Firebug freezing Aurora when switching to a Firebug-enabled tab?

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pd

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Aug 19, 2013, 10:45:46 PM8/19/13
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Hello

For the last couple of weeks, or perhaps longer, I've been seeing Aurora freeze (Not Responding) when I switch to a tab with Firebug loaded. If Aurora doesn't freeze, it takes approximately 6 seconds to update Firebug with the correct representation for the relevant tab's contents.

I just updated to Aurora 25.0a2 (2013-08-19) and I'm using Firebug 1.12.0b6 with it. I do have a bunch of other extensions installed so there's potential for conflict. I'd be willing to disable extensions to test for conflicts but this is my work environment and I need it running optimally ASAP (yes I know that running Aurora might sound contradictory to that goal).

Has anyone else experienced similar behaviour over the last 2-4 weeks (maybe more) ?

Is there anything I can do to minimize this problem?

pd

Sebastian Zartner

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Aug 20, 2013, 2:41:21 AM8/20/13
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Tested with the Aurora version from 2013-08-18 and the latest revision of the Firebug source (only having Firebug development related extensions installed) and it's working fine for me, i.e. there is only a delay of ~1s when switching to a tab, which has Firebug enabled.
So please disable the other extensions and let us know if that helps in any way. If you have the current stable (23.0.1) of Firefox installed besides Aurora, then please also try it out there using the same profile. Is there any difference?

Sebastian

mindrones

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Aug 20, 2013, 6:00:06 AM8/20/13
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Hi,

I have this problem too since Firefox 24.0b1 with Script panel enabled, while in FF 23.0.1 all goes normally (Mac OSx 10.7.5).

Tested with Firebug 1.11.4 and 1.12.0b6.

Here's what happens, assuming you're visiting for example http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/fx/ (from here on, [1]).


1) Script panel disabled

- Open a tab, visit [1]
- The page loads quickly
- Toggling Firebug on/off is fast

- Enable the Script panel
- Firefox hangs (CPU 100%) for many seconds before the Script panel shows some content
- Reloading the page is a bit slow, but nearly normal

now

- switch to tab serving a page from a different host, say Gmail, where Firebug is not enabled
- it takes a bit, say a couple if seconds
- switch back to the tab serving [1]
- Firefox hangs (CPU 100%) for many seconds


2) Script panel enabled, Firebug not enabled for [1]:

- Open a tab, visit [1], it loads quickly
- Open Firebug
- Firefox hangs (CPU 100%) for many seconds before Firebug appears
- After Firebug has appeared for that page, toggling it on/off is fast

now,

- Close Firebug in this tab
- Open a new tab, visit [1]
- The page loads very slowly, *even if Firebug is closed in the other tab*, and indeed Firebug does not appear in this new tab
- BUT opening Firebug is very quick!, like we were still in the previous tab
- From here on, toggling Firebug off/on in this new tab is fast

- This happens on every new tab visiting [1]


NOTE that unlike a slowdown I've experienced some time ago, this does not happen enabling the Net panel.


Regards,
Luca



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mindrones

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Aug 22, 2013, 3:08:21 AM8/22/13
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Sebastian Zartner

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Aug 22, 2013, 3:41:39 AM8/22/13
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Looked like a duplicate of issue 6086, so I merged them. I still can't see that massive slowdown as you both describe it, even when it is noticably slower when switching to a Firebug enabled tab.
This will be gone as soon as issue 5421 is done.

Sebastian

pd

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Aug 22, 2013, 4:59:40 AM8/22/13
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Unfortunately on my home machine I've just experienced ever weirder problems. Firebug seemed to insist upon opening on every page and re-opening on every reload, near as I can tell, in between 100% CPU usage every time. I upgraded to 1.12.0b7 now and thankfully after a restart things seem to have settled down.

The problems I initially described were on my work machine which I'll be back in front of in about 16 hours so I'll check out whether 1.12.0b7 has improved the situation and then, if not, try investigating potential extension conflicts.

On Thursday, August 22, 2013 5:41:39 PM UTC+10, Sebastian Zartner wrote:
Looked like a duplicate of issue 6086, so I merged them. I still can't see that massive slowdown as you both describe it, even when it is noticeably slower when switching to a Firebug enabled tab.

pd

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Aug 29, 2013, 12:48:30 AM8/29/13
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Hi All

I've tested this again on my work machine which is running Windows 7 with a quad core Xeon processor and 8 Gigs of RAM. So it's no antique or underpowered box.

Unfortunately the problem persists. It may be less dramatic but essentially with all add-ons (except Firebug) disabled, then after restarting, turning Firebug on and switching to (and perhaps from) tabs with Firebug running, causes a 100% CPU spike. I've even set processor affinity to one core to isolate the testing and no doubt about it, the Windows Task Manager performance tab graphs show three-four second processor spikes.

A very quick scan of the topics in this group appear to suggest I'm not alone in seeing similar circumstances. Perhaps there's a bug that started to surface in (very loosely) Firefox 23/4 ish and has only become worse in Aurora builds? My current setup is:

Aurora 25.0a2 (2013-08-28)
Firebug 1.12.0b7

In case it helps, about:buildconfig contains this link: http://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-aurora/rev/ae376878a3ec

I'd be willing to to attach the about:support information if I can be sure it's reasonably privacy neutral and you think it might help.

At this stage I cannot really commit to doing a test with a reset or fresh profile as I can't quite afford the potential disruption to my development work, as strange as that sounds when Firebug is causing 3-4 seconds lags every time I try to use it :)

Best of luck looking into the issue, let me know if I can help.

Sebastian Zartner

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Aug 29, 2013, 2:37:51 AM8/29/13
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Perhaps there's a bug that started to surface in (very loosely) Firefox 23/4 ish and has only become worse in Aurora builds?
As I mentioned before this is covered by issue 6086. This issue relates to two bugs reported to Mozilla, bug 755574 and bug 815603.

I assume the only thing we can do at our side is continue working on issue 5421 and try to push fixing the Mozilla bugs mentioned above until then.

Sebastian

Simon Lindholm

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Aug 29, 2013, 6:03:43 PM8/29/13
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If you think it has gotten worse in some Firefox version, then I think the most helpful thing you could do is bisect Firefox (through http://mozilla.github.io/mozregression/ ) to find some point where it got worse, and then post that information to Bugzilla somewhere and try if you can get someone to make it better. Apart from the long term JSD2 adoption there isn't anything we can do to improve this from the Firebug side.

pd

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Aug 29, 2013, 9:05:14 PM8/29/13
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 Hi Sebastian

I'm sorry if my post seemed repetitious or nagging. Unfortunately I do not have the time to browse this group as often as a dedicated dev like yourself does, so I guess I missed the part where this problem was aligned with issue 6086. I've scanned through that issue now and it seems like the Firebug team are well and truly aware of the issue, which is great to know.

I just wish that the Firebug and DevTools teams were not seemingly duplicating efforts because if Mozilla chose to support the continued development of Firebug through employing all the developers it has taken on in the DevTools area, we might not have this substantial problem. Clearly another Mozilla management failure IMHO, just like taking 3 years too long to address Mozilla's memory/snappy problems, then believing that the Chrome UI is the big reason people went to Chrome, rather than the poor Firefox performance which I reckon was at least as responsible. Anyway, clearly I digress!

All power to the legendary dedicated Firebug devs! Muchos thanks for your efforts!

pd

pd

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Aug 29, 2013, 9:28:22 PM8/29/13
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Fair suggestion Simon

Just wish I had the time to first acquire the skills to use that tool and then the time to use it.

Sebastian Zartner

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Aug 30, 2013, 3:14:53 AM8/30/13
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I'm sorry if my post seemed repetitious or nagging.
Not a problem at all. The repeated answer might also help people find it and get to know about what is done to solve the problem.
 
Unfortunately I do not have the time to browse this group as often as a dedicated dev like yourself does, so I guess I missed the part where this problem was aligned with issue 6086.
Missing a part of a conversation happens to everyone from time to time. So don't worry!
 
I've scanned through that issue now and it seems like the Firebug team are well and truly aware of the issue, which is great to know.
Yes, and we also know that it's pretty annoying for a lot of people, so we're working hard on the solution.
 
I just wish that the Firebug and DevTools teams were not seemingly duplicating efforts because if Mozilla chose to support the continued development of Firebug through employing all the developers it has taken on in the DevTools area, we might not have this substantial problem. Clearly another Mozilla management failure IMHO, just like taking 3 years too long to address Mozilla's memory/snappy problems, then believing that the Chrome UI is the big reason people went to Chrome, rather than the poor Firefox performance which I reckon was at least as responsible. Anyway, clearly I digress!
Well, this could be discussed a lot, though it is like it is and we can't change that now.
 
All power to the legendary dedicated Firebug devs! Muchos thanks for your efforts!
Thanks for the kind words!

Sebastian
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