Why are my command line utilities running so slowly on my Mac?

I have just noticed that command line utilities such as ls (/bin/ls), touch (/usr/bin/touch), cat (/bin/cat), etc. are very slow when I run them from Terminal or iTerm on my MacBook. For example:

• ls'ing while in an empty directory takes 1 second (it also takes 1 second in a non-empty directory, both with lots of files or with a few files);

• touch'ing a new file takes 1 second (it also takes 1 second to touch an existing file);

• cat'ing an empty file takes 1 second (there is also a 1 second lag before anything happens when I cat a non-empty file).

I have tried to diagnose this in many ways but to no avail. I do not think this is a filesystem issue, since:

• I have run Disk Utility and it reports no problems.

• Everything seems to be working just fine in Finder, e.g. directory contents are shown instantaneously in Finder.

• I installed GNU coreutils using Homebrew and tried using gls, gtouch, gcat, etc., and all of the operations I listed above happen instantaneously when run with the GNU version instead.

Any ideas on what could be going on? Any ideas on how to fix this?

EDIT: When I reboot the computer, or try a different user, these issues go away temporarily, but after a few minutes they seem to reappear again. Another strange thing that I noticed:

$ time date
Wed Jan 28 10:07:11 PST 2015

real    0m0.151s
user    0m0.001s
sys     0m0.003s

$ time date
Wed Jan 28 10:07:13 PST 2015

real    0m0.029s
user    0m0.001s
sys     0m0.002s

$ time date
Wed Jan 28 10:07:16 PST 2015

real    0m1.005s
user    0m0.001s
sys     0m0.002s

$ time date
Wed Jan 28 10:07:18 PST 2015

real    0m1.005s
user    0m0.001s
sys     0m0.002s

This happens for all the utilities I've tried, mkdir, scp, sftp, more, cat, etc.: The first time I run it after a reboot, it's medium-slow. The second time I run it, it's sorta-fast. All subsequent times I run it, it's slow.

Solution 1:

I actually figured out the issue today. It was caused by a piece of anti-malware software called Sourcefire AMP (Advanced Malware Protection). All of my issues went away after I disabled/uninstalled it.

I'm guessing that it was doing something like putting a delay on things in /bin, /usr/bin, etc. for "security reasons"... I'm guessing the GNU tools were not delayed because they weren't in the "blacklisted" directories.

Solution 2:

The first thing I would check is that you don't have some odd $PATH - run timings of a file that doesn't exist and one that should be speedy:

Mac:~ bmike$ time /bin/ls /private/xyz
ls: /private/xyz: No such file or directory

real    0m0.004s
user    0m0.001s
sys     0m0.002s

Mac:~ bmike$ time /bin/ls /private/tmp
com.apple.launchd.q2QmVhsPCV    com.apple.launchd.zQ5EK6R6AZ

real    0m0.006s
user    0m0.002s
sys     0m0.003s

The next thing would be to check overall system business:

Mac:~ bmike$ vm_stat 5
Mach Virtual Memory Statistics: (page size of 4096 bytes)
    free   active   specul inactive throttle    wired  prgable   faults     copy    0fill reactive   purged file-backed anonymous cmprssed cmprssor  dcomprs   comprs  pageins  pageout  swapins swapouts
  306160  1168138    79266    53096        0   299239   613825 20971811   345367 15995721      237  2472732      203216   1097284   328691   190541   260034   646113   623838      285   286101   299172 
  305613  1172072    79345    53098        0   295915   618898     1191        1      680        0        0      203297   1101218   328691   190541        0        0        0        0        0        0 
  306163  1188285    79345    53088        0   279370   621180     1055        0      600        0        0      203287   1117431   328682   190541        9        0        0        0        0        0 
  306039  1186031    79345    53088        0   281598   621176      729        0      293        0        0      203287   1115177   328664   190541       18        0        0        0        0        0 
^C
Mac:~ bmike$ iostat 5
          disk0       cpu     load average
    KB/t tps  MB/s  us sy id   1m   5m   15m
   31.31  12  0.35   9  4 86  1.32 1.41 1.43
    0.00   0  0.00   2  2 96  1.21 1.38 1.42
   18.40   1  0.02   5  2 93  1.20 1.38 1.42
   22.00   1  0.02   3  2 95  1.20 1.38 1.42
^C

Then I would quit all applications and log out all users and reboot. If you have your Mac log you in, disable that in the system preferences so you can perform a safe log in after the reboot. (Hold the shift key immediately after pressing return if you type a password to log in to your user or hold shift right after selecting your user icon if you don't have a password.)

Repeat the measurements (and optionally timing the alternate gnu tools) to know if the issue is temporary or systematic.

Solution 3:

Similar to what @bmike said, your $PATH might have something in it which causes the shell to delay before it finds the command you're trying to run. Besides the date command, time also should be explicitly named on the command line.

Try /usr/bin/time /bin/date and time date a few times in succession to see if there is any difference in the output. If so, then echo $PATH should give you a clue as to what's causing the delay.