ChimeraX sometimes very slow to start

[Tom Goddard]

ChimeraX sometimes takes 30 seconds to a minute to startup. We should study this and document under what conditions it happens so users can avoid the slow startups.

On Linux servers with a network file system it is very slow and Brian Hudson of the RCSB complained it is much slower to start and show a map than Chimera. I have seen the same thing starting ChimeraX on plato, taking 30 seconds to a minute. Here is the mailing list discussion with Brian.

​https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/pipermail/chimerax-users/2022-September/004233.html

Greg Couch suggests that the current singularity image for running ChimeraX on plato may be much faster because it only has to load one large image file from the network file system. We should test that.

On macOS, Eric, Elaine and I have also noted that ChimeraX sometimes takes 30 seconds to start. But most times it takes 1 second or less. The slow start may be because the Mac has been restarted and the thousands of ChimeraX Python files are no longer in memory cache. Or it may be a notarization verification or optimization step starting a new ChimeraX installation. Or it could sometimes be querying the Toolshed. Need to investigate this further.