maindavfs2 - Support: sr #109044, davfs2 slow with...

 
 

sr #109044: davfs2 slow with nautilus/thunar/xfce-file-manager

Submitter:  None
Submitted:  Wed 18 May 2016 12:23:30 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  None Priority:  5 - Normal
Severity:  3 - Normal Status:  In Progress
Privacy:  Public Assigned to:  _71007
Originator Email:  -email is unavailable- Open/Closed:  Closed
Operating System:  None
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Sat 28 May 2016 08:41:19 AM UTC, comment #5: 

Hello Werner,

> avoid using file managers that behave that stupid


well, if that would be that simple. I'm using this setup for fileserver access in a NGO and cannot force/persuade the users to use gnome-commander or the like.

I'll try the "giant cache" option.

thanks for your support!

Anonymous
Mon 23 May 2016 04:05:59 PM UTC, comment #4: 

I tested again.
You are right. Thunar will open all files even with thumbnails disabled (I did not notice this because I had the files in the cache). It always reads the first 8 KiB of the file.

As long as I don't implement partial downloads there are only two ways to avoid this:

  • give davfs2 a lot of cache space
  • avoid using file managers that behave that stupid.


If you want to know which program opens a file:

  • set option "debug kernel"
  • search your log file for entries from mount.davfs that start with "FUSE_OPEN:". This entry will show the PID of the process that opens the file.


Werner

- <_71007>
Mon 23 May 2016 10:11:20 AM UTC, comment #3: 

unfortunately the problem with the directory listing persists.

I disabled file preview completely in thunar, pcmanfm and nautilus (checkt if it is really disabled by opening a folder with images -> no preview) but the 3.2 GB iso image still gets downloaded for folder index in each file manager. also not only some x-hundred MB but the whole 3.2 GB.

I also mountet the webdav folder with plain "mount -t davfs" instead of pam_mount, no difference. I tried with coda instead of fuse, no difference.

I'm using arch linux. I just did a fresh install of lubuntu 16.04 for testing and the problem is the same.

Anonymous
Sun 22 May 2016 08:01:01 AM UTC, comment #2: 

thanks for your quick reply Werner.

I disabled file preview in nautilus completely. It didn't help. But in my experience Nautilus does strange things from time to time.

I'll further investigate with pcmanfm and nemo.

Increasing the cache_size is a good idea.

Anonymous
Wed 18 May 2016 06:14:37 PM UTC, comment #1: 

"If I copy the 3.2 GB file with drag 'n drop the file gets copied to the cache dir, then uploaded to the server and then downloaded again (probably for te directory listing)."
For directory listings davfs2 will not download any files. It uses WebDAV method PROPFIND for this. A file will only be downloaded when some application opens the file.

"If I mount the webadv folder directly with nautilus (so nautilus realises that it is a network share, what it doesn't seem to realise when mounten with mount.davfs) directory listigs work flawlessly."
Yes, that's the point. From normal file operations you can't know whether the file systems needs access to some remote server. The file manager could get that information from the system's mount information. But it would also have to know about all the different file system types and there is a plethora of fuse file systems.
When Nautilus connects to the WebDAV server on its own, it of course knows about the problem.

What davfs2 could do:

davfs2 could reduce the problem by only downloading a small part of the file (so called ranged requests). It is on my To-do list, but not high priority because there are other solutions.

What you can do:

  • Prevent those file managers and file chooser from opening files for almost nothing. I checked with Thunar. When I disable preview pictures it will no longer open files. Of course it is not sufficient to disable these pictures only for non-local file systems because Thunar thinks that a davfs2 file system is local.


  • If you only want to prevent davfs2 from downloading the same file over and over again you must increase the allowed cache size with option "cache_size" in davfs2.conf. If you have a file with 3.2 GB you will at least need 4 GB of cache size. davfs2 will still have to do a GET request for every file that is opened. But it will be a conditional GET and only download the file if it has been changed remotely.


Werner

- <_71007>
Wed 18 May 2016 12:23:30 PM UTC, original submission:  

I connected to a webdav server with mount.davfs over a fast ethernet connection. gnome-commander and plain terminal are fast navigating through the folders.
nautilus/thunar/xfce-file manager are "fast" in directories with few small files.

I have a directory with one 3.2 GB "dvd.iso" file.
When I open that containing directory all file manger hang for a minute or two and the network activity goes up to ~90%.
About 3GiB of data go down and a few MiB of data go up the eth0 device. After some time the folder is displayed. Upon clicking "Refresh" I have to wait again - some GiB download again.
I disabled file preview in the file managers.

If I copy the 3.2 GB file with drag 'n drop the file gets copied to the cache dir, then uploaded to the server and then downloaded again (propably for te directory listing).

If I mount the webadv folder directly with nautilus (so nautilus realises that it is a network share, what it doesn't seem to realise when mounten with mount.davfs) directory listigs work flawlessly.

I use davfs2 1.5.2-1 on arch linux.
there are several bugs in the ubuntu tracker, assigned to davfs2 or nautilus:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/davfs2/+bug/185986
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/540507
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/davfs2/+bug/1490555

any help/ideas would be much apprechiated!

Anonymous

 

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    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2019-12-26 _71007 Open/ClosedOpen Closed
    2016-05-18 _71007 StatusNone In Progress
        Assigned toNone _71007

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