Symptoms

You may observe the following issue with K2 PnD tool 4.6.7 (4.12060.1570.0): You are unable to build a package with large solution: once “Add items” clicked after adding all required elements (SmOs, views, forms, workflow etc.) package cannot be built, spinner icon appears and it is not possible to get back and PnD stays up to 24 hours in such state.
After some investigation you may isolate the cause of this problem to certain views which cannot be added into package. Where as all the other elements of the solution can be packaged and deployed without any issues though you may still observe exceptionally long time it take to add these items into package.

Because of this it was necessary to “cut” this large package into smaller separate packages and this allowed to deploy most of the solution parts – all SmOs and service instances and most of the views. But 5 views still cannot be packaged – once you trying to add them to package PnD tool freezes in endless waiting/loading state on adding those views.
 

Diagnoses

Issues described above may lead you to the following questions:
1. Are there any limitations on number of items per package?
2. What could be the reason for such “slowness/freeze” when adding elements to package? In case if it is references error in specific view or views why PnD does not report this and simply freezes?
3. Are there any alternative ways to move K2 solution (SmOs, views, forms, workflow etc.) from one environment to another?
4. Do we have any coldfixes improving PnD in 4.6.7?
5. Any other suggestions what client can do about inability to package their solution/certain views?

You may find the answers below:
1. There is no known limitations with regards to the number of items you can package, but you need to bear in mind, that the more items you are adding to package, the longer it will take to analyze each item, especially in 4.6.7.
2. Many performance changes were made to PandD since 4.6.7, as there were known issues with regards to slow performance, therefore it takes some time to analyze through all the items, especially for a large packages.
3. It is possible to deploy workflows to different environments with K2 Studio. This was primary way of deployment prior to availability of Package and Deployment Tool.
4. There is a combined coldfix for Package and Deployment 4.6.7, but there are no performance related coldfixes for it as those require major architectural changes which available only with move to new version of K2.
5. It is recommended to upgrade to the latest version of K2 as many changes were made into Package and Deployment Tool in terms of performance and the capabilities it has now, there is also validation included which will prevent users from breaking their forms/views/smo's etc. later down the line.

For an issue with inability to add certain views into package sometimes it may help to "edit" affected views (just by clicking through all the rules) and if it does not help there is a coldfix available which should address this issue (it is specifically aimed at the issue with views which use environment fields in rules/expressions).
 

Resolution

In case of issues with K2 Package and Deployment tool 4.6.7 consider upgrading to the never versions or contact K2 support for assistance with specific issues.