5 ms·

Don't Electron-based apps cause lag on basically any system?

GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
Perhaps, but this specific case appears to be related to (ab)use of a private API on Electron's part. https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/48311#issuecomment-3332181420 https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/48311#issuecomme...
nkozyra 1y ago
I know it's a defacto complaint to leverage against Electron apps, but memory usage notwithstanding, I've never run into much lag issue on any major Electron app.
- ToucanLoucan 1y ago
  It depends. Numerous times when internet is spotty Slack and Discord both on different occasions have brought my systems to a halt until they can complete whatever task is stuck waiting (or I force close them). It's really fucking obnoxious that somehow a goddamn web app in a wrapper is managing to cause system wide hangs.
  - Vilian 1y ago
    True, i'm gonna start limiting electron apps CPU and IO percentage to not halt everything
    - nsriv 1y ago
      I think that's probably a recipe to hit the limits more often and end up being more frustrating, depending on your hardware.
  - 1718627440 1y ago
    Can't you interrupt them (aka SIGSTOP) instead? Then you could resume them, instead of reopening them and potentially using state.
- arcfour 1y ago
  Surely there is a more effective way to write an app than to bundle an entire end-of-life browser and Node.js runtime into a 600MB monstrosity.
  - paxys 1y ago
    Electron apps don't have to be 600 MB. VS Code is an entire fully-featured IDE and is a 90 MB download.
    - shawn-butler 1y ago
      VS Code package in my applications folder is 600+ MB. The Electron Framework.framework it contains is 400+ MB alone. I don't understand where you come up with your 90 MB figure?
      - ethmarks 1y ago
        The VSCodeUserSetup file from https://code.visualstudio.com/download https://code.visualstudio.com/download is in the 90MB range. Perhaps this file is just the installer and the actual system files are much larger? Or maybe your 400MB figure comes from a bloated install? Just speculating here.
        piperswe 1y ago
        Presumably the setup file is compressed, and the installation on disk isn't
        the_lucifer 1y ago
        A compressed download is my guess. The easiest way to predict if an app is using Electron is to see if the download is around 90 to 130 MB. Especially if that size feels unreasonable for the functionality that it offers.
    - typpilol 1y ago
      My package app is 90mb
deleted 1y ago
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mcintyre1994 1y ago
I’ve never noticed anything before, though I’m sure their performance is worse than native apps. I think the M series has so much headroom at this point that you can get away with a lot.
nottorp 1y ago
It's in the runtime specifications, I think. "Application should use all cores and all available memory." In the past few years, the only applications i've seen run amok with memory usage at least were of course Electron based. However, note that this problem is on Mac OS "users had too much contrast so we ruined it" 26 Tahoe. It's part of the early adopter experience.
altairprime 1y ago
No, they typically do not interfere with performance at the OS level. They may be wasteful with resources that are limited — CPU/GPU/RAM/IO — but for them to interfere with system function at this level is not the usual bloatware problem.

Perhaps, but this specific case appears to be related to (ab)use of a private API on Electron's part. https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/48311#issuecomment-3332181420 https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/48311#issuecomme...

nkozyra 1y ago

I know it's a defacto complaint to leverage against Electron apps, but memory usage notwithstanding, I've never run into much lag issue on any major Electron app.

ToucanLoucan 1y ago
It depends. Numerous times when internet is spotty Slack and Discord both on different occasions have brought my systems to a halt until they can complete whatever task is stuck waiting (or I force close them). It's really fucking obnoxious that somehow a goddamn web app in a wrapper is managing to cause system wide hangs.
- Vilian 1y ago
  True, i'm gonna start limiting electron apps CPU and IO percentage to not halt everything
  - nsriv 1y ago
    I think that's probably a recipe to hit the limits more often and end up being more frustrating, depending on your hardware.
- 1718627440 1y ago
  Can't you interrupt them (aka SIGSTOP) instead? Then you could resume them, instead of reopening them and potentially using state.
arcfour 1y ago
Surely there is a more effective way to write an app than to bundle an entire end-of-life browser and Node.js runtime into a 600MB monstrosity.
- paxys 1y ago
  Electron apps don't have to be 600 MB. VS Code is an entire fully-featured IDE and is a 90 MB download.
  - shawn-butler 1y ago
    VS Code package in my applications folder is 600+ MB. The Electron Framework.framework it contains is 400+ MB alone. I don't understand where you come up with your 90 MB figure?
    - ethmarks 1y ago
      The VSCodeUserSetup file from https://code.visualstudio.com/download https://code.visualstudio.com/download is in the 90MB range. Perhaps this file is just the installer and the actual system files are much larger? Or maybe your 400MB figure comes from a bloated install? Just speculating here.
      - piperswe 1y ago
        Presumably the setup file is compressed, and the installation on disk isn't
      - the_lucifer 1y ago
        A compressed download is my guess. The easiest way to predict if an app is using Electron is to see if the download is around 90 to 130 MB. Especially if that size feels unreasonable for the functionality that it offers.
  - typpilol 1y ago
    My package app is 90mb

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

mcintyre1994 1y ago

I’ve never noticed anything before, though I’m sure their performance is worse than native apps. I think the M series has so much headroom at this point that you can get away with a lot.

nottorp 1y ago

It's in the runtime specifications, I think. "Application should use all cores and all available memory." In the past few years, the only applications i've seen run amok with memory usage at least were of course Electron based. However, note that this problem is on Mac OS "users had too much contrast so we ruined it" 26 Tahoe. It's part of the early adopter experience.

altairprime 1y ago

No, they typically do not interfere with performance at the OS level. They may be wasteful with resources that are limited — CPU/GPU/RAM/IO — but for them to interfere with system function at this level is not the usual bloatware problem.