Nautilus + TIF file = memory insanity

[Warren Togami]

Billy Charlton wrote:
> I have several TIF image files that were sent to me from a client.  I
> think they were produced with AutoCAD.  They are viewable on Windows, and
> from the GIMP.
> 
> When I open any Nautilus folder that contains one of these TIF files,
> Nautilus immediately eats all of my system RAM and keeps growing and
> growing until I can kill it, which is difficult because the system is
> swapping like mad.
> 
> This is reproducible every time I open a folder with these TIFs.  No other
> folders exhibit this problem.
> 
> I tried opening the files from the command line using Eye of Gnome, and
> the same behavior ensued -- swapping and eating all my RAM.
> 
> Could this be related to thumbnail/preview generation?
> It is a serious showstopper (for me anyway) since it renders the system
> useless until I can kill Nautilus, every time I even browse to a folder
> containing these files.
> 
> This is on FC2 Test 3 + all latest up2dates as of today, on a stock Dell
> P4 desktop system.
> 
> I've uploaded a sample TIF image to
>   http://www.trigby.com/sfstreets.tif
> if anyone wants to try and reproduce on their own systems.  Keep a
> cmdwindow open so you can killall nautilus!

Tested various programs with your file.
PROGRAM		Memory
eog		650MB
nautilus	666MB (briefly)
		55MB  (after thumbnail was complete)
gqview		648MB
gimp		115MB
openoffice	249MB
quickshow	1115MB (at first)
		495MB (after fully loaded and displayed)
		Slowest app of all, and fails to close without kill -9.

It wasn't really slow for me, but my laptop has 1GB RAM.  I am guessing 
that some common library used by most of these programs is really 
inefficient with this file.  It would help if someone could isolate 
exactly which component it is.

Warren Togami
wtogami at redhat.com