.

After clicking the applications icon, the mouse cursor changes to include
an animated, bouncing, minature copy of the desktop icon.  The animation
continues for a good 30 - 45 seconds, well after the application is capable
of responding and functioning.

I've run truss on the apps after they start up and each seems to get into
a loop similar to that shown below (from a firefox startup).

18368/1:        read(3, "0F\0D904 *\0 0\00103\0\0".., 192)      = 192
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 1
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 1
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 1
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 1
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 1
18368/1:        ioctl(3, I_NREAD, 0x08045368)                   = 1
18368/1:        read(3, "0F\0D904 *\0 0\00103\0\0".., 192)      = 192
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        ioctl(3, I_NREAD, 0x08045368)                   = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 7, -1)                         = 1
18368/1:        ioctl(3, I_NREAD, 0x0804535C)                   = 1
18368/1:        read(3, "0F\0D904 *\0 0\00103\0\0".., 192)      = 192
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        ioctl(3, I_NREAD, 0x08045368)                   = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 7, -1)                         = 1
18368/1:        ioctl(3, I_NREAD, 0x0804535C)                   = 1
18368/1:        read(3, "0F\0D904 *\0 0\00103\0\0".., 192)      = 192



This continues for over 10000 lines, finally ending with something like:

18368/1:        read(3, "0F\0D904 *\0 0\00103\0\0".., 192)      = 192
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 6, 0)                          = 0
18368/1:        ioctl(3, I_NREAD, 0x08045368)                   = 0
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 7, -1)         (sleeping...)
18368/4:        lwp_park(0xD0C9FEF0, 0)                         Err#62 ETIME
18368/1:        poll(0x08302DC8, 7, -1)                         = 1
18368/4:        write(6, "FA", 1)                               = 1
18368/1:        lwp_park(0x00000000, 0)                         = 0
18368/4:        lwp_unpark(1, 1)                                = 0
18368/1:        write(8, " 8", 1)                               = 1
18368/4:        gettimeofday(0xD0C9FF50)                        = 0
18368/2:        poll(0xD13FFD38, 1, -1)                         = 1
18368/4:        gettimeofday(0xD0C9FEE0)                        = 0
18368/2:        read(7, " 8", 1024)                             = 1
18368/1:        lwp_park(0x00000000, 0)                         = 0
18368/1:        read(5, "FA", 1)                                = 1
18368/1:        ioctl(3, I_NREAD, 0x08045368)                   = 0


Is this typical of others experience?  Perhaps bad config of something?

Thanks,
jon