gedit is stuck starting, no window is shown

`gnome-open somefile.txt` shows the icon in the launcher, blinking. After some time (aout 30s) the icon goes away and the gedit process is still running.

Starting gedit in standalone mode doesn't help either: the icon is not shown in the launcher, and gedit terminates with the following issue:

    `Failed to register: Timeout was reached`

I also tried:
- running as root --> `gedit -s` doesn't terminate
- `apt-get remove gedit` then `apt-get install gedit` --> `gedit -s` doesn't terminate
- `dpkg-reconfigure gedit` --> `gedit -s` doesn't terminate

`gedit -s` doesn't respond to Ctrl-C which means that the process is stuck in kernel mode, in some I/O or system call and doesn't return to user mode. Only the KILL signal will terminate it.

As a result I can attach gdb to the `gedit -s` process but cannot debug it:
```
$ gdb -p 11414
GNU gdb (Ubuntu 7.11.1-0ubuntu1~16.04) 7.11.1
Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Type "show copying"
and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "x86_64-linux-gnu".
Type "show configuration" for configuration details.
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>.
Find the GDB manual and other documentation resources online at:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/documentation/>.
For help, type "help".
Type "apropos word" to search for commands related to "word".
Attaching to process 11414
^C^C^C^C^C^C^C^C^C
```

Also tried to clear the config With very limited success: rm -rf ~/.config/gedit

Looked at strace: gedit is stuck in `lstat("/mnt/disk",...)` where /mnt/disk is a NFS share mounted via autofs, the NFS server is on the LAN.

Activating the VPN suddenly cut the communication with the LAN... and the NFS server!

As soon as I've disabled the autofs service and unmounted `/mnt/disk` (with -f to force), gedit window suddenly appeared!

So the problem is identified: when starting, `gedit` lists some mount points and it can stay stuck.

Would that be possible not to list mount points or at leat do it in a thread so that it doesn't stay stuck without obvious reason? thanks.

(please don't mark as solved as there still a problem with gedit stat'ing mount points in an unsafe way)

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.