SourceTree is slow to start
Asked by St?phane Poirier:

Hi,

I don't know why but my SourceTree is really slow to start once every other time. We are talking minutes. Is there any log file I could look into? I've looked into sourcetree.log (in C:\\users\\\<username\>\\AppData\\Local\\Atlassian\\SourceTree\\) but haven't seen anything with date close to when I start the application.

I've tried older version of SourceTree (v.1.7) and still have the same issue.

Only have 2 repos on bookmark and no changes in those repos.

Any thing would help. Thanks.


Answers:
author: Code Knox
body: Finally, after suffering a long time with the slowness on switching TABs, I found the reason!

Somehow, spell check was holding tab switches, up to 3 minutes on my machine (and I have a pretty high level rig).

I really wanted to share ig yours is taking time, just disable it on Tools, Options, General, "Spell check commit messages in ..." and it will fly again.

Anyway, thank you guys for the great product, I love it very much!

comments: author: St?phane Poirier
body: Hi,

I've unckeck the option, since there everything is back to normal speed!

You don't even realize how much I love you!!!!

Thanks!


author: Chris Powers
body: I can confirm this was the cause of the slowness I was seeing on my machine. Starting SourceTree or switching tabs would take 30-90s.  

**Atlassian - please fix this bug soon** as "slowness" seems to be impacting a lot of people when you search the forums. The workaround isn't obvious and I assume many developers enable the spellcheck option. If I hadn't come back here for the 5th time to investigate this frustrating issue I may never have found this workaround.   

Thanks @Code Knox


author: doogie99
body: Wooooo! Spell check disable fixed the slowness. Thanks!


author: Brett Walker
body: Still looks like it is an issue in v3.2.6.


author: Rodney
body: git-lfs is "Large File Storage". SourceTree would detect if you clone a repo that has it enabled so chances are you're not using it.

Bootup should be quick since it would not open any repo. I see a busy indicator where it says the branch name (ie. master), but it is usually really quick. (The app is trying to see if any changes need to be pushed or pulled)

Clicking on Working Copy is fast for me especially if there are no changes.

On a full SSD setup, SourceTree opens a large repo with a long history around 7s before I see the branch history. Small repos/short history takes about 1-2s. Once a repo is open, it's fairly responsive

All my previous problems of UI being slow was usually related to lfs issues, but that's another story.

Don't think it's a hosting issue because other clients work properly. At this point I'm at a loss; either soldier on if the slowdowns are not massive or switch to another client.

Good Luck.


author: St?phane Poirier
body: Hi,

Thanks for the tip on startup.

I've deleted all my repo and recloned a new from scratch, still have the same issue. "git ls-files -o" doesn't give me any file (normal since it's a new repo).

I'm running SourceTree 1.9.5, Embedded Git v.2.8.1. I don't know if I use git-lfs (honnestly I'm (and my team) is new to the git world). How could I check if I use that? I have other teammate with the same configuration and repos that don't have those speed problem.

I can give you one more thing. SourceTree is slow either on boot or the 1st time I click on "working copy". When it's slow to start working copy is fast, when boot is slow, first access to working copy is fast.

Thanks once again!


author: Rodney
body: Hi,

I'm going to assume that bootup is slow because it's trying to open a "bad" repo on startup since you're having problems going into the working copy window. Try disabling "Re-open repository tabs at startup" in the Tools-\>Options-\>Repo Settings. Hopefully that should at least allow you run the app without waiting too long.

Also just to verify your settings, your running 1.9.5? Are you running Embedded Git v2.8.1 with git-lfs v1.2.0?

Does your "bad" repo contain any files in git-lfs?

Try creating a new repos and see if it behaves normally? This would verify if it's a problem with the app versus the repo.

The command "git ls-files -o" would show untracked and ignored files. The untrack files should be at the top of the list.


author: St?phane Poirier
body: Hello,

The application bootup is slow. I click on the icon, I see the process in task manager and it could that up to 2 minutes before I can see the application.

I've tried to remove all repos and the bootup is fast. I've added 1 repo, still fast, until I try to go in working directory. It could take up to a minute to show unstaged files. I've tried to see untracked files in git using git ls-files -o and all the files I see falls under my .gitgnore (bin/obj files).

SourceTree is on a SSD, sources also.

I've tried GitKraken on the sames repos and everything is fast.

I've tried to install v.1.5 (as seen on other posts) and I still have the same result.

Thanks for your help.


author: Rodney
body: Hello,

Not much info to go on so here are some exploratory questions.

When you say "slow to start", do you mean application bootup or accessing a repo?

Is SourceTree installed on an SSD? Or are the repos stored on a SSD also?

Is it slow to start when you have no repos bookmarked?

Have you tried other clients on the same repos?