Net::ReadTimeout while alert is open in secondary tab

[Peter]

I'm running into the exception below when I try to take an action on my primary tab while an alert is open on another tab, 

I should note that closing the alert using browser.windows.last.use { browser.alert.close } avoids the problem but would require me to be aware of the alert beforehand. Checking on each tab would not be practical as each would need to timeout should an alert be open on a different tab.

Is there anything I'm missing? Is this a Watir issue? Either way, can anyone advise on how I should proceed?

Thanks!

Stacktrace:

C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/protocol.rb:158:in `rbuf_fill': Net::ReadTimeout (Net::ReadTimeout)

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/protocol.rb:136:in `readuntil'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/protocol.rb:146:in `readline'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/http/response.rb:40:in `read_status_line'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/http/response.rb:29:in `read_new'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/http.rb:1437:in `block in transport_request'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/http.rb:1434:in `catch'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/http.rb:1434:in `transport_request'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/http.rb:1407:in `request'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/http.rb:1400:in `block in request'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/http.rb:853:in `start'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/net/http.rb:1398:in `request'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-3.0.5/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/http/default.rb:124:in `response_for'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-3.0.5/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/http/default.rb:78:in `request'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-3.0.5/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/http/common.rb:63:in `call'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-3.0.5/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/bridge.rb:645:in `raw_execute'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-3.0.5/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/bridge.rb:623:in `execute'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-3.0.5/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/bridge.rb:157:in `alert_text'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-3.0.5/lib/selenium/webdriver/common/alert.rb:27:in `initialize'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-3.0.5/lib/selenium/webdriver/common/target_locator.rb:107:in `new'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-3.0.5/lib/selenium/webdriver/common/target_locator.rb:107:in `alert'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/watir-webdriver-0.9.3/lib/watir-webdriver/alert.rb:98:in `assert_exists'

        from C:/Ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/watir-webdriver-0.9.3/lib/watir-webdriver/alert.rb:80:in `exists?'

        from test_timeout.rb:26:in `alert_test'

        from test_timeout.rb:29:in `<main>'

 Script to replicate:

require 'watir'

def alert_test

  url = 'http://bit.ly/watir-example'

  browser = Watir::Browser.new(:chrome)

  browser.goto url

  browser.text_field(name: "entry.1000000").wait_until_present

  # Add link opening new tab

  script = "var a = document.createElement('a');" \

           "a.setAttribute('href', '#{url}');"\

           "a.setAttribute('target', '_blank');"\

           "a.innerHTML = '#{url}';"\

           "document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].appendChild(a);";

  browser.execute_script(script)

  browser.link(text: url).when_present.click

  

  # Open alert in second tab

  browser.windows.last.use do

    browser.execute_script("alert()")

  end

  

  browser.alert.present?

end

alert_test