402216 - Page isn't redirecting properly -- but this redirection works for Firefox 2.0.0.8 under Windows

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Tech Evangelism Graveyard :: English Other, defect)

Description

[Bob Weeks]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.8) Gecko/20061201 Firefox/2.0.0.8 (Ubuntu-feisty)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.8) Gecko/20061201 Firefox/2.0.0.8 (Ubuntu-feisty)

The Linux version of Firefox (2.0.0.8) running under Ubuntu is unable to access the following URL (it can be accessed successfully by Firefox under Windows XP):

http://www.dfsgroupinsurance.com

The error message is:

****************begin message*********************************** 

The page isn't redirecting properly

Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.

    *   This problem can sometimes be caused by disabling or refusing to accept cookies.

******************* end message ***********************

A cookie from www.assurancecollectivedesjardins.com has been allowed on my system, so the problem is not one of disabling or refusing to accept cookies. I have accepted the only cookie for which I was prompted. I have tried to access the web page repeatedly, with the same result. 

When the failure occurs a URL like the one below appears in the address area:

https://www.assurancecollectivedesjardins.com/ica/corpolib/content/aa3/english/aa31.asp

This URL can be successfully accessed directly by Firefox under Windows XP (and by IE) but using the Linux version of Firefox under Ubuntu results in the same error message as above.

I have followed all the suggestions outlined on the following page:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/The_page_isn't_redirecting_properly

but the result is the same.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. attempt to access http://www.dfsgroupinsurance.com
2.
3.
Actual Results:  
After long delay I receive the message:

The page isn't redirecting properly

Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.

    *   This problem can sometimes be caused by disabling or refusing to accept cookies.

Expected Results:  
Open the requested page (which is successful under the Windows XP version of Firefox and IE7).

I am using the default theme.  I have these add-ons installed:

Adblock Plus and Adblock Element Hiding
Customize Google
Google Toolbar For Firefox
DownThemAll
MediaWrap 

I have tested with the first two disabled but this did not make any difference.

No errors are recorded in the Error Console.

Comment 1

[Arthur]

Konqueror says:
"Found a cyclic link in https://www.assurancecollectivedesjardins.com/ica/corpolib/content/aa3/english/aa31.asp."
w3m says something similar and Firefox 2.0.0.9 the same message as for the reporter.

The reason is that the server always sends a 302. Why it wouldn't do so for browsers on Windows only the server administrator knows.

--18:24:37--  https://www.assurancecollectivedesjardins.com/ica/corpolib/content/aa3/english/aa31.asp
           => `aa31.asp'
Connecting to www.assurancecollectivedesjardins.com[207.61.255.143]:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response...
 1 HTTP/1.1 302 Object moved
 2 Connection: Keep-Alive
 3 Content-Length: 208
 4 Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:24:39 GMT
 5 Location: https://www.assurancecollectivedesjardins.com/ica/corpolib/content/aa3/english/aa31.asp
 6 Content-Type: text/html
 7 Server: Microsoft-IIS/5.0
 8 COMMERCE-SERVER-SOFTWARE: Microsoft Commerce Server 2002, Enterprise Edition
 9 X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
10 Cache-control: private
Location: https://www.assurancecollectivedesjardins.com/ica/corpolib/content/aa3/english/aa31.asp [following]

Comment 2

[Bob Weeks]

Does Arthur's comment (thanks, by the way) mean that this is not considered a Firefox bug, but a problem with the way the web site has been set up (sending a 302, but not to browsers on Windows)?  

Comment 3

[Arthur]

Yes, it's definitely some very weird browser detection the server is doing. With IE on Wine it correctly shows a login page. With Firefox, Konqueror, wget, w3m on Linux it indefinitely returns a redirection message. If you change the user agent of Konqueror to that of IE 6 everything seems to work as it does in IE (don't know what happens past the login screen). So that's definitely a problem of how the web site is set up. And if it works with Firefox for Windows there's no reason why it shouldn't work with Firefox on any other platform (or any other standard compliant browser).

I'd suggest to the web site administrators to get rid of the browser detection all together or if that gives problems with IE to keep an IE specific version and to send all other browsers the same as the site does now for Firefox on Windows.

Comment 4

[Arthur]

Oh yes, I've forgotten to say that it also seems to work with Firefox on Linux if you use the user agent switcher add-on:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59

But do *not* forget to set it back to the default user agent after using it or it will mess up other pages and make user agent statistics even more unreliable.

Comment 5

[Bob Weeks]

Thanks a lot for the follow-up.  I would  mark this (non-) bug as resolved, but am not sure what the correct resolution status should be.   Invalid? Worksforme? Fixed?

Comment 6

[Arthur]

I've already made this an evangelism bug, meaning it isn't listed as a firefox bug anymore. As soon as the problem on the server is resolved it can be marked fixed.

Comment 7

[Bob Weeks]

We shouldn't hold our breath waiting for one of Canada's largest financial institutions to respond to my email.  I sent them a message saying there was a problem and asking their technical people to get in touch with me, but have heard nothing for almost two weeks.  I will try again but am not hopeful.

Comment 8

[Arthur]

Thanks for writing them an email. You can also send them the URL of this bug so they can ask for assistance if needed. And no, nobody should hold her or his breath about this. But this bug can serve as a place for those who want to know about the background of the issue or are in need of a workaround.

Comment 9

[John]

Note: This same problem also appears on yahoo mail (mail.yahoo.com), and,
accordinto to comments I read on the 'net, also for gmail.com.

I actually cannot log into my mail account at yahoo.com. (can't even open the
login page). If I clear cookies and cache, I can get to the login page,
bout after entering username/password, I get the same problem again.

So, I'm not entirely sure this is just a philosophical issue.

John

Comment 10

[John]

Just to be complete, I _have_ a user agent switcher installed (set to IE),
and still have the problem.

Comment 11

[Bob Weeks]

I never got an answer from the site which originally gave me the problem, but they eventually fixed it.
Now I get a warning when I log in that the site is "Not optimized for your browser" so they are at least checking which one you're using.  But it seems to work OK with my setup, and I don't have to "lie" about
which browser it is with the "User Agent Switcher" add-on.  I'm using:

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.0.4) Gecko/2008111317 Ubuntu/8.04 (hardy) Firefox/3.0.4

I have a gmail account but don't use it very often.  But I tried logging in to gmail and there was no problem.

Sorry I can't suggest any solution.  I'm surprised this "problem" is still open here, as it was deemed not to be a mozilla bug.  If I can figure out how,  I will mark it "fixed" since the problem on the site server has been fixed. (I don't use this forum much and find it a bit intimidating.)  

Good luck.

Comment 12

[Arthur]

@Bob: Good to hear that dsfgroupinsurance.com now works. I'm leaving the bug open for now because of the "not optimized" message.

@John: Yahoo and Gmail work perfectly when _not_ using a user switching agent. It has been a long time since I've last had to use an agent switcher on any site. Times definitely have changed for the better. If you do have troubles with a site when using the default user agent, please open a new bug for it.

Comment 13

[John]

I've been analyzing the HTTP flow, and I'm not so sure FF is doing the right thing (at least I think I can see where the looping is from):

1) I ask connection with mail.yahoo.com, and see the 
   GET /ym/login HTTP/1.1 going out (with all the browser info)

2) yahoo then answers with a 302 error:
   HTTP/1.1 302 Moved
   with a new location:
   http://f133.mail.yahoo.com/ym/login
   and even a hint in html: 
   The document has moved <A HREF="http://f133.mail.yahoo.com/ym/login">here

3) BUT, firefox insists on ignoring that address:
   GET /ym/login HTTP/1.1
   (there is no new DNS request to resolve the new address, and the IP is the
   same, so evidently the page served is the same).

I've attached the Ethereal log for the sequence.

John

Comment 14

[John]

Attachment: Log of a connection to yahoo mail

Connection to mail.yahoo.com, 302 redirect, etc.

Comment 15

[Arthur]

Hi John, thanks for the ethereal log. Just a few points:

* This bug (bug 402216) is about a case of bad browser sniffing that once was a problem at dfsgroupinsurance.com, not Yahoo. If you still have problems, open a new bug please (you can CC me).
* Your Firefox still identifies itself as Internet Explorer. Yahoo mail works perfectly right with a standard, non-hiding Firefox.
* When does your wireshark log start? What it shows is a DNS request for f133.mail.yahoo.com. That's also where Firefox tries to get to. From there it get's the response to redirect to f133.mail.yahoo.com (the very same it already asked for the /ym/login path), which it does. Unsurprisingly, this never stops if the server never sends anything else but a redirect to itself. I have no idea what the Yahoo server tries to accomplish, but Firefox does as it is told, nothing else.

Comment 16

[John]

Ok. I've submitted the problem as bug 466992.

I've tried with the user agent switch set to default and to IE6 (checked with wireshark). Just a coincidence that while submitting the report I was still on IE.

The log was the wrong one, started too late. I've attached the correct one to the other bug report, and it does give a different IP for f133.mail.yahoo.com. So now I'm completely confused.

Thanks!

Comment 17

[Hallvord R. M. Steen [:hallvors]]

Problem not found
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:23.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/23.0