[gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Kai Krakow]

Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 22:11:58 +0200
schrieb Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com>:

> On 21/03/2017 22:04, J. Roeleveld wrote:
> > On March 21, 2017 8:35:36 PM GMT+01:00, Alan McKinnon
> > <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com> wrote:
> >> This post is rather vague, sorry about that in advance.
> >>
> >> I've spent much time on this and gotten absolutely nowhere. So I
> >> conclude all my thoughts and assumptions are wrong and not worth
> >> even sharing (on account of them being so wrong).
> >>
> >> I have firefox like this:
> >>
> >> [I] www-client/firefox
> >>      Available versions:  45.7.0^d 45.8.0^d (~)51.0.1^d {bindist
> >> custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus debug ffmpeg +gmp-autoupdate
> >> +gstreamer gtk2 hardened hwaccel jack +jemalloc +jemalloc3 +jit
> >> neon pgo
> >> pulseaudio rust selinux +skia startup-notification system-cairo
> >> system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent
> >> system-libvpx system-sqlite test wifi L10N="ach af an ar as ast az
> >> be bg bn-BD bn-IN br bs ca cak cs cy da de dsb el en-GB en-ZA eo
> >> es-AR es-CL es-ES es-MX et eu fa ff fi fr fy ga gd gl gn gu he hi
> >> hr hsb hu hy id is it ja ka kk
> >> km kn ko lij lt lv mai mk ml mr ms nb nl nn or pa pl pt-BR pt-PT
> >> rm ro ru si sk sl son sq sr sv ta te th tr uk uz vi xh zh-CN
> >> zh-TW"} Installed versions:  51.0.1^d(21:30:20 21/02/2017)(dbus
> >> gmp-autoupdate jemalloc pulseaudio skia startup-notification
> >> system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent
> >> system-libvpx system-sqlite wifi -bindist -custom-cflags
> >> -custom-optimization -debug -gtk2 -hardened -hwaccel -jack -neon
> >> -pgo -rust -selinux -system-cairo -test L10N="en-GB en-ZA -ach -af
> >> -an -ar -as -ast -az -bg -bn-BD -bn-IN
> >>
> >> -br -bs -ca -cak -cs -cy -da -de -dsb -el -eo -es-AR -es-CL -es-ES
> >> -es-MX -et -eu -fa -ff -fi -fr -fy -ga -gd -gl -gn -gu -he -hi -hr
> >> -hsb
> >>
> >> -hu -hy -id -is -it -ja -ka -kk -km -kn -ko -lij -lt -lv -mai -mk
> >> -ml -mr -ms -nb -nl -nn -or -pa -pl -pt-BR -pt-PT -rm -ro -ru -si
> >> -sk -sl -son -sq -sr -sv -ta -te -th -tr -uk -uz -vi -xh -zh-CN
> >> -zh-TW") Homepage:            http://www.mozilla.com/firefox
> >>      Description:         Firefox Web Browser
> >>
> >> with these plugins:
> >> - adblockplus
> >> - flashblock
> >> - foxyproxy standard
> >> - restart browser
> >> - user agent switcher
> >> - youtube all html5
> >>
> >> Occasionally, according to no discernable pattern, all my tabs on
> >> all some/most/all Firefox windows stop responding. Clicking and
> >> scrolling in
> >> the content has no effect. Can't open new tabs, can't close tabs,
> >> can't
> >>
> >> switch to existing tabs. Sometimes it affects only one firefox
> >> window, sometimes all firefox windows.
> >>
> >> Imagine if you will that firefox is coded with one global loop that
> >> gets
> >> user actions and responds, then that loop gets stuck somewhere. The
> >> firefox window will not be affected (controlled by KDE), and
> >> neither is
> >>
> >> the X-server but the tabs can all do nothing till the loop
> >> unsticks. It's an effect like that.
> >>
> >> Sometimes it does work after a delay >30s.
> >> The sysadmin in me says 30s? Hah, check DNS resolver timeouts.
> >> Checked,
> >>
> >> found nothing unusual. Proxy looks OK, VPN looks OK, Chrome never
> >> has this problem so it's firefox specific.
> >>
> >> Firefox itself is up, it responds correctly to moving around the
> >> menus,
> >>
> >> just can't do some of the actions like open the Addons page (that
> >> is regular content in a tab).
> >>
> >> The issue ALWAYS goes away if I restart firefox, either with the
> >> restart
> >> addon or Alt-F4 and start from KDE menu. I have "load previous
> >> tabs" set
> >> to true so those actions are pretty equivalent.
> >>
> >> DE is Plasma 5, and the problem isn't from a recent upgrade, I've
> >> been battling with this for ages through MANY kde and firefox
> >> updates.
> >>
> >> My question:
> >> Where the hell do I start to figure out what's really going on?
> >> I used up all my sysadmin troubleshooting knowledge and have had to
> >> revert back to n00b status on this one.
> >
> > I see this with some websites that do some weird stuff.
> > CPU for at least one core then also goes to 100÷.
> > Make a list of websites open in tabs when it happens to see if
> > there are common ones that are always there when you have the
> > issue.
>
> Good idea. For posterity so's I don;t forget:
>
> - gentoo home page
> - one or more readthedocs sites (especially docs.ansible.com)
> - 1 or more jira pages (work stuff)
> - 1 or more confluence pages (work stuff)
> - a local gitlab site
> - 1 or more python html apps for, errr, usenets stuffs
> - 1 or more python apps running in flask (work stuff)

I'm using Chrome with often more than 50 tabs open - without
performance problems. But I had to switch Chrome to simple HTTP cache
(chrome://flags/#enable-simple-cache-backend) to get that. Some tabs
take more than 1 GB of memory after a while. But only those tab become
sluggish, all others are unaffected. And I do not block any scripts
(just the usual performance killers like ads and tracking scripts, done
with Ghostery). I cannot believe that Firefox is so much worse at this?

If Chrome isn't a option for you, maybe try Vivaldi (it's based on
Chromium and said to be very fast, tho for me it starts much slower
than Chrome).

-- 
Regards,
Kai

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