As root user, nautilus freezes when 'Properties' is selected for an icon

[Narayana Pattipati <narayana pattipati wipro com>]

Hi,

The scenario: Root user; NIS setup with many users (say more than 10000
users)

In this scenario, if root user selects properties for an icon, nautilus
freezes for almost 2 minutes and then comes alive. If properties is
selected again for a different icon, it freezes for another 2 minutes.
It almost makes nautilus unusable.

Filed bug http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=324051 and updated
my evaluation there. Please have a look at it.

I think we can do one of the following to deal with it:

a) Update the "File Owner:" option menu only when Permissions tab is
selected, not when properties window is launched. Why should this time
taking task is done when Properties window is launched. Root user may
not have an intention to change file ownership.

b) Get the user list (local + NIS) and update the "File Owner" option
menu asynchronously. This makes sure that nautilus does not freeze for
long time.

c) Why repeat this time taking task every time properties is selected
for an icon. Can the previous instance be saved/cached and re-used
whenever required ?

There could be a better way to handle this scenario. Any thoughts ?

Thanks,
Narayana