Bug#764204: apt-cache calls fcntl() on 65536 FDs

[Sebastian Boehm <sebastian@sometimesfood.org>]

Julian,

do you have any pointers on where the fcntl calls could originate?

I encountered the same problem after upgrading to jessie and it seems
I am not the only one:

- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1332440
- http://askubuntu.com/questions/477757/why-is-apt-cache-so-slow

While reducing the maximum number of open file descriptors reduces the
number of fcntl calls significantly, apt still tries to close a lot of
file descriptors.

Michael Hale's solution in the askubuntu thread seems to eliminate all
fcntl calls:

echo 'APT::Architectures { "amd64"; };' > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01arch

I am not familiar enough with the apt codebase to figure this out. Do
you have any ideas on how to proceed?

Best,
Sebastian