[solved] Recent degradation in performance? [v6.0.30, Linux]

edited November 14, 2023
I perceive there has been some degradation in Zotero's performance in recent builds -- certainly 6.0.30 and probably 6.0.28-29 too.

The symptoms are long (20 second) lags on operations, including
- move to bin
- empty bin
- rename file (attached to item, synced to Zotero cloud)
- right click, generate bibliography from item

During each of these operations a dialog box will hang on the screen and its button are unresponsive until the dialog disappears. Only a single core (of 20) is being used.
  • edited November 14, 2023
    I am using Zotero on my iPad Pro (iOS 16.6.1) and Macbook Air (Monterey 12.6.9) and I came here to ask about the same thing: very long lag times that I haven't experienced before.

    I use my unlimited storage capacity liberally (I subscribe to the unlimited data option), and I wonder if having 22,000 items makes my library unwieldy. How do other people handle large libraries? I use the library for my own research on many different sub-topics in my field as well as for teaching and advising graduate students, so I can't envision dividing it into smaller libraries: everything is related to everything else.
  • 1,500 items here, so the issue -- to be identified -- would seem to be unrelated to library size.
  • I don't think these are likely the same issue.
    Chances are that Jmbarker's issues are indeed related to library size, though I suspect there's something specific going on within the library -- 22k isn't all that large and it's very odd you'd also see issues on the iOS app, which is completely distinct. Is that really the case?

    johnhill -- a library with 1.5k items should show no lags whatsoever on the other hand. Which Linux distro, how did you install, what specs does your computer have, do you have any add-ons enabled and have you tested without those?

    Both, could you provide a debug ID from the Desktop app for an operation that takes unusually long (like moving an item to trash):
    https://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output
  • edited November 14, 2023
    Machine:
    ```
    OS: Manjaro Linux x86_64
    Host: XPS 15 9530
    Kernel: 6.5.11-1-MANJARO
    Uptime: 1 hour, 26 mins
    Packages: 1363 (pacman)
    Shell: bash 5.2.15
    Resolution: 1920x1200
    DE: Xfce 4.18
    WM: Xfwm4
    WM Theme: Matcha-sea
    Theme: Matcha-sea [GTK2], Adwaita [GTK3]
    Icons: Papirus-Maia [GTK2], Adwaita [GTK3]
    Terminal: xfce4-terminal
    Terminal Font: Monospace 12
    CPU: 13th Gen Intel i7-13700H (20) @ 4.800GHz
    GPU: Intel Raptor Lake-P [Iris Xe Graphics]
    Memory: 5394MiB / 31769MiB
    ```

    Zotero Version: zotero-bin 6.0.30-1
    Installed from: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/zotero-bin

    Add-ons:
    ```
    Better BIbTex 6.7.136
    Mdnotes 0.1.3
    scite 1.11.6
    Zotero LibreOffice 6.0.4.SA.6.0.30
    ZotFile 5.1.2
    Zutilo 3.10.0
    ```

    # Steps to reproduce
    1. Adjust the case of title field (Sentence Case / Title Case)
    2. Right click item, Generate Bibliography

    Debug ID with add-ons: `D1187727378`
    Debug ID all add-ons disabled: `D1562720895`

    # Observation
    The lag disappeared when all add-ons where disabled.

  • edited November 14, 2023
    Edit: yeah, so test with BBT disabled for a start and see if that changes things.
  • @adamsmith
    Looks like BBT is responsible for some delay. I've been using the same BBT settings (export .bib file on database change) for years without encountering any UI freeze. The export used to progress in the background, with a spinner near the sync icon.
  • You'd want to talk to the BBT developer to troubleshoot changes there (post to his github, he's very responsive).
    Ditto for any other add-ons that cause delays (I'd guess Scite and MDnotes are the other likely candidates), but this clearly isn't Zotero performance issue if it goes away without add-ons.
  • @adamsmith
    Marking as solved, as I agree the problem must be the operation of some add-ons.
  • There is a problem where auto-exports have a performance impact for which I am working on a solution.
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