Score:0

Ubuntu

Why is uLauncher's file-search extension so slow?

mRcSchwering

1/21/23, 9:20 AM

Since a few years I am a bit annoyed by the fact that ulauncher's extension for file and directory search is so slow. Even when setting home as Base dir and searching for a file just below home it takes >6s.

Is there a way to speed it up? Maybe reduce the tree depth of the search?

229

0 + 0

gnome

launcher

Nmath

1/21/23, 9:28 AM

If the performance is so bad, why use it? The project doesn't appear to be well maintained. It's not in Ubuntu repos which means that the Ubuntu community doesn't do anything to maintain, improve, or fix the software. One of the great things about using Linux is that you have a choice of what software you get to use. Choose wisely!

Score:1

Ubuntu

mRcSchwering

1/21/23, 9:55 AM

Ok, after some searching I found these lines:

        """ Searches for Files using fd command """
        cmd = [
            'timeout', '5s', 'ionice', '-c', '3', bin_name, '--threads', '1',
            '--hidden'
        ]

The repo is archived and the extension seems to not be maintained anymore. I removed the 'timeout', '5s' part in my ~/.local/share/ulauncher/extensions/com.github.brpaz.ulauncher-file-search/main.py.

PS: I am still using ulauncher because I want to have a light-weight application launcher and file/directory search in one. Basically, a Krunner for budgie.

0 + 0

vanadium

1/21/23, 10:46 AM

You may also want to check on Albert launcher. There is no need to use a trigger for file search: results for apps and files are returned, ordered in 'frecency' order, i.e., the one you used most frequently gets to the top. Apart from that, Ulauncher has several file search extensions: some may be better.

mRcSchwering

1/21/23, 11:32 AM

The last time I tried out different solutions was like 2 years ago. At that time uLauncher seemed good. Thanks. Gonna try out Albert

mRcSchwering

1/23/23, 6:08 PM

ok Albert is awesome

Albin

5/22/23, 8:32 PM

I added these arguments to the extension. See https://github.com/brpaz/ulauncher-file-search/pull/5 and https://github.com/sharkdp/fd/issues/378 for why.

Albin

5/22/23, 8:43 PM

Ulauncher natively has a file browse mode, but no file search mode. This extension is popular, but it's not supported by Ulauncher directly, and there are others who might do a better job ex https://github.com/hillaryychan/ulauncher-fzf. I even made a simple one myself for testing purposes: https://github.com/friday/ulauncher-locate I don't know how Albert implements this, but I'm sure it's done well. Albert will probably always be faster and have more built in functionality than Ulauncher, while we try to catch up on the performance side but not on built in features :)

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Why is uLauncher's file-search extension so slow?

TH: เหตุใดส่วนขยายการค้นหาไฟล์ของ uLauncher จึงช้ามาก

RO: De ce este atât de lentă extensia de căutare de fișiere a uLauncher?

RU: Почему расширение поиска файлов uLauncher такое медленное?

VI: Tại sao tiện ích mở rộng tìm kiếm tệp của uLauncher lại chậm như vậy?

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