[FEATURE REQUEST] Don't block loading main app UI with background tasks

[eugenesvk]

Please confirm these before moving forward.

• I have searched for my feature proposal and have not found a work-in-progress/duplicate/resolved/discarded issue.
• This proposal is a completely new feature. If you want to suggest an improvement or an enhancement, please use this template.

Describe the new feature

UniGet is very slow to startup until you see the functional interface - it shows a moving horizontal "time tracker" waiting line instead while, I guess from the logs, performing all the various maintentance tasks like checking pacakge managers or cleaning up Scoop (which with slow powershell startup is alone ~5 seconds) etc.

These are condensed logs, only showing lines with different times so you can see which was the last task performed that took >1sec

:30 Build 100
:31 User has disabled updates
:33 Scoop found PowerShell7, PowerShell7 will be used...
:33 Command vcpkg was not found on the system
:34 Call to WhichMultiple with file vcpkg returned non-zero status 1
:34 Name: PowerShell Enabled: False THE MANAGER IS DISABLED
:35 Name: Pip Enabled: False THE MANAGER IS DISABLED
:37 Starting scoop cleanup...
:42 LoadComponentsAsync finished executing. All managers loaded. Proceeding to interface.
:44 Dependency Git for manager Scoop is present
:45 Integrity check passed successfully!
:46 Found 5 installed packages from PowerShell7

Describe how this new feature could help users

By letting them do immediate search for existing packages, for example, or typing a name to search a new one, or performing other tasks immediately after launch

[marticliment]

No, because then issues occur. Early UniGetUI worked like this, but it was change. This is by design.

[eugenesvk]

Maybe it's best to fix those issues isntead of giving up and wasting time on every launch?
Is it possible to at least limit all the maintenance operations to weekly instead of on every launch?

[marticliment]

The issue is: WinGet does not like when the sources are loaded in parallel. It just does not work. If UniGetUI does not wait for sources to load, then when listing installed packages and updates, winget will attempt to reload the sources, twice, one for each thread, and then the issues begin. The winget data folder then sometimes corrupted, or the thread hung or crashed with "Access Denied" errors. Furthermore, calling list update on managers like Scoop without refreshing sources before can sometimes lead to showing incorrect updates data. The fix is waiting for managers to load their updates. Scoop cleanup on start already can be disabled from the settings, since it is not essential for package manager operations. UniGetUI also does perform other internal tasks, such as loading translations and icons lists.

[marticliment]

If you want faster load, you can enable start UniGetUI at startup, and then keep it closed on the system tray. Start time will be almost immediate

[eugenesvk]

Disabled scoop cleanup, hopefully cleanup is run sometimes after installs, right? Though it didn't change much

you can enable start UniGetUI at startup, and then keep it closed on the system tray

Then I'll add delays to every startup, which is even worse

If UniGetUI does not wait for sources to load, then when listing installed packages and updates, winget will attempt to reload the sources, twice,

Ok, but can those operations not be delayed after UI is operational? For example, if I want to install and app, open UniGet and search for an app, I don't even need winget installed/outdated lists.
But even if I do and open the Software updates tab, I'll just not see anything for winget untill UniGet loads udpates from it properly.
Maybe I'm missing something, but UniGet doesn't have to call winget in parallel, it can just not show information it doesn't have yet?

Furthermore, calling list update on managers like Scoop without refreshing sources before can sometimes lead to showing incorrect updates data

You mean I might not get the very this-second-latest version? That's totally fine by me, instant startup is way more useful, in many cases I don't even need updates when I just want to install a new app. So if the data is updated once a day, that's fine

[marticliment]

Hopefully cleanup is run sometimes after installs, right?

No

You mean I might not get the very this-second-latest version? That's totally fine by me, instant startup is way more useful, in many cases I don't even need updates when I just want to install a new app. So if the data is updated once a day, that's fine

I am afraid I received complaints about this, when there was no initialization process. I find it reasonable for people to expect an app whose job is to list and show updates to not have delayed info, at least not to have extra delays induced by internal app architecture. This is another of the reasons for which the initialization screen is.

But even if I do and open the Software updates tab, I'll just not see anything for winget untill UniGet loads udpates from it properly.

Then the issue isn't fixed either. Furthermore, other parts of the UI such as icons and/or translations won't have been loaded either, and the UI needs those to work.

Maybe I'm missing something, but UniGet doesn't have to call winget in parallel, it can just not show information it doesn't have yet?

Yeah, but then wait times are even more massive.

[eugenesvk]

No

Hm. I think scoop still runs cleanups on its own from time to time? Otherwise not a great idea to have all those dupes explode storage

I find it reasonable for people to expect an app whose job is to list and show updates to not have delayed info, at least not to have extra delays induced by internal app architecture.

Well, it does have delayed info in a sense - startup delays is that. And another app's job is also to install new apps, and currently it's faster to launch a terminal and search in scoop directly rather than wait for the gui to start

But that's fine if the default behavior to be slow and have the latest updates!

Then the issue isn't fixed either.

I only get delays when I use some functionality, so I only pay for what I use, why is that not a fix?

Yeah, but then wait times are even more massive.

How? Wait times are the same, it's just that instead of blocking all UI and showing nothing during this operation you show an empty list for this package manager and only update the list once the operation is complete.

And meanwhile the user can do something useful that's not blocked by winget updated like type a new app name to install in the search field...

[eugenesvk]

Also, why do disabled managers take any time at all? This takes ~2 seconds to do nothing useful

:14] ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
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                     █ Name: .NET Tool
                     █ Enabled: False
                     █ THE MANAGER IS DISABLED
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:15] UniGetUI Chocolatey was found in the path
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                     █ Enabled: False
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                     █ Enabled: False
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                     █ Enabled: False
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                     █ Name: Pip
                     █ Enabled: False
                     █ THE MANAGER IS DISABLED

[marticliment]

UniGetUI will still try to locate them on system path, and check if there is an installed version of it. However, it will not refresh sources nor pull updates from them

[eugenesvk]

But why do that at all if they're disabled? They don't need to be located. Especially in a UI-blocking manner...

[marticliment]

Although it is not a complete fix for this issue, for the reasons mentioned previously, I have been working on some improvements that should speed up load of disabled package managers. See #4075 for more details