Source tree painfully slow on mac

[Staffan Eketorp]

I watched this thread, but it seems to be focused on Windows 7 and not apply to me

https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/10413451/sourcetree-slow-in-windows-7-x64...

I've always found SourceTree to be very slow. Lately though, it's gotten out of hand. Especially since native git and GitX is orders of magnitude faster. What I mean by that is that the UI freezes a lot (I get the spinning bathing ball for many seconds). For instance, this happen when I click a file in the "Unstaged" area, so it's added to the "Staged" area. Now I have to wait a couple of seconds before I can click on a file in the "Unstaged" area again. Also just scrolling in the "Unstaged" area is very slow.

Some more information

• I'm on a 2014 MacBook Pro
• Using Yosemite
• I don't have a lot of unstaged files (right now maybe 10-20)
• I don't have a lot of pending files (right now maybe 20)
• I've set the binary diff limit to 0
• I do not use submodules
• I've tried both embedded git and system git
• Restarting seems to help a bit, but it's never really good

This is really painful. Any way I can help out by sending dumps/more information?

[Sebastian Gabbert]

I found a solution working for me:

I realized that SourceTree used the embedded git with version 2.1. I installed via brew git 2.3 and switched sourcetree to using my brew-git. 

Tada: Now SourceTree is fast, again.

Steps:

• brew install git
• SourceTree -> Preferences -> GIT -> Use Sytem Git -> Select /usr/local/bin/git

[Anthony Fuentes]

I did this, seems to be faster so far. I'll post an update in a few days to see if it stick. Thank you Sebastian.

[Anthony Fuentes]

Update: Changes did not help after all. Still experience the same sluggishness.

[enlik]

Thanks @Sebastian Gabbert, seems faster now

[Jer Clarke]

Another person here for whom this didn't work. Updated to the latest in brew and ran `brew link git` to get it to be the system defauld and still no effect on my spinning beachball outcomes on macOS.

For reference, my performance problems are all related to viewing diffs in history mode. Clicking on certain diffs just drives the app totally insane and it spins out for 30-60 seconds. 

[ctomczyk]

I use Sourcetree version 2.7.6 (177) on MacOS High Sierra and can confirm that it's still works extremely slow. Every action takes ages. Switching to use internal git, as suggested in above messages, doesn't change anything.

[Danyal Aytekin]

Same experience here, on Sierra.  It's a sad fate for such a great tool.

[Danyal Aytekin]

An update, since maybe I should not only complain...

SourceTree is running snappily for me right now with this combination:

• macOS 10.14.1
• SourceTree 3.0.1 (205)
• System Git 2.17.2

[roybrouwer]

Did you already try to restart your Mac? My SourceTree is fast (with my system's git), but after some time it's getting slower and slower. When I restart my system (mostly after a about a week), it's fast again.

[Jose Antonio Matute]

It was an "old" git repository and a simple `git fsck` from the command line boost Sourcetree performance.

I hope it also works for you. 

[jerclarke]

Thank you! I ended up just getting a new MacBook after which I was finally able to switch back from another app. 

When I ran `git fsck` on my main repos there were TONS of output though! So maybe that was a big part of of my slowdown that made me move away from ST.

Recommend other long-haulers try this!

[Jaime Montero]

I updated my git via brew, from 2.17.2 to 2.19.1, and did the Use System Git thing, but was still SLOW!

Then, I realize that I didn't include some files to my gitignore, SO, SourceTree was going trough all my package-lock.json! And of course thousands and thousands of lines, seems to overload sourcetree when trying to identify the changes!,

Ignoring those files was the solution for me.

[QuentinNev]

Sourcetree should avoid making diff everytime on package-lock.json.

To avoid it but still include it in your repo, go to Preferences > Diff > Ignore File Patterns and add ", package-json.lock"

Source will ignore it except when commiting, which makes Sourcetree useable again, thanks to Mark Wylie.

It's a shame that SourceTree still has so much perf issues, easly fixable... But I surely won't do better so I'll keep my mouth shut down :*

[venriq]

Going to Preferences > Diff > Ignore File Patterns and adding

, package-lock.json

Fixed the issue for me. Thanks, @QuentinNev and @JaimeMontero!

My question is, should this be the solution?

[fireball_]

@venriq you are the boss. THX.

[QuentinNev]

Told SourceTree to use local git version, restart SourceTree and nothing has changed. Then 2 minutes later it was slightly faster, and then again slow, but it's a bit less frequent.

It seems to me that SourceTree want to rescan the whole repo every time you click on something.

[roybrouwer]

Changing to the system git did the trick for me.

Thank you!

[ernestorivero]

Using the system git fixed the issue perfectly.

[ernestorivero]

To anyone having a slow Sourcetree app in Mac, do the following:

1. Click on the Sourcetree menu.
2. Click on the Preferences... menu item.
3. Click on the Git tab.
4. Below, in the Git Version, click on the "Use System Git" button.
5. DONE.

[ernestorivero]

[ctomczyk]

Switching to System Git, in my case 2.13.1, doesn't change anything on macOS High Sierra.

[ernestorivero]

Maybe the problem is with the Git version. Try updating it to the last one.

[ctomczyk]

Possibly. I'll upgrade the Git itself through brew and then we'll see.

[ctomczyk]

Upgraded git to 2.19.1 and use System Git (as I have set) seems now works better. I guess I'd need to work some time to justify performance improvements.

[Mega Byzus]

Mine seems to be working now on my Mac.  I've been seeing significant performance issues with SourceTree as well.  Tried many things (including suggestions here) and it continued to be very slow. 

I finally changed the view from 'log' to 'file status' and then back again and now it's speedy again. IU believe the UI might have  a memory leak that gets reset upon view change(I know, doesn't make immediate sense). I'll post updates if things change.

Mo

[Matt Lester]

this worked for me, thanks for feeding back ;) atlassian, please fix!

[Michael Nguyen]

I've been having this issue quite a lot lately especially when I scroll down the commits scroll view. It'll chug for 0.5s every 10 or so commits I scroll down. It's extremely annoying.

[Staffan Eketorp]

Ok, now I've tried this for some time. And the problem is really not fixed by that. And not restarting either. I get a LOT of bathing ball time. 10 seconds is not uncommon. As a comparison running git status from command line takes 0.15s.

[Staffan Eketorp]

Thanks for the reply @Sebastian Gabbert. I think you're right. First it was even slower, but then I restarted Source Tree and now it's actually faster again. It seems something is fishy in ST as well though. Thanks for the advice!

[Sebastian Gabbert]

exactly the same here. Same Setup, same problems.

I've seen the spinning ball especially building the diff and staging large css-files for several seconds.