[Bug 81915] [feisty] hald adds/removes same device many times a second causing high loads and extremally slow performance

[Rimas Kudelis]

Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: hal

I've dist-upgraded to feisty a few days ago, and since then my system is
impossible to use. I suspect it's hald's fault, because it detects some
device A LOT OF TIMES per second, adding and removing it each time. As a
result of this, hald uses like 30% of my RAM (out of 512MB), causing
extensive use of swap and really high latency. I also had to shut down
ivman supposedly as a result of this problem (it demanded even more
resources than hald).

Here's an excerpt from /var/log/daemon.log:

Jan 28 01:53:07 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941987.972282] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.054945] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.055382] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.155758] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.156556] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.296920] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.297036] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.366818] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.367233] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.458259] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.458993] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.538494] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.538621] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.704625] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.704759] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.874736] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.875523] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.946867] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:08 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941988.947673] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0'). 
Jan 28 01:53:09 localhost NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1169941989.023349] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i82365_0').

** Affects: hal (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Unconfirmed

-- 
[feisty] hald adds/removes same device many times a second causing high loads and extremally slow performance
https://launchpad.net/bugs/81915