GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 584522
Lots of disk writes when accessing some sites
Last modified: 2009-09-08 14:03:17 UTC
This bug has been reported in the Debian BTS. I believe it has something to do with cookie storage, but not sure. Quoting Luciana Fujii, from http://bugs.debian.org/530964: After using epiphany-webkit for a while, it started writing on average 450K/s ininterruptly. Althoug epiphany-webkit is using a lot of memory as reported in bug#530960, I've checked that the writes are not caused by swapping. This is a line from strace that can be useful: write(52, "SQLite format 3\0\4\0\1\1\0@ \0\3\221\217\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\257\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\1\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\r\0\0\0\1 \0031\0\0031\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\201L\1\7\27##\1 \202_tab lemoz_cookiesmoz_cookies\2CREATE TABLE moz_cookies (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT, value TEXT, host TEXT, path TEXT,expiry INTEGER, lastAccessed INT EGER, isSecure INTEGER, isHttpOnly INTEGER)"..., 1024) = 1024 After closing 3 specific windows, leaving the others openned the behaviour stopped. Those windows had the following pages opened: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/28/exclusive-video-interview-with-the-google-wave-founders/ http://wave.google.com/ http://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Home.aspx
Turns out this is caused by cookie handling. Some sites set and delete dozens of cookies per second. Have fun watching this video: http://kov.eti.br/~kov/orkut-disk-IO.ogv. Cookie handling is also responsible for UI hangs in some sites, such as ohloh.net, which uses a number of cookies. SQLite wants to fsync/fdatasync every write, and this is done synchronously in the main thread. Openning/closing the DB handle is responsible for its own share of flushes, of course.
Created attachment 142694 [details] [review] proposed solution
Pushed to master.