geeqie 2.6.1 on Arch Linux is still slow on HIDPI wayland

[Felixoid]

Setup (please complete the following information):

• Distribution: Arch Linux
• GUI: KDE Plasma Wayland
• Geeqie version: Geeqie 2.6.1 GTK3

Describe the bug
The performance of GDK_BACKEND=x11 is by an order of magnitude better than GDK_BACKEND=wayland on 3840x2160 resolution.

Screencast
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2aa7bbdf-7f00-499f-8dee-2290529027fb

Error logs or seg. fault files
If applicable, upload text files from the bug. (Use gzip)

Additional context
A follow-up for #1743

[alerque]

I'm also on Arch Linux (the maintainer of the Geeqie package) and am not able to replicate this. I am on Hyprland, not KDE/Plasma, but running with ether backend gives me results similar enough that I can't tell the difference. Both of them are far more laggy than I would like and much laggier than I remember Geeqie being back in the day on older hardware, but it isn't anything like the results in your screencase.

I do wonder if the backend is even taking effect for me, perhaps it is unable to startup X11 windows at all for me? I wonder how we're supposed to confirm that bit.

Also do you happen to have any other DE/WM environments installed you could test besides KDE/Plasma?

[caclark]

Both of them are far more laggy than I would like and much laggier than I remember Geeqie being back in the day on older hardware,

For interest only - GQview still runs on my system - Ubuntu 25.04:
wget https://cclark.uk/GQview/gqview

[Felixoid]

I am not able to replicate this

It's valid only for a maximized window on a HIDPI screen 3840x2160. With 0.5 and even 0.8-sized windows it's much better.

I believe that x11 is installed on my system.

> pacman -Q | grep -Pi 'x11|xorg'
libx11 1.8.12-1
libxkbcommon-x11 1.10.0-1
qt5-x11extras 5.15.17-1
xorg-fonts-encodings 1.1.0-1
xorg-mkfontscale 1.2.3-1
xorg-server 21.1.16-1
xorg-server-common 21.1.16-1
xorg-server-xvfb 21.1.16-1
xorg-setxkbmap 1.3.4-2
xorg-xauth 1.1.4-1
xorg-xdpyinfo 1.3.4-2
xorg-xkbcomp 1.4.7-1
xorg-xmessage 1.0.7-1
xorg-xprop 1.2.8-1
xorg-xrandr 1.5.3-1
xorg-xrdb 1.2.2-2
xorg-xset 1.2.5-2
xorg-xwayland 24.1.6-1
xorgproto 2024.1-2

[caclark]

Using EndeveaourOS, a 3840x2160 display, a Radeon RX550 card, and Wayland, I do not see the problem.

[eh]

Same issue here sill, slow screen updates advancing though images, even slower when fullscreen. GIFs really highlight the problem, it can't even draw the full image. 2560x1440, RX 6800XT, Wayland, UI scale 125%. GDK_BACKEND=x11 is better but still not good compared to 2.5 using wayland backend. #1743

[virtadpt]

It's still pretty pokey on Arch Linux, X (not Wayland), HiDPI, at least after changing directories (2-3 minute wait). Out of scope for this ticket, though.

[alerque]

2-3 minutes! On X not wayland? That sounds like a different issue than this one, but it's hard to be sure without an actual diagnosis for either issue.

I think we need some input from devs here on how to debug this. Clearly there is something serious going on, but I don't see any obvious culprit.

[caclark]

Possible items of interest are:
OS
gpu card
screen resolution, scaling
X11/Wayland
drive local or remote
drive format type

---

To isolate the problem try to simplify every aspect, and if that is OK work from there to find the critical factor.
If a minimum system exhibits the problem, I am out of ideas.

---

Use a default config. - rename $HOME/.config/geeqie/geeqierc.xml or run geeqie by:
XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/a XDG_CACHE_HOME=/tmp/b geeqie

Start geeqie with no files:
geeqie /tmp/empty-dir1

Use a low-res. screen setting and scale=1

Use only local drives and ext4

If you are compiling from sources, use geeqie --debug=4

---

Also consider trying the minimal AppImage - that is compiled with all optional extras disabled:

wget https://github.com/BestImageViewer/geeqie/releases/download/continuous/Geeqie-minimal-latest-x86_64.AppImage

[virtadpt]

@alerque Yup. It's irritating enough that I've tried multiple times to go back to gqview (which doesn't compile anymore). It's at the point where I plan sorting through archived scans around how long it takes for geeqie to become usable.

I've been quietly excavating the tickets and trying all of the suggestions for this (and similar) problems. I can reproduce the outputs but not the fixes.

[virtadpt]

@caclark I have the appimage in question downloaded; I'll give it a spin after work tonight.

As for my setup, details to come.