LibreOffice Slow to Launch
 

Anybody else experience this?

This has haunted me for some months. Today I spent several hours digging around and trying different things.

I've gone through the gamut of testing various versions from 6.0.6 to 6.4.1. I am using the SBo RPM version. A tried Eric's 6.2.8 version. All fail to launch in less than 15 seconds. The slow launch is repeatable by flushing the disk cache. With disk caching launch time is about 1-2 seconds.

By testing the 6.0.6 version I was able to recover the old quick start option. That improves first launch considerably, but flushing the disk cache reverts the launch to 15 seconds or longer.

I ran strace but I am in over my head. I notice many EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) statements. The strace shows attempts to contact nscd but they seem irrelevant because I manually launched nscd and ensured the socket was available.

The slow launch is hardly the end of the world, but I feel like I'm back in the OpenOffice.org 1.x days.

I searched LQ and the web to no avail.

Slackware 64 14.2
Xfce/MATE
ASUS Z170-K motherboard
Intel Core i5-6400 Skylake 2.7 GHz Quad Core CPU
16 GB DDR4 RAM
On-board HD Graphics 530
WD WD2003FZEX Black SATA-III 7200 rpm 2 TB hard drive
WD WD1002FAEX Black SATA-III 7200 rpm 1 TB hard drive

Thanks! :)

Interesting. Just finished downloading Libreoffice 6.4.1 (Eric's package) and upgraded my 6.4.0 installation. Libreoffice 6.4.1 opens quickly as expected (under 5 seconds).
My main PC is a Dell Optiplex 990 i7 @ 3.40 GHz, with 16 GB RAM, and an SSD. XFCE is my desktop.

Edit added later: I'm running Slackware64-current.

Try starting LO from the command line. There's chance--a slim one, but a chance--that it might throw some useful information to the terminal during startup.

Been there done that. :)

As you've tested a load of different versions of LO including ones that should never be run in Slackware 14.2 maybe your LO config has become corrupted.

Move .config/libreoffice to safe place. Log out and back in to the user.

If you want to play really safe and have the opportunity restart your machine. This shouldn't be necessary, but it might give you peace of mind.

As mentioned in the other thread about greyed out menus, I just built LO-6.4.1.2 using the LibreOffice SlackBuild in Ponce's repo (but changing version number of course) in an up to date -current VM. LO startup is 2 sec max. It is a brand new VM, used only for the build of LO itself, so no user caches involved.

chris

I've noticed very slow starts since installing Eric's 6.2.5.2. I think the first stage (splash screen) is about the same length as before (it's always been a dawdle) but there are two new waits after the window comes up. During the first and longer of these, the window is completely black. Then the menu bar and text area appear but there is another wait until the toolbar comes up.

The previous version I used was also from Eric but it didn't behave like this.

Another way to ignore existing configs is to restart in safe mode (from Help->Restart in Safe Mode...)

chris

Thank you everybody for the replies!

Okay, perhaps. I never saw any such memo. I don't really care if I should remain fixed at 6.2.8 on 14.2. I just want the launch delay resolved. :)

I did not share as much in my OP but been there done that. :)

I deleted ~/.cache files.

I tried a new user account.

Tried that too. :)

Thank you Hazel! At least one confirmation. :)

More thoughts and details.

I do not experience the delay on my laptop. The laptop has an SSD but is SATA II. On the laptop LO launches in about 4-5 seconds even after flushing the disk cache.

The office system is SATA III with SATA III disks, albeit spinners. Nonetheless I considered whether the problem might be disk related. I changed the disk I/O scheduler from cfq to deadline. That made things worse for the entire system and did not eliminate the delay with LO.

I used a temporary /opt mount point on a different SATA III disk and copied the LO files. Same delay.

If the problem is disk related, the temporary disk test might indicate a problem with the controller chips or drivers.

I don't remember when this launch delay started. I distinctly remember noticing immediately, but I don't remember which version. I put off digging into the issue because I assumed others were experiencing the same problem and eventually the next LO point release would provide remedy. That hasn't been the case. I searched the web for about an hour looking for launch complaints. Nothing.

Whatever is going on seems to be an oddball corner case issue.

I have not tested reverting kernels. Possibly the kernel updates are masking or causing the delay.

I'm stumped.

I also have a slow startup - but only the first start after a reboot. Opening LO a second time results in a fast start. Around 5 seconds.

Yes, I see that too because of disk caching. Please try the following:

* Launch LO.
* Note the launch time.
* Exit.

* Launch LO.
* Note the launch time.
* Exit.

* As root: sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
* Launch LO.
* Note the launch time.

Yeah, same here. SBo RPM repackage. Version = 6.2.5.2. It loads in <1 sec.
Just a thought... does it do the same thing in KDE?
Have you tried running LO from an SSD in the same machine? I'd be keen to know the difference. I can't use spinning disks any more...

18 sec until the toolbar comes up
7 sec
18 sec

SSD and NVMe are much much faster than spinning HDD.