Comment 19 for bug 405251

Ok, I did some tests. I tested some things with different bzr versions, after removing all plugins and the rules file. This should mean that content filtering is disabled. For each version I created a new shared repo (init-repo --1.14-rich-root, --rich-root-pack for bzr 1.8). I then branched the problematic branch into here (full copy of history). Then I branch within that shared repository (this should just create a working tree).

Bazaar 1.17:
Initial branch (creating full history: 152 minutes 21 seconds(!!!) - 2 1/2 hour. The .bzr of the shared repo was 496MB; the working tree is 269MB.
Branch within shared repo: 3 minutes 19 seconds. Usually took max. 20 seconds.

Bazaar 1.14:
Initial branch (full history): 7 minutes 45 seconds. .bzr is 497MB, working tree is 269MB.
Branch within shared repo: 6 to 9 seconds.

Bazaar 1.8: (--rich-root-pack, from copy of the problem repo in rich-root-pack format)
Initial branch (full history): 8 minutes 23 seconds, .bzr is 557MB, working tree is 269MB
branch within shared repo: 6 seconds.

This is on a fast Linux workstation. The poor devils using windows can easily wait half an hour for the 3 minute branch on 1.17 above.