bug#8714: 23.3.50; Flymake kills my computer on mass revert

[Reuben Thomas]

If I have a lot of buffers open with flymake switched on, and I git
checkout a different branch of a project, causing the buffers to
auto-revert (because I have auto-revert switched on) then my computer is
slowed down massively by having a new make process started for each and
every buffer.

Is it reasonable to suggest that flymake should at the very most try to
recheck buffers that are actually visible, and arguably only the buffer
being edited; if visible buffers, then maybe an additional safeguard of
a maximum number of processes to start would be a good idea.

If you’re wondering why the process was so onerous, it’s that after
checking out a different branch (not an uncommon operation, I believe),
make realised that it had to re-run automake, so I had about 30
processes trying to run automake simultaneously, which turns out to be
quite hard work even for a reasonably powerful (2GHz/2Gb) machine.


In GNU Emacs 23.3.50.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.24.4)
 of 2011-04-24 on canta
Windowing system distributor `The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.11001000
Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: en_GB.UTF-8
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Custom

Minor modes in effect:
  diff-auto-refine-mode: t
  recentf-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  savehist-mode: t
  minibuffer-electric-default-mode: t
  iswitchb-mode: t
  icomplete-mode: t
  global-whitespace-mode: t
  global-auto-revert-mode: t
  desktop-save-mode: t
  nxhtml-menu-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
b <return> C-y <M-backspace> <M-backspace> <M-backspace> 
<M-backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <left> <left> <left> C-SPC C-e C-w <down> 
<down> <up> <return> <return> <up> i s : <down> <down> 
<down> <return> <return> <up> t h i s SPC i m p l i 
e s SPC t h a t SPC s y n t a x SPC c h e c k SPC w 
i l l SPC <C-backspace> <C-backspace> <C-backspace> 
<C-backspace> <C-backspace> <C-backspace> w h i c h 
SPC c o u l d SPC b e SPC m a d e SPC c l e a r e r 
SPC b y SPC r e w e <backspace> o r d i n g SPC i t 
SPC a s : <return> <return> <S-insert> C-y M-y M-y 
M-y M-y M-y M-y M-y C-a <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <M-backspace> <M-backspace> i f C-x 
C-s C-x # C-c C-c n y e s <return> M-x r e p o r t 
b u g - <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
- e m a c s - b u g <return>

Recent messages:
Auto-saving...done
Mark set [5 times]
Auto-saving...done
Saving file /home/rrt/Mail/drafts/*message*-20110521-230719...
Wrote /home/rrt/Mail/drafts/*message*-20110521-230719
No server editing buffers exist
Convert non-ASCII letters to hexadecimal? (y or n) 
Sending...
Sending via mail...
Sending...done

Load-path shadows:
/home/rrt/local/share/emacs/nxhtml/util/rnc-mode hides 
/usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/rnc-mode/rnc-mode
/home/rrt/local/share/emacs/nxhtml/related/php-mode hides 
/home/rrt/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/php-mode
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/link hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/dictionary-el/link
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/connection hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/dictionary-el/connection
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/dictionary-init hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/dictionary-el/dictionary-init
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/dictionary hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/dictionary-el/dictionary
/home/rrt/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/graphviz-dot-mode hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/emacs-goodies-el/graphviz-dot-mode
/home/rrt/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/dict hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/emacs-goodies-el/dict
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/css-mode/css-mode hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/lisp/textmodes/css-mode
/usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/ruby1.8-elisp/ruby-mode hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/lisp/progmodes/ruby-mode
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/css-mode/css-mode hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/css-mode/css-mode
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/tex-info hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-info
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/context-nl hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/context-nl
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/context-en hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/context-en
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/latex hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/latex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/tex-mik hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-mik
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/tex-buf hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-buf
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/tex-jp hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-jp
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/tex-bar hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-bar
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/tex hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/multi-prompt hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/multi-prompt
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fptex hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fptex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/tex-font hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-font
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fold hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fold
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/texmathp hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/texmathp
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/context hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/context
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/font-latex hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/font-latex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/bib-cite hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/bib-cite
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/toolbar-x hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/toolbar-x
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.3.50/site-lisp/auctex/tex-style hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-style

Features:
(gnus-msg gnus-art mm-uu mml2015 epg-config mm-view smime dig gnus-sum
nnoo gnus-group gnus-undo nnmail mail-source format-spec gnus-start
gnus-spec gnus-int gnus-range gnus-win gnus gnus-ems newcomment shadow
sort mail-extr message sendmail ecomplete rfc822 mml mml-sec
password-cache mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mailcap mail-parse rfc2231
rfc2047 rfc2045 qp ietf-drums mailabbrev nnheader gnus-util netrc
time-date mm-util mail-prsvr gmm-utils mailheader canlock sha1 hex-util
hashcash mail-utils emacsbug pp cus-edit diff-git diff-mode add-log
log-view pcvs-util vc-annotate vc help-mode view tabify man grep
time-stamp multi-isearch noutline outline m4-mode python-21 python info
vc-dispatcher vc-svn cperl-mode inform-mode make-mode autoconf
autoconf-mode vc-git face-remap filladapt flyspell sh-script executable
completing-help recentf tree-widget wid-edit uniquify paren savehist
minibuf-eldef iswitchb icomplete whitespace autorevert time as-external
wrap-to-fill cus-start cus-load desktop server nxhtml-autostart
nxhtml-autoload majmodpri rnc-mode nxhtml-menu web-autoload nxhtml-base
php-mode etags cc-langs cc-mode cc-fonts cc-menus cc-cmds cc-styles
cc-align cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs speedbar sb-image ezimage dframe
lua-mode regexp-opt ropemacs pymacs flymake compile comint ring ffap
ispell smart-quotes auto-dictionary-autoloads c-eldoc-autoloads
dictionary-autoloads diff-git-autoloads dired-isearch-autoloads
full-ack-autoloads guess-style-autoloads kill-ring-search-autoloads
magit-autoloads mv-shell-autoloads tumble-autoloads
http-post-simple-autoloads package reporter advice advice-preload
yasnippet help-fns derived edmacro kmacro easymenu assoc cl cl-19
muse-autoloads emacs-goodies-el emacs-goodies-custom
emacs-goodies-loaddefs easy-mmode preview-latex tex-site auto-loads
tooltip ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel x-win x-dnd
font-setting tool-bar dnd fontset image fringe lisp-mode register page
menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar mldrag mouse jit-lock
font-lock syntax facemenu font-core frame cham georgian utf-8-lang
misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew
greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese
case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev loaddefs button
minibuffer faces cus-face files text-properties overlay md5 base64
format env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable
backquote make-network-process dbusbind system-font-setting
font-render-setting gtk x-toolkit x multi-tty emacs)

-- 
http://rrt.sc3d.org/