*helpd* Process Problem

[dennso]

Same here on Spanish Big Sur.
I found a solution at this moment:
- Switch to English as default language
- Restart
- Everything works fine
- Switch to Spanish again
- Everything works fine now!

Just open some apps and helpd service appears and eat 90% of CPU.
Switch to english again... continue the investigation...

 

[JuanKr]

Same problem here....
Any solution?

 

[Kraizelburg]

Same problem here....
Any solution?

No solution thus far, lets hope next Big Sur update solves the problem.

 

[JuanKr]

That is really annoying... it has a real impact on the battery

 

[germanyague]

No solution thus far, lets hope next Big Sur update solves the problem.

It doesn't. I'm on the 11.2 beta (20D5029f) and the problem is still there. I have reported it in the Feedback Assistant and it says "Similar reports:more than 10. Resolution: Open."

 

[Populus]

Weird, on my report it doesn’t say “more than 10” have reported it

 

[JuanKr]

Do you think it will be fixed?

 

[Sindark]

Same problem here, guys. Sorry but I can't wait for Apple to fix it, so I've just written a small script suited for a launchd agent that limits how much CPU time a single helpd process is allowed to consume.

You can find it here, along with explanations:
https://github.com/jestramiana/limit-helpd

Once you load the launchd agent, it will keep running in the background and looking for helpd processes to kill (only if they consume more CPU time than allowed, that is).

Keep in mind this a very simple script that I've written very quickly, that seems to work fine for me (tested for just half a day), so... use it at your own risk!!

You can either tell me here or in the GitHub repo of any issues or improvements you may think of.

 

[Populus]

Do you think it will be fixed?

Yeah, eventually.
Meanwhile, I will use my mac with the Latin-american spanish, I don’t see big differences.

 

[issi]

Same problem here, guys. Sorry but I can't wait for Apple to fix it, so I've just written a small script suited for a launchd agent that limits how much CPU time a single helpd process is allowed to consume.

You can find it here, along with explanations:
https://github.com/jestramiana/limit-helpd

Once you load the launchd agent, it will keep running in the background and looking for helpd processes to kill (only if they consume more CPU time than allowed, that is).

Keep in mind this a very simple script that I've written very quickly, that seems to work fine for me (tested for just half a day), so... use it at your own risk!!

You can either tell me here or in the GitHub repo of any issues or improvements you may think of.

Nice, works perfect. Good temporary solution until apple fixes the problem in future updates.

 

[heraldo_jones]

Same problem here, guys. Sorry but I can't wait for Apple to fix it, so I've just written a small script suited for a launchd agent that limits how much CPU time a single helpd process is allowed to consume.

You can find it here, along with explanations:
https://github.com/jestramiana/limit-helpd

Once you load the launchd agent, it will keep running in the background and looking for helpd processes to kill (only if they consume more CPU time than allowed, that is).

Keep in mind this a very simple script that I've written very quickly, that seems to work fine for me (tested for just half a day), so... use it at your own risk!!

You can either tell me here or in the GitHub repo of any issues or improvements you may think of.

Thanks buddy, it works perfect! BTW... is helpd needed at some exact point by any app, or just the internal help?

 

[issi]

Thanks buddy, it works perfect! BTW... is helpd needed at some exact point by any app, or just the internal help?

Helpd indexes application help files. Under normal conditions, it would run when installing a new app, or when opening the help of any application, but for a short time and without consuming resources. I've been using Sindark's solution for a day, without problems with any application and system.

 

[Javier_gl]

I have reported it again to Apple after the OS reinstall didn't work. Now a call with Apple. They have asked me to format the disk and reinstall the OS again. I'm almost sure that if I do it the problem will still be there.

What seems strange to me is that almost nobody is reporting this issue...

So, I suspect it's due to some software package that we all have in common. I also have a laptop and a Desktop, and the helpd problem only was appearing with the Desktop iMac (the laptop, a 2018 MBP 15" has been downgraded to Catalina for other bugs, like the battery draining too fast)

 

[joedec]

As of Big Sur 11.2 Beta 2, shipped today, still fails exactly the same as before. I submitted a Feedback Assistant report with the following screen shots.

 

[Populus]

Thanks man.

Apple needs more people to check the feedback reports, and to invest more in testing and solving bugs. And the problem is, they can. If there's a company with money to do that, is Apple.

 

[juan985_Spain]

Same Problem here on a MacBook Pro 15" 2015.

Solved changing the language to Latin Spanish as stated. Lets hope apple fixes this issue in the next update.

 

[joedec]

Public Beta 11.2 (RC)
macOS 11.2 20D53

Released today, no joy, the failure is unchanged.

 

[germanyague]

I don't understand if they've fixed something or if they haven't found any errors, but it says now:
Investigation complete - Works as currently designed.

 

[Populus]

It seems we’ll be stuck in latin american Spanish... sigh.

By the way, next time you open a report, please specify the issue only happens with Spain Spanish.

Also please include screenshots of Activity Monitor showing high CPU time for helpd process.

This is so frustrating...

 

[joedec]

I updated my feedback report, which still shows Open/Similar None. They just aren't looking closely enough.

"Still fails in newest release macOS 11.2 RC 20D53. This only occurs using SPAIN SPANISH, other dialects work fine. Pay close attention to the screen shot included with System Preferences / Language & Region."

Hopefully this spells it out

 

[Populus]

I updated my feedback report, which still shows Open/Similar None. They just aren't looking closely enough.

"Still fails in newest release macOS 11.2 RC 20D53. This only occurs using SPAIN SPANISH, other dialects work fine. Pay close attention to the screen shot included with System Preferences / Language & Region."

Hopefully this spells it out

Good, thank you.

Apple needs to invest more in bug detection and people checking the bug reports. Otherwise, having a beta program is useless.

I answered an Apple survey about Feedback Assistant and I complained about bugs and bug reports being overlooked, also I gave the service a low score.

 

[germanyague]

I don't understand if they've fixed something or if they haven't found any errors, but it says now:
Investigation complete - Works as currently designed.

View attachment 1718071

I must say. I'm currently on 11.2 (20D53) and after 24h the problem hasn't surfaced again. Seems fixed for me, but I'll keep an eye on it.

UPDATE 27/1/2021: Nop, still there. I've opened another ticket in Feedback Assistant with number FB8981644, this time specifying that is Spanish Spain and attaching everything I could think of. Meanwhile... Español latinoamericano it is.

 

[alberbrando]

I must say. I'm currently on 11.2 (20D53) and after 24h the problem hasn't surfaced again. Seems fixed for me, but I'll keep an eye on it.

I installed it yesterday and after rebooting once the update was completed the Helpd process started for a while but after some minutes running it stopped and everything was ok.
I will keep on watching...

 

[Populus]

Anyone with the RC2 can see if this is still happening, even if you have to trigger it using the Help menu? Thank you.

 

[joedec]

Anyone with the RC2 can see if this is still happening, even if you have to trigger it using the Help menu? Thank you.

I am currently installing RC2, I'll attach screen shots shortly. Hope for the best.

Not fixed. I did invoke Help to start helpd, after exiting help, I snapped the following.