Cinnamon slows down over a few days to an unusable slow crawl, alt-f2 -> `r` to restart it refreshes it to work fast again for a few days.

Distribution

Linux Mint 22.1

Package version

6.4.8

Graphics hardware in use

RTX 1060 Ti

Frequency

Always

Bug description

About a month ago, I installed Linux Mint 22.1 to a PC to use it as a backup system, where its only use is practically in copy-paste organizing file directory structures in Nemo, and occassional previewing of a backed up video file.

I am seeing this recurringly occurring behavior where when I navigate files in Nemo for a few days, Nemo starts to get slower and slower, this kind of sluggish/laggy behavior.

htop does not show anything hogging the CPU. htop shows cinnamon hogging up 100% CPU, and gnome-terminal-server, Xorg and touchegg taking up extra 50% CPU as well.

At first I thought that performance of Nemo/Cinnamon was just poor on average..

But then I realized that if I tap Alt-F2 and run r to restart Cinnamon, it has a side effect of making Cinnamon run blazing fast and interactive again. Alt-tabbing works like a charm, and mouse is responsive, and navigating directories up and down in Nemo is responsive - whereas before all these actions would have random 0.5s - 5s delays.

Then fast forward a week or so, and Cinnamon/Nemo has again bogged down to run really slow. Closing all windows/applications/terminals doesn't help it.

I re-try running Alt-F2 and r, and just like that, Cinnamon and Nemo navigation is snappy and responsive again. Alt-tabbing between windows is immediate and does not have a sluggish lag to it.

Steps to reproduce

Use Nemo to navigate directories for a week, and Cinnamon/Nemo bogs down to a crawl. Alt-F2 and r does something to it to speed it up again.

Expected behavior

Desktop performance should not slow down spontaneously.

Additional information

No response

Start by reproducing the slowdown through prolonged Nemo directory navigation on Linux Mint 22.1, while monitoring Cinnamon, gnome-terminal-server, Xorg, and touchegg in htop. Compare the desktop before and after Alt-F2 → r, then identify the cause of the accumulating CPU use and verify that Cinnamon and Nemo remain responsive without restarting Cinnamon.