506573 - Cookie exception list is deleted when closing FF

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[orangedragon]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1.1) Gecko/20090715 Firefox/3.5.1 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1.1) Gecko/20090715 Firefox/3.5.1 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

When cookies are set not to be accepted and you add sites to the exception list, the list is deleted when clearing browsing history or restarting FF.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Disable all cookies by going to tools->options->privacy->uncheck accept cookies from sites.
2.Click Exceptions and add mozilla.org and click Allow.
3.Check Clear history when firefox closes.
4.Restart Firefox and check the list.
Actual Results:  
The list will be cleared.

Expected Results:  
Kept the list.  It kept the list in previous versions of FF.

i have AdBlock Plus and NoScript installed and use the default theme.

Comment 1

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Only when "Cookies" is checked on the "Settings for Clearing History" window. All cookies are cleared but not the exceptions list itself. Solution would be not to clear on exit (is not necessary since you don't accept cookies).

Comment 2

[Michael Ryan]

Having "Site Preferences" checked in the "Settings for Clearing History" window would cause this.

Comment 4

[Peter]

I can confirm this bug with Mozilla Firefox 3.5.2 running in Safe Mode.  Having "Site Preferences" checked in the "Settings for Clearing History" window does not trigger the bug; but having "Cookies" checked in the "Settings for Clearing History" window definitely triggers it.  This bhavior persists whether or not you have FF configured to accept cookies.

Sometimes you do want/need to clear cookies manually, but IIRC previous versions (3.0.x at least) would do this without affecting cookies in the exception list.

Even if _cookies_ for sites listed in the exception list are affected by clearing cookies, the *sites* listed in the exception list certainly shouldn't be cleared.

This is clearly a bug, not a feature.

Comment 5

[Peter]

(In reply to comment #4)
Sorry, after further Safe Mode testing that includes restarting my browser, I'm seeing different results:

Test #1:
1. Set a site Exception
2. Make settings changes for that site (stored in a cookie)
3. Delete Cookies in Recent History
4. Restart browser
5. Result: settings are lost (with cookie), but Exception is retained

Test #2:
1. Set a site Exception
2. Make settings changes for that site (stored in a cookie)
3. Delete Site Preferences in Recent History
4. Restart browser
5. Result: Exception is lost, but settings are retained (still saved in cookie)

The problem here is that there's an assumed hierarchical relationship between Cookies and Site Preferences (which are stored in cookies).  One might further assume that cookies for sites in the Exceptions list should not be deleted in any case.  But FF 3.5 doesn't see it this way.

Another problem is that the relationship between Site Preferences and Exceptions is not clear.  Site Preferences *could* be cleared by simply deleting the cookie for the site (rather than deleting the Exception entirely).  But FF 3.5 apparently assumes that Site Preferences and Exceptions are one and the same (or treats them as such).  

At this point I really can't tell if there's a bug here, or if I just don't understand the features correctly.  Maybe if "Site Preferences" were better documented...

Comment 6

[Peter]

From http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Clear%20Recent%20History#What_is_history_

"Site Preferences: Site-specific preferences, including the saved zoom level for sites, character encoding, and the permissions for sites described in the Page Info window."

I see nothing in this description that equates Site Preferences with the actual entry for a specific site in the Cookies Exceptions list.  So I think it's pretty clear that FF should *not* be deleting Exception list entries along with Site Preferences.  I'm back to calling this behavior a definite bug, even if we seem to have discovered slightly different ways of triggering it.

Comment 9

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Reporter, are you still seeing this issue with Firefox 3.6.13 or later in safe mode or a fresh profile? If not, please close. These links can help you in your testing.
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles

Comment 10

[tom zman]

Yes this is still happening in all modes. I am running 3.6.13. The option under clear history if you have site preferences checked your block cookies list will be deleted. So to test add a block cookie, in the list, select site preferences in the clear history. Save then close firefox and reopen, and the block list will be deleted.

Comment 11

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

This bug has had the CLOSEME tag for several weeks and the date in the tag is far gone. If the reporter can still see this issue, Please retest with Firefox 3.6.x or later and a new profile (http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles). Then please remove the closeme tag in the whiteboard, mark the bug against the proper version and comment on the bug.