GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 581999
excessive memory usage by ssindex when indexing large spreadsheets
Last modified: 2010-07-19 17:12:55 UTC
Please describe the problem: Binary package hint: tracker Description: Ubuntu 9.04 Release: 9.04 tracker: Installed: 0.6.93-0ubuntu1 gnumeric: Installed: 1.8.4-3ubuntu2 Tracker uses ssindex (from the gnumeric package) to index spreadsheet files When a spreadsheet file is large (>100 mb), the ssindex process uses at least 5 times that amount of memory to index the file. This results in a slow, un-responsive system, requiring the ssindex process to be killed. Steps to reproduce: 1. create a large, complex spreadsheet file in excel 2. run "ssindex -i <file.xls>" Actual results: Memory usage by the ssindex process increases by at least 5 times Expected results: ssindex uses up to the amount of memory equivalent of the filesize, with the process ending after a small while Does this happen every time? yes Other information: I have only managed to reproduce this bug using large complex excel produced file. The data and contents of this file is confidential, however, a developer is welcome to contact me privately for this file.
Spreadsheet files are compressed. Some formats more than others. Why do you expect the internal representation to be about the same size as the disk representation? Insofar calling from Tracker is concerned, it sounds like Tracker should protect the system from trashing either by not indexing very large files or by using "ulimit" to prevent ssindex from getting too big. That would be something to file against Tracker (and probably relates to not only spreadsheets).
Reported this issue to Tracker on https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=624748 . They have marked it invalid since tracker no longer uses ssindex. Should this bug also then be marked invalid?
Closing.