scrolling lags in emacs 23.2 with GTK

Question

Hey there,

I am using emacs 23.2 with the GTK toolkit. I built emacs from source using the following configure-params:

./configure --prefix=/usr --without-makeinfo --without-sound

Which builds emacs with the following configuration:

  Where should the build process find the source code?    /home/****/incoming/emacs-23.2
  What operating system and machine description files should Emacs use?
        `s/gnu-linux.h' and `m/intel386.h'
  What compiler should emacs be built with?               gcc -g -O2 -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wno-pointer-sign  
  Should Emacs use the GNU version of malloc?             yes
      (Using Doug Lea's new malloc from the GNU C Library.)
  Should Emacs use a relocating allocator for buffers?    yes
  Should Emacs use mmap(2) for buffer allocation?         no
  What window system should Emacs use?                    x11
  What toolkit should Emacs use?                          GTK
  Where do we find X Windows header files?                Standard dirs
  Where do we find X Windows libraries?                   Standard dirs
  Does Emacs use -lXaw3d?                                 no
  Does Emacs use -lXpm?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use -ljpeg?                                  yes
  Does Emacs use -ltiff?                                  yes
  Does Emacs use a gif library?                           yes -lgif
  Does Emacs use -lpng?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use -lrsvg-2?                                no
  Does Emacs use -lgpm?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use -ldbus?                                  yes
  Does Emacs use -lgconf?                                 no
  Does Emacs use -lfreetype?                              yes
  Does Emacs use -lm17n-flt?                              no
  Does Emacs use -lotf?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use -lxft?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use toolkit scroll bars?                     yes

My OS is OpenSuSE 11.1, GTK version is 2.14.4. When I'm scrolling within files of a common size (about 1000 lines) holding the up/down-keys, emacs almost hangs and produces about 50% CPU-load. I use the following plugins:

• ido
• linum
• tabbar
• auto-complete-config

Starting emacs with -q fixes the problem, but then I don't have any plugins. I can't figure out, which part of my .emacs is responsible for this behaviour. Here's an excerpt of my .emacs-file:

(require 'ido)
(ido-mode 1)

(require 'linum)
(global-linum-mode 1)

(require 'tabbar)
(tabbar-mode 1)
(tabbar-local-mode 0)
(tabbar-mwheel-mode 0)
(setq tabbar-buffer-groups-function
      (lambda ()
        (list "All")))
(global-set-key [M-left] 'tabbar-backward)
(global-set-key [M-right] 'tabbar-forward)

;; hide the toolbar (gtk etc.)
(tool-bar-mode -1)

;; Mouse scrolling enhancements
(setq mouse-wheel-progressive-speed nil)
(setq mouse-wheel-scroll-amount '(5 ((shift) . 5) ((control) . nil)))

;; Smart-HOME
(defun smart-beginning-of-line ()
  "Forces the cursor to jump to the first none whitespace char of the current line when pressing HOME"
  (interactive)
  (let ((oldpos (point)))
    (back-to-indentation)
    (and (= oldpos (point))
         (beginning-of-line))))
(put 'smart-beginning-of-line 'CUA 'move)
(global-set-key [home] 'smart-beginning-of-line)

(custom-set-variables
  ;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom.
  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 '(column-number-mode t)
 '(cua-mode t nil (cua-base))
 '(custom-buffer-indent 4)
 '(delete-selection-mode nil)
 '(display-time-24hr-format t)
 '(display-time-day-and-date 1)
 '(display-time-mode t)
 '(global-font-lock-mode t nil (font-lock))
 '(inhibit-startup-buffer-menu t)
 '(inhibit-startup-screen t)
 '(pc-select-meta-moves-sexps t)
 '(pc-select-selection-keys-only t)
 '(pc-selection-mode t nil (pc-select))
 '(scroll-bar-mode (quote right))
 '(show-paren-mode t)
 '(standard-indent 4)
 '(uniquify-buffer-name-style (quote forward) nil (uniquify)))

(setq-default tab-width 4)
(setq-default indent-tabs-mode t)
(setq c-basic-offset 4)

;; Highlighting of the current line
(global-hl-line-mode 1)
(set-face-background 'hl-line "#E8F2FE")

(defalias 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)
(display-time)
(set-language-environment "Latin-1")

;; Change cursor color according to mode
(setq djcb-read-only-color       "gray")
;; valid values are t, nil, box, hollow, bar, (bar . WIDTH), hbar,
;; (hbar. HEIGHT); see the docs for set-cursor-type
(setq djcb-read-only-cursor-type 'hbar)
(setq djcb-overwrite-color       "red")
(setq djcb-overwrite-cursor-type 'box)
(setq djcb-normal-color          "black")
(setq djcb-normal-cursor-type    'bar)

(defun djcb-set-cursor-according-to-mode ()
  "change cursor color and type according to some minor modes."
  (cond
    (buffer-read-only
      (set-cursor-color djcb-read-only-color)
      (setq cursor-type djcb-read-only-cursor-type))
    (overwrite-mode
      (set-cursor-color djcb-overwrite-color)
      (setq cursor-type djcb-overwrite-cursor-type))
    (t 
      (set-cursor-color djcb-normal-color)
      (setq cursor-type djcb-normal-cursor-type))))
(add-hook 'post-command-hook 'djcb-set-cursor-according-to-mode)

(define-key global-map '[C-right] 'forward-sexp)
(define-key global-map '[C-left] 'backward-sexp)
(define-key global-map '[s-left] 'windmove-left)
(define-key global-map '[s-right] 'windmove-right)
(define-key global-map '[s-up] 'windmove-up)
(define-key global-map '[s-down] 'windmove-down)
(define-key global-map '[S-down-mouse-1] 'mouse-stay-and-copy)
(define-key global-map '[C-M-S-down-mouse-1] 'mouse-stay-and-swap)
(define-key global-map '[S-mouse-2] 'mouse-yank-and-kill)
(define-key global-map '[C-S-down-mouse-1] 'mouse-stay-and-kill)
(define-key global-map "\C-a" 'mark-whole-buffer)

(custom-set-faces
  ;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom.
  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 '(default ((t (:inherit nil :stipple nil :background "#f7f9fa" :foreground "#191919" :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil :underline nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 98 :width normal :foundry "unknown" :family "DejaVu Sans Mono"))))
 '(font-lock-builtin-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "#642880" :weight bold))))
 '(font-lock-comment-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "#3f7f5f"))))
 '(font-lock-constant-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:weight bold))))
 '(font-lock-doc-face ((t (:inherit font-lock-string-face :foreground "#3f7f5f"))))
 '(font-lock-function-name-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "Black" :weight bold))))
 '(font-lock-keyword-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "#7f0055" :weight bold))))
 '(font-lock-preprocessor-face ((t (:inherit font-lock-builtin-face :foreground "#7f0055" :weight bold))))
 '(font-lock-string-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "#0000c0"))))
 '(font-lock-type-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "#7f0055" :weight bold))))
 '(font-lock-variable-name-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "Black"))))
 '(minibuffer-prompt ((t (:foreground "medium blue"))))
 '(mode-line ((t (:background "#222222" :foreground "White"))))
 '(tabbar-button ((t (:inherit tabbar-default :foreground "dark red"))))
 '(tabbar-button-highlight ((t (:inherit tabbar-default :background "white" :box (:line-width 2 :color "white")))))
 '(tabbar-default ((t (:background "gray90" :foreground "gray50" :box (:line-width 3 :color "gray90") :height 100))))
 '(tabbar-highlight ((t (:underline t))))
 '(tabbar-selected ((t (:inherit tabbar-default :foreground "blue" :weight bold))))
 '(tabbar-separator ((t nil)))
 '(tabbar-unselected ((t (:inherit tabbar-default)))))

Any suggestions? Kind regards, mefiX

Answer 1

Looks OK to me. The fact that it runs OK with emacs -q is key, since it means you can solve the problem.

Now, I hope that someone offers you a simple diagnosis based on your files, but if not (and hey it's been 7 hours), you can always try the standard .emacs-debugging slow coach. It's not particularly fun, but it'll work.

Chose your pleasure:

(A) Divide and Conquer

Divide your .emacs mentally into 4 parts. Now figure out which quarter is causing your problem by making four separate trial emacs configs: the first with 1/4 of your emacs, the next with half, the next with three quarters, and the final one with everything.

emacs --no-site-file    # see if the problem is in your site-wide emacs init
emacs -q -l config1     # is it in the first quarter
emacs -q -l config2     # is it in the first half (i.e. the second quarter)
emacs -q -l config3     # is it in the third quarter
emads -q -l config4     # gotta be here, but test again to be sure

If you don't find the culprit, you can further divide. If you suspect you have a culprit, or just like the look of this method better, try this:

(B) Check each step

load a blank emacs with emacs -q

visit your .emacs in a buffer

visit your 1K line file in another buffer.

use eval-last-sexp C-x C-e, or eval-region to try each section or line in your .emacs, either systematically from the beginning, or starting with any suspect function calls.

Slowly but surely, you'll smoke it out. Sorry I can't offer you instant diagnosis.