Stellarium needs 16GB RAM, runs 0.022 FPS on OSX Yosemite 10.10.2

Asked by Ray Butler

When I run Stellarium on my Mac it now takes up almost 16GB of RAM (the machine has 16GB) and launches at a crawl, running at 0.022 FPS; the process lists as "Not Responding" in the Activity Monitor. I don't use it that often, but previously it used run normally.

I wondered if the huge RAM requirement was due to me previously asking it to download extra star catalogs?

-> Applications/Stellarium -> right click -> Show Package Contents -> /Contents/Resources/stars etc.
...but this /Contents dir is only 128 MB - can't explain the 16GB!

++++++++

So I upgraded Stellarium from 0.12.4 to latest 0.13.2. This replaced the entire /Contents folder as well.
-> restart Stellarium: still bad

++++++++

Then I located ~/Library/Preferences/org.stellarium.Stellarium.plist
-> this contains a reference to NSNavLastRootDirectory, set to ~/SysAdmin/Mac_and_iPhoneApps/Apps_Installers_Drivers/Astro/Stellarium
    Maybe something there is causing a startup problem?
-> cd ~/SysAdmin/Mac_and_iPhoneApps/Apps_Installers_Drivers/Astro/Stellarium
    gzip Stellarium_SolarSystemConfigFile_backup
    gzip MPCORB.DAT
   - using gzip to keep them, but prevent them being read at startup (they are the only 2 files in that dir, other than the .dmg file used to install Stellarium itself)
-> restart Stellarium: still bad

++++++++

Then I opened ~/Library/Preferences/org.stellarium.Stellarium.plist in Xcode
-> changed NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode from YES to NO
-> restart Stellarium: still bad

++++++++

Then I moved ~/Library/Preferences/org.stellarium.Stellarium.plist to ~/foo/, so that it can't be found at startup
-> restart Stellarium: still bad

I'm out of ideas at this point. I am not aware of any other startup/config/preference files that could be messing it up, and I am using the latest version.

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treaves (treaves) said :
#1

I'm a developer running this on OS X and I just do not see this issue. On my laptop the app runs at over 60 FPS.

Over the years I've cleaned up some of the install club on the Mac. You can delete all files & folders related to the app, and the app will re-create them (in their correct locations). The entry you see on last root directory is set by the OS as part of it's Sandboxing feature.

You can try having Activity Monitor running, and run Spindump to see what is going on.

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said :
#2

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Needs information' state without activity for the last 15 days.

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Ray Butler (ray-butler) said :
#3

Thanks for the reply. Been too busy with work to follow it up for the past few weeks.

OK...regarding your Spindump suggestion...I can do this:
    cd /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/
    more stellarium_2015-04-15-092753_Rays-Mac-mini.hang
- but how do I glean any useful information from the vast hang report? Is there a particular string I should 'grep' for?

I found some help here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10709577/spindump-analysis-instructions
- but it still requires that you to know what to look for in the report!

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treaves (treaves) said :
#4

Attach the report here.

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Ray Butler (ray-butler) said :
#5

Eh, sorry for the dumb question, but I don't see a facility/button to add an attachment?

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treaves (treaves) said :
#6

I thought you could.

I've PM'ed you my e-mail, please just send it to that address.

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Ray Butler (ray-butler) said :
#7

OK, I've emailed you the post-crash (post-force-quit) hang log, as well as an Activity Monitor sample taken while it was trying to run.

Thanks very much for looking into this.

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Ray Butler (ray-butler) said :
#9

Hi Timothy,

Also, you said below - ³Over the years I've cleaned up some of the install
club on the Mac. You can delete all files & folders related to the app,
and the app will re-create them (in their correct locations)². Other than
the app itself in /Applications, where else should I be looking for files
and folders to delete? Should I trash ~/Library/Application
Support/Stellarium?

Thanks,
Ray

On 17/03/2015 12:51, "treaves" <email address hidden>
wrote:

>Your question #263604 on Stellarium changed:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium/+question/263604
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
>treaves requested more information:
>I'm a developer running this on OS X and I just do not see this issue.
>On my laptop the app runs at over 60 FPS.
>
>Over the years I've cleaned up some of the install club on the Mac. You
>can delete all files & folders related to the app, and the app will re-
>create them (in their correct locations). The entry you see on last
>root directory is set by the OS as part of it's Sandboxing feature.
>
>You can try having Activity Monitor running, and run Spindump to see
>what is going on.
>
>--
>To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
>this email or enter your reply at the following page:
>https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium/+question/263604
>
>You received this question notification because you asked the question.

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said :
#10

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.