Well I still can't find the source code to the ubuntu mesa package, but after having built the older debian version from their git tree, it didn't fix the problem. I finally decided to power off and cold boot the system ( instead of just reboot ) and magically the problem went away. It's still gone after re-upgrading to the current ubuntu version from the archive so I guess it was just some weird bad state that got into the gpu and was retained across a warm boot.
** Changed in: mesa (Ubuntu) Status: New => Invalid -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu-X, which is subscribed to mesa in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1378608 Title: severe performance regression in minecraft To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mesa/+bug/1378608/+subscriptions _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat Post to : ubuntu-x-swat@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp