docs.python.org site search is sluggish or may seem not working at all.

The reason is that before search starts, it requires a 800k+ index file to be loaded http://docs.python.org/searchindex.js

This file is usually cached. You might not notice sluggishness if it was cached when you loaded search page and were typing search query, but when you redirected to search page with get parameters the search is assumed to be started immediately. Unfortunately, JS execution delayed until index is loaded. Time controls are not updated, there is no indication what is going on and search may appear broken. User then clicks search button again and index starts loading anew.

The solution is to load index dynamically after first search request is made.

Attached patch is not tested with real server.