You are here

Much slower startup than the normal version.

61 posts / 0 new
Last post
avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Much slower startup than the normal version.

Hi!

I tried the portable version, because of some issues I have. But the startup performance is remarkably slower than for the normal version.
I takes like five second for LO-s splash window to appear, which is instant with the installed version. After that they're the same. The splash window only appears for a fraction of a second. It's almost as if it had a timer, except that I see high cpu usage for soffice.bin and libreofficeportable.exe in Process Explorer.

So why is this? Is this a bug or different issue?

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Same Speed

LibreOffice Portable and installed LibreOffice have no differences in terms of files or startup speed. LibreOffice Portable used to be compressed to save space which added some startup under some slower antiviruses but this was discontinued a while ago.

Two things that can affect your startup speed are (1) if you have local LibreOffice set to run its quick start mode which loads part of LibreOffice when Windows starts up and (2) the speed of the drive each are running from.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Well, neither's the case. The

Well, neither's the case. The only difference is that I have 64 bit installed and only 32bit is available for portable.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Same Files

Since LibreOffice Portable contains the exact same files as LibreOffice, something else is afoot on your PC. Please try temporarily installing the 32-bit version to compare start speeds. Technically, the 64-bit version should take a hair longer to start up. Then try copying the files from the 32-bit install (C:\Program Files (x84)\LibreOffice) to a location next to your LibreOffice Portable install (aka the same drive same location). Then run soffice.exe directly. This will run the 32-bit version in local mode and you can compare the launch speed there as well. Some antivirus will cache scan results for apps within Program Files but not for other locations, so the apps will take longer to start up.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
I was writing my comment

I was writing my comment concurrently. I have them all on the same SSD and don't have antivirus software. So those are not factors.

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Did some testing. Downloaded

Did some testing. Downloaded a 64 bit LO portable from [link to illegal software side removed by mod JTH]. And it runs much faster. Around the same speed as the installed version. Unfortunately that portable version is ridiculous because it only runs with elevated rights...

But it's even more interesting that when I replace the app files in \App\libreoffice\ with the files from that version it still starts slower. Although not as much as with the original version. This strongly suggests that the portableapps.com version causes some additional startup delay.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Permissions Issue

If it asks for elevated rights, something is wrong with your install. Specifically, there's a permissions issue. None of our apps require elevated rights to install. The only apps that require elevated rights to run are the ones that require it for their functionality (uninstallers, defragmentation, registry cleaners). I'd highly recommend a fresh install of LibreOffice Portable to your Desktop directory temporarily for comparison. Only install in your current user context. Don't use any sort of permissions utilities like DropMyRights or similar.

In my case, both LibreOffice 32-bit installed and portable (sitting on my Desktop temporarily) start in approximately 1 second when run from my C: drive (an SSD) on my Windows 8.1 x64 box. This is a first run from a clean start in both cases (secondary launches will use cache and be faster). Windows's built-in antivirus is running in both cases.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
You didn't read my post

You didn't read my post properly. It is the portable version from elsewhere that I downloaded for comparison/testing that runs with elevated rights.

I tried with fresh install bot full and removing other languages. Didn't change anything.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Full Testing

Please do the full testing I outlined above: https://portableapps.com/comment/227759#comment-227759

Specifically, compare 32-bit installed and copying out the 32-bit files and running them from elsewhere on the same drive.

Note that the very first run of the portable version will be noticeably slower as it is generating the updated profile configuration for all included modules. All local versions you use, even a freshly installed one, will be using the existing local profile and have no such speed deficit. So, to get an accurate speed measurement of the portable version, install it, run it once (to let it build the config), then reboot. When you run it again, this will show you a typical first run speed after bootup without the config rebuild and without it getting a boost from the PCs caching.

Additionally, what antivirus are you using?

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Running the soffice.exe

Running the soffice.exe directly makes no difference speed-wise. It's still a lot slower.
The first run is not much slower then the later runs. it starts in like 7 seconds instead of 5. The splash window still only appears after five seconds.

I already told that I have no AV...

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
soffice.exe

If you run soffice.exe directly, you're running a standard copy of LibreOffice in local mode. Running it directly means you're using *NONE* of our code or launcher add-on to make it portable. If that is starting slower than the installed version, that's not something related to anything we did.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
I downloaded an tested the

I downloaded an tested the x86 version too for completeness. It was also much faster. When it to the portablepps.com version's folder and ran it as portable it became slow. The splash window only appears after about 3 seconds instead of almost instantly. It's still two seconds faster than with the original libreoffice files in the portable folder, even though they're supposed to be the same.

All signs point to the portableapps.com version causing a startup delay

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Move It?

Did you move the x86 version to another location and run it like I suggested a couple times above? This would be similar to running soffice.exe within the portable package. It runs in local mode. You mentioned above running soffice.exe. Any time you do that, you're running unaltered LibreOffice with none of our changes.

If you have a slower hard drive you're running from, there is a small possibility that the portablized fonts are adding up to 1 second to launch time. LibreOffice Portable allows you to take fonts with you and register them in Windows for use temporarily. Delete the contents of LibreOfficePortable\Apps\fonts (LO built in fonts installed locally when you install LO locally) and LibreOfficePortable\Data\fonts (user added fonts) to remove this feature.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
I'm getting tired of you

I'm getting tired of you saying the same thing and not reading my comments.
I already said that I'm testing on an SSD a bunch of times.

"Did you move the x86 version to another location and run it like I suggested a couple times above? This would be similar to running soffice.exe within the portable package."
I don't see the point in copying it to another folder on the same SSD. Anyway, wherever I copy your "libreoffice" folder from the portable installation I get the five second delay before getting the splash window.

"Any time you do that, you're running unaltered LibreOffice with none of our changes."

I VERY much doubt that based on the above results.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Please Do It

Please copy the LibreOffice 32-bit local folder to your Desktop directory temporarily. In fact, you can delete the contents of the LibreOfficePortable\App\libreoffice folder and copy the contents of C:\Program Files (x86)\LibreOffice 5 into that folder. Within there, compare running soffice.exe directly (your unaltered copy of LibreOffice running in local mode but not from Program Files) vs running LibreOfficePortable.exe. Note that this copy will now not run from PCs without the Visual C++ runtimes installed, though (see next paragraph).

I built it myself by installing LibreOffice using the standard files within Windows 8.1 and then copying them to LibreOfficePortable\App\LibreOffice. The only change is to add the standalone Microsoft Visual C++ runtime DLLs to the program and URE directories so that it will work on PCs where the appropriate runtimes are not already installed. I'm not quite sure why you're calling me a liar when I'm trying to help you for free.

Also, please ensure you're using version 5.1.1 of both local and portable. 5.1.2 has some minor speed improvements but isn't yet posted in portable form.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
I tried this too. That's when

I tried this too. That's when it runs a little faster with the three second delay instead of 5.
I ATM have the x64 version installed, and I'm tired of reinstalling. But anyway I tried it again. But pretty much the same happens. When I run it directly it instantly shows the splash window. When I do it in portable mode it has a three second delay. So it's better than with the default files.

I didn't say you were lying, just not paying attention to everything I wrote.

(I just installed 5.1.2 and I don't feel like reinstalling anymore)

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Fonts

If soffice.exe run directly is slower in either location or either copy, it's not related to us. It's just running in local mode and using a local profile with none of our code and none of our settings. 5.1.2 will be a bit faster than 5.1.1.

As mentioned above, the only thing that can slow it down by maybe a second when launching from LibreOfficePortable.exe would be the font loading. That happens before the splash shows up as it's happening in the launcher before soffice.exe is executed (soffice.exe is showing you the splash screen). The only thing the launcher does is load up any fonts you have taken portably and then adjust paths within LibreOffice's settings. If you have no fonts (by deleting the directory contents I mentioned above), it skips that. If LO Portable hasn't moved, it skips that, too. The illegal packages of LibreOffice you'll find on other sites like the one you mentioned do not have font loading.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
That's not what I said. When

That's not what I said. When I run the soffice.exe that I copied it starts fast. When I start with LibreOfficePortable.exe it starts slower.
Now that you mentioned I removed the fonts folder too. It didn't change anything.

If I do the opposite and copy the original libreoffice\ folder from the portable package to anywhere it runs slow.

So to summarize:
What you have in the portable package starts slow wherever I put it and run it the normal way. (retains the ~5 second delay for the splash window to appear)
When I copy normal files from what I have installed it becomes slow if I use it with your launcher in portable mode. (~3 seconds for the splash window, so not quite as slow with the packaged files)

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
5.1.1 vs 5.1.2

Just to confirm, you have 5.1.2 installed locally and that's what you're copying into LibreOfficePortable\App\libreoffice, correct? And running soffice.exe of the 5.1.2 files you copy in runs the same speed as when you run it from Program Files, correct? Additionally, what is the full path to your LibreOffice Portable install and what operating system are you using? I may fire up a VM and see what I can recreate.

Note for completeness: On my system, the local install 5.1.1 starts a hair slower than portable 5.1.1, but both start within 1 second, so I can't accurately measure it. This is likely because it's running on a pretty beefy machine.

Extra note for completeness: I'm still fighting off a bit of the flu, so may miss an occasional point in analysis.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Yes to all. Though I

Yes to all. Though I initially tried with 5.1.1 (x64). Later on I tried with 5.1.2 x86 than x64. Doesn't seem to make a difference.

I'm on win8 x64.

As for folders I had multiple ones. The main is "d:\Programok\LibreOfficePortable\". I made pure installs in a different folder with and without removing extra language files and had the same experience.

3D1T0R
3D1T0R's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 months ago
Developer
Joined: 2006-12-29 23:48
Languages? / Slow 4K reads/writes?

I've done some testing, both on an SSD, and a conventional hard drive.
From the SSD I reliably have a half second or less delay with the MultilingualStandard Portable Package, with the exception of the first launch after moving from one folder to another (about 5 seconds). Also from the SSD, I have about a 2 second delay if I use the MultilingualALL Portable Package.
From a conventional hard drive, I have about a 2 second delay with the MultilingualStandard Portable Package, and about a 4 second delay with the MultilingualAll Portable Package.
Looking at the SSD again, if I set the installer to use a language other than English I get a delay of about 4 seconds (I don't know if this is because this install of Windows is in English, or because of something about the Portable Package, or if it's just a quirk of this system).

Finally, if I check the "Remove Extra Languages" checkbox on either Portable Package, then my delay is about a quarter of a second from the SSD, and about 2 seconds from a conventional hard drive.

As for differences I see between the files I extracted from the LibreOffice 5.1.1 msi installer, and an installed version of LibreOffice Portable, there are a couple of things that wouldn't apply to a Portable install have been removed (quickstart.exe, and some shell integration dlls), the Visual C++ runtimes have been added, the python bits have precompiled bytecode included, and one file has been altered to point to the Data directory instead of somewhere in the user folder. If anything, these changes should make it load a little bit faster, not slower.

Unless you're including all language files, the only thing I can think of is that there's something about your specific system that's slowing it down.
Perhaps you should also try benchmarking your SSD with CrystalDiskMark and see if your 4K reads/writes are particularly slow, as this could potentially slow down the PortableApps.com Launcher.

~3D1T0R

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
This reminds me. I don't have

This reminds me. I don't have the standard, but the "all" language variant. (The standard doesn't have my language)

I don't use english for the installer either, I naturally use my own language (hungarian) for the installer.

So all of this might be because of the localization? That's disappointing.

"Looking at the SSD again, if I set the installer to use a language other than English I get a delay of about 4 seconds"

Is this with the "all" package?

Finally, if I check the "Remove Extra Languages" checkbox on either Portable Package, then my delay is about a quarter of a second from the SSD

This is different from what I experience. They are equally slow to me, with or without removal, that's why I didn't think about the languages at all. (I only tried the all languages package for the aforementioned reason.)

3D1T0R
3D1T0R's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 months ago
Developer
Joined: 2006-12-29 23:48
My experience:

My experience was that when testing with non-English installation, several languages were present after installation, whether or not I selected "Remove Extra Languages", and that it would start noticeably slower when it had a bunch of language files present.

Perhaps you could manually go through LibreOffice Portable's file structure, and remove language files for any remaining languages, in order to test if this is what's causing your slowdown. (You could do an English "Remove Extra Languages" installation for comparison to know which files you can remove.)

~3D1T0R

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Well, I can confirm that they

Well, I can confirm that they're available in the list in the options. But something's removed because the the size of the folder contents is lover by 360+MB.
Although I'm not sure what because the user interface language is successfully changed when I switch languages, except the options menu.
This seems abnormal and undesirable. preferably they should be removed totally as with the normal version. There I only have my language. (Not even english)

3D1T0R
3D1T0R's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 months ago
Developer
Joined: 2006-12-29 23:48
What language are you using?

Any chance you could tell us what language you're using?

~3D1T0R

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
I already did, but here it is

I already did, but here it is: Hungarian

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Looks quite certain this is a

Looks quite certain this is a langpack issue.
I removed everything from ".\App\libreoffice\share\registry\res\" except "registry_hu.xcd" and "fcfg_langpack_hu.xcd".
Everything that had a "_" in the filename, or started with Langpack- (except Langpack-hu.xcd) from \App\libreoffice\share\registry\

I don't know if I removed everything that makes sense to be removed. Or I removed too much and something will be broken. But it's much faster now.
It feels like less then one second slower than the native LO. Also now only hungarian appears in the language select menu, just like in the native LO.
I suspect the remaining difference is also caused by something within .\App\libreoffice\share\.

So, does anyone have tips what else to remove?

Update:
So, looking with Total Commander, I only see a few extra files after this in the .\App\libreoffice\. folder. English language readme files in in the readmes folder.
Files in various __pycache__\ folders, which I guess is irrelevant if it's indeed some sort of cache. Dll-s, some extra png-s, desktophelper.txt, and a bunch of language related files in .\App\libreoffice\program\resource\. I removed everything with a "-", now the files are the same. No further speed improvement. So the remaining delay comes from somewhere else.

3D1T0R
3D1T0R's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 months ago
Developer
Joined: 2006-12-29 23:48
Sorry, I hadn't noticed that you'd already mentioned which lang…

Sorry, I hadn't noticed that you'd already mentioned which language you use.

Anyway, I've made a batch script that you can place in your LibreOfficePortable folder, and when you run, it will remove just about everything (not quite, but close) that's part of any translation other than Hungarian.

I haven't had any issues with it in my testing, but I couldn't really do all that much since I don't know Hungarian.
Please let us know here if this works, or if you have any problems caused by it.
(Also, the first launch will probably still be slow, as it looks for things that have been deleted, before it realises that they're gone.)

Edit: Page got too long when I posted it here. So I moved it to PasteBin. See http://pastebin.com/QtaaihMM.

~3D1T0R

Herb_
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 5 months ago
Joined: 2013-12-27 05:20
See also...
avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Cool. Thanks!

Cool. Thanks!

Maybe you guys could add these files to be removed, for the remove extra languages option of the LO portable installer?

3D1T0R
3D1T0R's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 months ago
Developer
Joined: 2006-12-29 23:48
Test it, let us know.

If you can test it thoroughly, and verify for us that no part of (Hungarian) LibreOffice has any issues caused by it, then John might consider adding some of these files to the list that gets removed, but if you do have any problems, please also let know, so we can figure out which of these files should not be removed.

Thank you.

~3D1T0R

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
So far I didn't notice

So far I didn't notice anything. Although I can't say that I'm an intense Libreoffice user.

farat_as
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2012-02-14 09:02
Hi John,

Hi John,

1- portable apps includes all it's depending libraries inside itself (even shared - dynamic libraries).
2- Libraries are loading on run-time or on start-up of the app.

So up those two informations; portableapps are mostly slow than installed apps? am I right? this is normal because, shared libraries are loaded before, but they are not using by portableapps. shared libraries are using by normal installed apps.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Incorrect

First: The only shared library we will add to an app is the MS Visual C runtime. This is generally one or two DLLs. And we only need to add it to maybe 20% of apps.

Second: Shared libraries like MS Visual C that are installed locally are not loaded at Windows start. They are loaded as an app needs them. As there are over a dozen different versions of the C library in active use, the chance of you having the C library local and have already run an app that uses the version and bit-depth (32 vs 64-bit) of that library and that library still being cached in RAM is relatively slim.

Third: The state of shared MS Visual C libraries is so bad that a good chunk of developers have completely given up on the installed variety and bundle the libraries directly like a portable app would. Locally installed Firefox bundles MS Visual C 2015, Thunderbird bundles MS Visual C 2013, Google Drive bundles MS Visual C/MFC/ATL 2008, Adobe has bundled multiple versions of MS Visual C in multiple versions of their products, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.

So, generally, there is no performance penalty with shared library use compared to the local version. Even in the small percentage of cases where we include it manually, your chances of having the library already loaded when you ran a local install would be low anyway, so there wouldn't be any difference there either.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Maybe a dumb question: Can't

Maybe a dumb question: Can't they just use static linking for the MSVC libraries?

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Unknown

I don't know if the individual apps can or not. But we don't compile them, the publishers do.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

farat_as
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2012-02-14 09:02
You mean: a portableapp

You mean: a portableapp theorically can be slow, but pratically this is not an important case for end users...

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
No

The post you are responding to says that there's really no real difference in speed between bundled libraries and calling the installed shared libraries on the local machine. I'm unsure how you got "slow apps don't matter" out of that post.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Updated Removal of Unused Languages in 5.1.3 and 5.0.6 Still

Today's releases of LibreOffice Portable 5.1.3 and LibreOffice Portable Still 5.0.6 include a large update to the installer's feature to remove unusude languages. This should bring it closer to on-par with the installed version if you only select your own language and English.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Cool. I'll have a look.

Cool. I'll have a look.

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Why on earth does the

Why on earth does the installer waste space on drive C I run it on D? Installation fails because I run out of space on it. For heavens sake...

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
TEMP

If your C drive has less than 1GB of free space, you definitely shouldn't have your TEMP directory on it. Or your USERPROFILE for that matter.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

cioma
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 2 months ago
Joined: 2009-04-23 12:25
v5.2.1 still takes several

v5.2.1 still takes several seconds to start up. Is there a reliable fix for that?

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
No. You can purge language

No. You can purge language files to improve it, but it will still be noticeably slower. (1-2s instead of 5-6s)
You should use the option for removing other languages on installation. I'm not sure if in the current version it does the same as the script shared by 3D1T0R in one of the earlier comments, so you can try running that too.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
5.2.2

I'm working on a couple additional tweaks for 5.2.2 when you select to remove other languages. Specifically, there are some files that are small and not worth removing from a size prospective but will affect load time (and vice versa). I'm ensuring it's reliable so nothing gets broken.

You can also remove the fonts from LibreOfficePortable\App\fonts if you'd like. That means the launcher won't have Windows load the fonts in as it starts up which will slow things down just a bit. I'd suggest leaving the symbol font in otherwise Math breaks.

I'm also considering a way to alleviate the font load time without losing out on fonts: https://portableapps.com/node/55166

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

avada
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2014-02-03 09:33
Hi!

Hi!
I don't have any input to give, but please notify us here when 5.2.2 (or whichever version has improvements load-time wise) is released, so that we don't forget to test it.

GoD
Offline
Last seen: 3 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2007-02-24 21:31
Since 5.2.1 it takes about 30

Since 5.2.1 it takes about 30 seconds to show the splash screen and to start LO.f
When I remove the Fonts folder, everything is fast again.
I haven't seen this behavior bevor as I always replaced LO with the 64 bit version. I will try it with 5.2.1 also and report my results

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Windows Itself

The 'loading' of fonts is handled entirely by Windows itself and there have been no changes to our font loading call since it was introduced. It simply looks for all the font files in that folder and makes a single Windows API call on each of them on start and exit. If it's suddenly much slower, something changed on your PC's end: OS upgrade, different antivirus, infection, logic errors on a drive, etc.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

GoD
Offline
Last seen: 3 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2007-02-24 21:31
You are right. I'm doing more

You are right. I'm doing more tests but it looks like it is Windows 10 or Windows 10 RS1.

GoD
Offline
Last seen: 3 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2007-02-24 21:31
I have done tests with new

I have done tests with new different folders, x32 and x64 and new profiles.
It doesn't matter. It's always slow and takes about 20 seconds to open LO.
If I delete the Font folder, everything is fast again. Even when I delete all but 5 fonts it's still slow.
Only some seconds. But it is only fast without Fonts folder.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Windows 10

It appears to be a semi-recent issue with Windows 10. Possibly post-anniversary update. I don't recall seeing this before the anniversary update and I don't have a machine still running Windows 10 pre-update.. The performance of the standard Windows API call to add a font temporarily is absolute garbage now. I'm considering ditching the fonts from the package except for OpenSymbol (which is required for Math) and making them an optional download/add on for either the platform or LibreOffice.

UPDATE: It does seem to be related to anniversary update. My old ASUS T100 tablet running Windows 10 pre-anniversary update launches LibreOffice Portable 5.2.1 from a USB3 drive faster than my Dell i7 desktop running Windows 10 anniversay does from an internal Samsung 840 Pro SSD.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

GoD
Offline
Last seen: 3 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2007-02-24 21:31
Which API are you using?

Which API are you using? CreateFontIndirectEx?
I want to do some own tests.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Over here

The specifics are here: https://portableapps.com/node/55185

I've confirmed it and found additional reports of it elsewhere online. Any additional discussion on the bug in Windows 10 anniversary update should be in that thread.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

psBzzz
Offline
Last seen: 8 years 2 weeks ago
Joined: 2016-10-20 19:59
Launcher lagging, NO SOLUTIONS YET ?

Avada, thank you for being so patient ... I'm a user, just like you and T. Haller and his answers are really driving me mad !

In LO v5.2.2, just as in the version you pointed for lags at startup (v. 5.1. ...) there's a clear problem of "start lag"

Haller seems unable to understand this and he really takes you (and others) for and idiot.
For him, the problem is not in the LibreOffice launcher, but everywhere else and especially on your computer !
But it's not so ! The problem is in the LibreOffice launcher.
Your proof of this, is still made recently with LOffice v5.2.2 and the different launchers one can use for a portable usage.

Illegal software site removed by mod JTH

Just for your info : the same problem of "lagged startup" is present with VLC in the PortableApps format ... and a couple of other programs when you use them with the portableapps launcher, but not all ... WPS Office works quite well ... and fast just as do other programs.

Avada, did you find a solution for LO laggy start ?
Haller, could you please provide to us, users, a clear solution and answer to the issue ?

-- Post Scriptum "nota bene" --

After years and years of usage, I can say that "PortableApps Platform" is a great platform, but ... some launchers do an awful job !

LO launcher is one of those "awful" launchers, just like VLC launcher and other launchers eventually.

And the geeky geeks behind these launchers and those doing support just like Haller really defeat the PortableAppsPlatform project and idea !
If a launcher doesnt work well, it must be acknowledged and signaled clearly before an end-user starts to use "faulty" things !.

As a consequence, I do not trust anymore PortableLibreOffice as a valid launcher.
For the time being, I still recongnize "PortableApps Platform" as a valid project.

Running LibreOffice with the "PortableApps" launcher has become useless and pointless for me and others.

But then, what to do ?

Stay faithfull to LibreOffice or switch to another Suite or individual programs (from LibreWriter to Wordpad for instance, and from LibreCalc to ... ?
Stay faithfull to LibreOffice and switch to another launcher ? This can be done with a famous portable apps site very close in name to "portableapps". "Their" launcher does its job : it launches LO without lags in a portable format. And guess what ... this launcher uses the files built by PortableApps.

Here is the solution I chose for LibreOffice + VLC

LIBRE OFFICE

Thanks to Aveda questions and because of Haller answers, I dediced to switch from PortableLibreOffice to another suite.

The features I really need in a suite is a text editor with some advanced features (ie a little bit better than Wordpad) and a simple and speedy spreadsheet for creating tables and lists !

WPS Office 2016 is the suite I found as as a free-but-not-open alternative to LibreOffice and to MicrosoftOffice and even Wordpad !
It is LIGHT and launches FAST
Pleasant to the eye.
Quite functional for the features I need (= text : something as quick as Wordpad, but with a couple more features and free and fast excel replacement for creating tables and lists)

WPS is not an "open" suite ... it is a "closed" app but free, and free to some extent (if you use xplorer2, you'll get the idea)
Between "open" apps and "proprietary" apps, there's not really a difference for me. Sorry for purists and/or idealists, but code is code and the 2 models make sense to me.

WPS office is an old chinese suite (older than Microsoft !). More about it here on wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPS_Office
The app is not orginally portable but portable versions can be found on the net. I even found one made using portableapps platform, but not proposed on portableapps.com.
.
There are 3 + 1 versions of this suite: 2 are free and 2 are paid, but none is proposed as "portable"
1) The free for personal use : free but limited for some features (conversions from *.pdf to *.doc for instance)
2) The beta version : free for testers/users without limitations - that's the one I use, although I'm not a developper.
3) The individual user paid version, without limited features
4) The business user licence, without limited features

More about it here on WPS site : https://www.wps.com/office-compare
More abouti it here on Kingsoft site: http://www.kingsoftstore.com/support-for-windows-office/3327-compare-dif...
More about the beta version, by Kingsoft : https://www.wps.com/press/wps2016beta
More about it here, on "portableapps.com" : https://portableapps.com/node/29446
For portable beta versions : Google is your friend.

VLC and the lags

VLC is a lightning fast video app, stable, etc ... unless you use it with "portableapps" launcher. Then, you get a slow launching app ... sluggish.

If I used a "portableapss" version, it is only for convenience in updating it.
But the "portableapps" launcher is really useless
Instead of using the "portableApps" version of VLC, I just downloaded the zip file from VLC site, unzipped it in a folder of my choice and ... tada ... a lightening fast VLC again !

Get rid of SLUGGISH launchers and apps (nobody needs rubbish code) and ...
Have a better day

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Already Solved Above

You missed the fact that this was already solved above: There's a bug in Windows 10 anniversary edition that causes font loading to be excessively slow. Just delete the fonts within App\fonts. A launcher without support for portable fonts wouldn't trigger this bug. Of course, LibreOffice Math wouldn't work at all as it requires the OpenSymbol font. LibreOffice Portable, as the official portable version of LibreOffice, includes the 83 fonts that are normally installed with the local version to maintain parity with the local version. We'll be removing them from the main releases temporarily to work around Microsoft's bug.

You also missed the fact that the VLC slowness for a small subset of users was solved months ago. Some lower end antivirus engines don't handle UPX compressed EXE and DLL files well and will take 10x longer or more to scan compressed files. So, we stopped compressing them. VLC Portable wound up about 40% larger, but it wasn't slow for the small subset of users with the slower free antivirus engines.

Your mention of the illegal software site that steals our code and trademarks was removed.

Your account has been disabled for trolling.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 hours 13 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Font Loading Fixed In 5.2.3 and 5.1.6, Language Removal Enhanced

The fonts have been removed from the latest Fresh and Still releases to work around the bug in Windows 10 Anniversary's font loading. OpenSymbol is still included so Draw will work. The other fonts are available as a downloadable ZIP.

Language removal has also been enhanced to remove unused languages from the registry and registry/res directories when you install and select to remove unused languages.

Please note that if you install via the platform, you will still have multiple languages you are not using which will result in a slower app start than if you only installed your preferred languages, particularly with languages in the All package rather than the 10 in Standard. Removing additional languages currently only functions when you run the installer directly. Being able to optionally select this will be a new feature in a later platform release.

As always, launches from slower media like external drive will take much longer than a locally installed version. Some antiviruses will also scan apps installed outside of Program Files more aggressively, further slowing launches.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

cprime
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 4 months ago
Joined: 2015-03-22 13:51
How to speed up LibreOffice - Easy!

From any of the LibreOffice applications, click on Tools, Options.

Under LibreOffice, click Memory and increase it.

Try setting "Use for LibreOffice" to 756 MB
"Memory per object" to 100 MB.

jojothehobo
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: 2013-02-13 19:49
Didn't find "Memory" under options in LibreOffice

Your comment seems interesting. I went to LibreOffice main application and LibreOffice Writer. Both had a Tools-Options menu and both were the same. That is the good news. I didn't see any "Memory" setting. I'm using LibreOffice version 6.0.2.1 . Any suggestions on where to find it?

Thanks
Joel

Wiebenor
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 4 months ago
Joined: 2018-04-08 10:13
I've tested the portable version on Windows 10....

This portable app does not work on Windows 10, im afraid... i tried it on Windows 10, and get the app in my task manager, but does not show on screen... before you ask...I clicked the actual app icon in the "program" subfolder and... guess what, it worked almost instantly... so the portable app has problems in Windows 10... wish i knew how to redirect the portable apps program to open the app itself, not the launcher... in case it wasnt entirely clear, I clicked on the app not the launcher, although I tried that as well... could it be my fonts in my data folder??? And another app, gimp, did have a working launcher, so I know it's your launcher somehow...

3D1T0R
3D1T0R's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 months ago
Developer
Joined: 2006-12-29 23:48
Not the same issue. Please start your own thread.

Wiebenor: The issue you're reporting is completely different from what this thread is about.
Please start your own thread, and include as much information as you can to help us diagnose your issue.

Also, as a sidenote: Launching the base app directly isn't portable anymore, and is only recommended as a diagnostic step in order to determine where the issue lies. Please don't make a habit out of launching base apps directly, as you may as well simply use the installed version if you do.

~3D1T0R

Wiebenor
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 4 months ago
Joined: 2018-04-08 10:13
thought it was similar enough

Sorry... thought it was similar enough question... also, I'm new here, so... how do I start a new thread, and can I copy this post over??? Also I am not installing this app to a computer I don't have permission to, especially since the depreciated open office is already on it... **edit** here's my new thread... hope I did it right... https://portableapps.com/node/57937

Log in or register to post comments