1816771 - Initial fetch of translations models takes longer 10x on Linux than on macOS

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Translations, defect, P3)

Description

[Erik Nordin [:nordzilla]]

Description

When opening the about:translations page and loading models on my macOS machine vs. my Ubuntu machine, I notice a significant difference in the time it takes to build the TranslationsEngine when fetching un-cached model and wasm data from remote settings.

On macOS the entire process takes about 1 second on the initial fetch.
On Ubuntu the entire process takes upwards of 10 seconds on the initial fetch.

While the user experience will be made better in Bug 1814168 by communicating to the user that the models are being downloaded, a 10x difference in performance between the two systems seems worth investigating.

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Steps to Reproduce

1. Launch Firefox on a clean build.
2. Enable browser.translations.enable in about:config.
3. Navigate to about:translations.
4. Type "This is a test." into the left-side English text box.
5. Switch the right-side language to Spanish by selecting it in the dropdown menu.
6. Observe how long it takes for the translation to load.

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Profiles

Here are two profiles, one from macOS and one from Ubuntu, testing the exact same steps to reproduce on a fresh build. The Ubuntu profile takes roughly 10x longer than the macOS profile for the network requests to finish.

Both profiles were captured on the same day, connected to the same WiFi network.

macOS Profile
https://share.firefox.dev/3I1PNhr

Ubuntu Profile
https://share.firefox.dev/40WrBFT

Comment 1

[Greg Tatum [:gregtatum]]

I occasionally get behavior where the attachments take ~3-5 seconds to load for no apparent reason. I have profiled and not seen any reason why. I have a local profile where it was reproducing. This still seems like an area worth investigating.

Comment 2

[Greg Tatum [:gregtatum]]

I don't know that we can consistently reproduce, so I'm making this not block release.

Comment 3

[Greg Tatum [:gregtatum]]

Have you seen this again :nordzilla? Can we close?

Comment 4

[Erik Nordin [:nordzilla]]

This is still the case in my general observed usage on Linux and macOS on the same Wi-Fi network.

I think it's still worth investigating.

Comment 5

[amie]

[Affected versions]:

Firefox RC 118 - Build ID: 20230918143747
[Affected Platforms]:

Windows 10 x64
Linux Ubuntu 20.04 x64
macOS 12.6.1
[Prerequisites]:

Enroll in the experiment by pasting the user.js file in the Profile Folder from the “about:support” page and restarting the browser.
[Steps to reproduce]:

Navigate to https://www.speck-iran.com/
Click the Gear button from the Translations Modal.
Select the “Always translate German” option.
Click the Translations icon from the Address Bar.
From the drop-down button, select the Italian language.
Click the “Translate” button.
Observe the behavior.
[Expected result]:

The page is translated and no Translation Modal is displayed.
[Actual result]:

The initial Translation Modal (with “Translate from” and “Translate to”) is displayed for a brief second while the page is translated.
After the page is translated, the initial Translation Modal is dismissed and replaced with the “This page is translated from German to Italian” one.
[Notes]:

This issue is also reproducible without being enrolled in the experiment.
This issue is also reproducible with other supported languages.
In some cases, the initial Translation Modal is displayed only for a second and the users don’t have time to react nor to read the information from the Modal.
Here is a screen recording of the issue.

Comment 6

[Greg Tatum [:gregtatum]]

I'm going to close this as we haven't gotten any other reports of issues like this, and no solid steps to reproduce.