Add delayed 'Gathering status...' message for long-running status operations

- Shows 'Gathering status...' after 5 seconds if status gathering is still in progress
- Uses threading to avoid blocking the main operation
- Automatically clears the message when gathering completes
- Respects --porcelain mode (no message in machine-readable output)
- Robust error handling ensures timer cleanup in all cases
- Improves UX when checking status across many repositories

Author: Bret Wortman

packages/deepfreeze-core/deepfreeze_core/actions/status.py

@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 import json
 import logging
+import threading
+import time
 
 from elasticsearch8 import Elasticsearch
 from rich.console import Console
@@ -401,24 +403,60 @@ def do_dry_run(self) -> None:
         self.loggit.info("DRY-RUN MODE.  No changes will be made.")
         self.do_action()
 
+    def _gather_status_info(self):
+        """
+        Gather all status information. This method contains the potentially slow operations.
+        
+        :return: tuple of (repos, thaw_requests, buckets, ilm_policies)
+        :rtype: tuple
+        """
+        # Load settings
+        self._load_settings()
+
+        # Gather all status information
+        repos = self._get_repositories_status()
+        thaw_requests = self._get_thaw_requests()
+        buckets = self._get_buckets_info()
+        ilm_policies = self._get_ilm_policies()
+        
+        return repos, thaw_requests, buckets, ilm_policies
+
     def do_action(self) -> None:
         """
         Display status information about deepfreeze.
+        Shows a "Gathering status..." message if the operation takes longer than 5 seconds.
 
         :return: None
         :rtype: None
         """
         self.loggit.debug("Starting Status action")
 
-        try:
-            # Load settings
-            self._load_settings()
+        # Setup for delayed status message
+        status_message_shown = threading.Event()
+        gather_completed = threading.Event()
+        
+        def show_status_message():
+            """Show gathering message if operation takes too long."""
+            if not gather_completed.wait(5.0):  # Wait 5 seconds
+                if not status_message_shown.is_set() and not self.porcelain:
+                    status_message_shown.set()
+                    self.console.print("[dim]Gathering status...[/dim]")
+        
+        # Start the delayed message timer
+        timer_thread = threading.Thread(target=show_status_message, daemon=True)
+        timer_thread.start()
 
-            # Gather all status information
-            repos = self._get_repositories_status()
-            thaw_requests = self._get_thaw_requests()
-            buckets = self._get_buckets_info()
-            ilm_policies = self._get_ilm_policies()
+        try:
+            # Gather all status information (potentially slow operations)
+            repos, thaw_requests, buckets, ilm_policies = self._gather_status_info()
+            
+            # Signal that gathering is complete
+            gather_completed.set()
+            
+            # Clear the status message if it was shown
+            if status_message_shown.is_set() and not self.porcelain:
+                # Move cursor up one line and clear it to remove the "Gathering status..." message
+                self.console.print("\033[1A\033[K", end="")
 
             # Display output
             if self.porcelain:
@@ -427,6 +465,7 @@ def do_action(self) -> None:
                 self._display_rich(repos, thaw_requests, buckets, ilm_policies)
 
         except MissingIndexError:
+            gather_completed.set()  # Make sure to signal completion even on error
             if self.porcelain:
                 print(
                     json.dumps(
@@ -437,6 +476,9 @@ def do_action(self) -> None:
                     )
                 )
             else:
+                # Clear status message if shown
+                if status_message_shown.is_set():
+                    self.console.print("\033[1A\033[K", end="")
                 self.console.print(
                     Panel(
                         f"[bold]Status index [cyan]{STATUS_INDEX}[/cyan] does not exist.[/bold]\n\n"
@@ -450,6 +492,7 @@ def do_action(self) -> None:
             raise
 
         except MissingSettingsError:
+            gather_completed.set()  # Make sure to signal completion even on error
             if self.porcelain:
                 print(
                     json.dumps(
@@ -460,6 +503,9 @@ def do_action(self) -> None:
                     )
                 )
             else:
+                # Clear status message if shown
+                if status_message_shown.is_set():
+                    self.console.print("\033[1A\033[K", end="")
                 self.console.print(
                     Panel(
                         "[bold]Settings document not found in status index.[/bold]\n\n"
@@ -475,9 +521,13 @@ def do_action(self) -> None:
             raise
 
         except Exception as e:
+            gather_completed.set()  # Make sure to signal completion even on error
             if self.porcelain:
                 print(json.dumps({"error": "unexpected", "message": str(e)}))
             else:
+                # Clear status message if shown
+                if status_message_shown.is_set():
+                    self.console.print("\033[1A\033[K", end="")
                 self.console.print(
                     Panel(
                         f"[bold]An unexpected error occurred[/bold]\n\n"