Public bug reported:
On Ubuntu 26.04, packagekitd consistently consumes extremely high CPU
and memory after boot. The daemon reached approximately 102% CPU, 8.3 GB
peak RAM usage, and 1.4 GB swap usage within about 11 minutes of system
uptime.
At the same time, gnome-software also consumed nearly 100% CPU, while
dbus-daemon was heavily utilized, suggesting a possible loop or repeated
communication between GNOME Software and PackageKit.
The system became sluggish due to high memory pressure and swap usage.
Observed behavior:
packagekitd uses excessive CPU (40–100%).
Memory usage grows to over 8 GB.
Swap usage increases to over 1 GB.
gnome-software also consumes nearly 100% CPU.
dbus-daemon reaches approximately 100% CPU.
Issue appears shortly after boot without manually opening the App Center.
Expected behavior:
packagekitd should remain mostly idle except during package operations.
Memory usage should remain relatively small (tens of MB rather than several GB).
CPU usage should return to idle after update checks complete.
Additional information:
systemd reported:
packagekit.service: Consumed 11min 19.118s CPU time over 11min 6.213s
wall clock time, 8.3G memory peak, 1.4G memory swap peak.
Stopping or masking packagekit.service immediately resolves the
excessive resource usage. apt continues to function normally.
Environment:
Ubuntu 26.04
GNOME desktop
Package manager: APT
Architecture: (fill in x86_64/amd64 if applicable)
Attachments:
htop screenshot showing packagekitd, gnome-software, and dbus-daemon CPU
usage.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 26.04
Package: packagekit 1.3.4-3ubuntu1.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 7.0.0-27.27-generic 7.0.6
Uname: Linux 7.0.0-27-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.34.0-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Fri Jul 17 10:42:41 2026
InstallationDate: Installed on 2026-05-21 (57 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 26.04 "Resolute Raccoon" - Release amd64 (20260423.1)
ProcEnviron:
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
PATH=(custom, no user)
SHELL=/usr/bin/zsh
TERM=xterm-256color
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
SourcePackage: packagekit
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
modified.conffile..etc.dbus-1.system.d.org.freedesktop.PackageKit.conf:
[deleted]
** Affects: packagekit (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
** Tags: amd64 apport-bug resolute wayland-session
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2161047
Title:
packagekitd consumes excessive CPU and memory (8+ GB RAM) on Ubuntu
26.04
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