117875 - close FTP control connections when no docshell actively displaying it

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core Graveyard :: Networking: FTP, enhancement)

Description

[Jeremy M. Dolan]

I connected to ftp://ftp.xpilot.org/ in Mozilla, saw I wanted a file, so I
started a real FTP client. (Mozilla's downloading doesn't work, seperate issues).

---- Connecting to ftp.xpilot.org (132.235.197.27) port 21
<--- 220 XPilot FTP Server ready.   
---> USER anonymous                 
<--- 530 Only one connection per machine allowed.

Saw Mozilla still had a connection open (acceptable, since the page was still
showing, to hold the connection to avoid ftp login overhead if the user issues
further commands. So I went to another page. Checked netstat output, saw the
connection was still open. Went to another page, waited a minute or two, FTP
connection was still in state ESTABLISHED. Had to close Mozilla so I could log
in with another client.

Comment 1

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

Please ALWAYS add the build ID in a bug report.

dupe of bug 43567 ?

Comment 2

[Jeremy M. Dolan]

Ah, thought there was a similar issue before... marked FIXED though, query
didn't find it. This is 2001123108 Linux, 30 days after the check-in there.

The user-visible effects of bug 43567 aren't really discussed, only internal
handle/mem leaks, so I don't know if it's a regression of that, or something
differant.

Comment 3

[Bradley Baetz (:bbaetz)]

Hmm. This isn't bug 43567 - the fix for that bug means that the connection will
time out after a time (which can be st by a hidden pref, if you want).

MArking INVALID, since we will cache connections, and bug 43567 just meant that
we didn't cache them forever

If anyone does ever implment a "log out now" feature for session cookies and
friends, I guess it could include open network connections, too.

Comment 4

[Jeremy M. Dolan]

I noticed after going to a FTP site, then a few web sites (in a row in the same
browser window), I checked netstat 5 minutes later, and not only was FTP still
open, so was every site I had been to since then.

tcp        0      0 my-ip:1054      miranda.org:ftp         ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 my-ip:1083      mothra.mozilla.org:http ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 my-ip:1086      gila.mozilla.org:http   ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 my-ip:1085      gila.mozilla.org:http   ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 my-ip:1059      63.88.172.54:http       ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 my-ip:1063      63.88.172.54:http       ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 my-ip:1070      a207-229-152-8.dep:http ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 my-ip:1071      a207-229-152-8.dep:http ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 my-ip:1066      www.winntmag.com:http   ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 my-ip:1061      a207-229-152-42.de:http ESTABLISHED

Are *all* of these HTTP connections supposed to be cached as well? For
five minutes? The FTP site, for example, has only a 3 user limit. 5 minutes is
quite a while to tie up one of those spots, if the user isn't going to end up
getting anything. (And if they've left the page, they probably won't be.)

Also notice that making a connection to ftp.dict.org, then one to miranda.org
doesn't use the cached connection, though the IP is the same. Don't we want to
base that on the IP? Should I file a seperate bug for this?

Comment 5

[Bradley Baetz (:bbaetz)]

I don't want to use IP, because of round robin DNS issues. Besides, the ftp
doesn't have access to teh IP directly (although it can get it, so thats not a
major issue)

HTTP is a separate issue, and theres another bug on that.

Comment 6

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

*** Bug 123129 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7

[benc]

I'll verify this if I can find out what the ftp timeout is...

Comment 8

[benc]

VERIFIED: invalid.
Jeremy, this is a pretty cool bug. In a perfect world, I would like to see our
connection management be a bit more sophisticated.

Comment 9

[Jeremy M. Dolan]

Shouldn't it become an RFE then?

Ideally, when no browser window is actively showing directory contents or
downloading something from an ftp server, the control conncetion should be
closed. Hitting 'back' should be able to show the directory listing via cache,
without having the reconnect.

I'd guess the percentage of times a user navigates an FTP site, goes to another
HTTP site in the window, then ends up going back to the FTP site for NEW content
is extremely small.

Comment 10

[Jeremy M. Dolan]

Reopening as RFE as requested.

Comment 11

[Bradley Baetz (:bbaetz)]

ftp -> dougt

Comment 12

[cybernytrix]

I noticed that even if you double click online/offline button, the ftp
connection is not closed. a similar problem exists for IMAP.

Comment 13

[benc]

I have noticed while doing testing w/ multiple clients, that more sites enforce
a single connection/IP than I expected.

Comment 14

[Frank Wein [:mcsmurf]]

*** Bug 291832 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 15

[Doug Turner (:dougt)]

mass reassigning to nobody.

Comment 16

[Patrick McManus [:mcmanus]]

rfe's for ftp features belong in addons these days..