144607 - make HTTP pipelining harder to enable on 1.0 branch

Status: VERIFIED WONTFIX

(Core :: Networking: HTTP, defect)

Description

[David Baron :dbaron: (⌚️UTC-4, no longer working on Mozilla)]

HTTP pipelining is currently responsible for the #1 and #2 topcrashes on the 1.0
branch (bug 141796 and bug 143821), and also (according to darin) a bunch of
bugs where we have problems interacting with servers.  In other words, at this
point, it's an experimental feature.  However, the pref has been in the UI for a
while, and users enabled it before enabling it did anything (see bug 141796
comment 4), and thus they're now using an experimental feature and
crashing/breaking without knowing it.

So, this is a bug to:

[19:25:41] <darin> yeah, ok.. so how about this:
[19:25:49] <darin> 1) remove UI for pipelining
[19:26:09] <darin> 2) rename pipelining pref(s) so as to disable pipelining for
anyone using mozilla 1.0 (by default)
[19:26:22] <darin> 3) add scary looking comments in all.js around the new
pipelining pref
[19:26:28] <darin> sound good?
[19:26:30] <dbaron> seems reasonable to me

Comment 1

[David G King]

I would agree with that, as it fulfills (albiet in a different way) my comment
in Bug #140176 about RELNOTE. If the feature is removed from the UI, then a
release note isn't needed.

A thought, for those that have Pipelining enabed via the UI, should this be
disabled when they install 1.0?

Comment 2

[Darin Fisher]

ok, so i now have approved fixes for both of the pipelining related top crashes.
 that certainly makes this bug less critical; however, there is still the fact
that some websites won't load correctly with pipelining enabled.

perhaps a relnote is sufficient??  i mean, afterall some websites don't load
correctly if you use HTTP/1.1 and/or keep-alive (albeit in very small numbers).
 some proxy servers certainly fail when using HTTP/1.1 (junkbuster!!).  hmm...

Comment 3

[David Baron :dbaron: (⌚️UTC-4, no longer working on Mozilla)]

Seems reasonable to me, although I wonder how many users might have checked the
pref before it did anything and whether we should change the pref name.

Comment 4

[Darin Fisher]

right, there's definitely that to be concerned with.

Comment 5

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

I think a relnote is sufficient. Darin, can you write something up for this?

Comment 6

[Darin Fisher]

possible relnote:

  "While enabling HTTP pipelining may significantly improve page load times, in   
   some cases it can actually prevent a website from loading correctly.  If you 
   experience problems loading a website, please verify that HTTP pipelining is 
   disabled and try again (see Preferences->Advanced->HTTP Networking)."

short version:

  "As a result of enabling HTTP pipelining (see Preferences->Advanced->HTTP 
   Networking), some websites may not load correctly."

is there anything else that should be added to the relnote?

Comment 7

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

The first note looks good. Let's get this at the top of the list for General
notes or Navigator notes. Dawn, can you add this item please? Thanks. 
Dbaron, can you resolve this or break the 143200 dependency if this release note
works for you? Thanks.

Comment 8

[David Baron :dbaron: (⌚️UTC-4, no longer working on Mozilla)]

Breaking dependency since it's fine with me now that at least the crashes are fixed.

Comment 9

[Darin Fisher]

marking WONTFIX

Comment 10

[Tom Everingham]

verified wontfix