1109713 - Create CPOW "geiger counter" add-on to expose CPOW usage via the sound card

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

This is a neat idea that BenWa came up with, and I think is pretty cool - while we can gather numbers on how many CPOWs are used by a particular add-on, it might be useful (especially or add-on developers) to have a simple way of determining if their add-on is introducing / using CPOWs.

We could construct an add-on that produces a short click or sound every time a CPOW is used - perhaps modulating / pitching that sound based on the time since the last event loop tick.

This could be based on bug 1108689.

This is a crazy idea, and should not block e10s, but it'd be pretty neat.

Comment 1

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: pke-meter.xpi

I whipped up an add-on to do this - when it notices "unsafe CPOW usage" in the console, it queues up a Geiger Counter tick sound to play.

Comment 2

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

An easy way to test this is to install / enable the add-on and then open a tab. Load a page, and close it - you should hear two ticks, for the TabState unsafe CPOW usage (that's bug 1109875).

I'm also getting a ton of ticks just by writing in this <textarea> on Bugzilla. I got some by swiping back and forth. This thing is already crazy-useful.

Comment 3

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Source: https://github.com/mikeconley/pke-meter