Closed Bug 1166059 Opened 9 years ago Closed 8 years ago

[e10s] background tab performance

Categories

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
General
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

People

(Reporter: rich, Unassigned)

References

Details

This may take some explaining.

I've gotten used to a particular style of browsing.  Basically, I read, and as I'm reading, I middle-click other links expecting them to open in the background.  The point of this is to avoid staring at a blank screen.  Since the other page hasn't been fetched or rendered yet, clicking directly would require waiting for some period of time, sometimes 10's of seconds.

When I've finished with the current tab, I close it.  This immediately shows me the next tab in my list.

With e10s, this doesn't happen.  Instead, I'm looking at a spinner for some period of time, even for tabs that were opened in the background over 20 minutes ago.

This is a bug.  Those tabs should be rendered and waiting for me when I click to them, close the current, whatever.  There is no reason for me to be looking at a spinner in this context.
In case it matters, I'm on several different macs running Yosemite either current or beta.
I do the same and it works. Can you give a couple URLs where it happens? Maybe it is a problem with some servers.
Flags: needinfo?(rich)
This could be caused by an extension.
Open about:performance and look at entries with the highest jank level.
I don't know how this value is calculated, but jank level <= 4 seems to be OK.
Adblock has a jank level of 7 and slows down Firefox very badly.
I'm getting it even on local servers, although not for long.

My point here is that there has been *plenty* of time for the page to be rendered and prepared to be displayed but that hasn't happened.  It's almost as though it isn't asking for the rendering until I expose the tab.

Where do I find about:performance?
Flags: needinfo?(rich)
Just copy about:performance into the adressbar and hit enter.
It's not about rendering HTML btw.
Firefox is occupied with extension stuff and can't display the already rendered website.
1. open about:performance in a new tab
2. open some tabs until you see the spinner
3. switch to the about:performance tab immediately and find the extension with the highest jank level
4. disable that extension
5. restart Firefox and go on with 1.

Do that until you don't see the spinner anymore.
If this helps you have the choice of keeping the faulty extensions disabled until the developer of the extension fixes the problem, or disable e10s.

Please also post the extensions you have disabled, so I can test them too.
ni myself to try to get a profile from the reporter.
Flags: needinfo?(mconley)
I tried about:performance in the address bar earlier.  I get "file not found".

Firefox developer edition: 40.0a2 (2015-05-19)

MacOsX: 10.10.4 (14E17e)

Mac mini (Early 2009).
Weird, about:performance shows up in about:about but doesn't work in dev edition for me either. (It's working in nightly)
Is it a bug or is it not enabled yet in dev edition? Does somebody know?

You can also try to restart Firefox without add-ons, to see if a extension is actually causing your issue.

Firefox menu -> help -> Restart with Add-ons disabled.
I just got spinner when I clicked *back* to a tab which had been rendered previously.  Only a second or two, but still...

I'm currently running firebug, chatzilla, test pilot, and 1password.  (Flagfox and flashblock disabled).
I can't reproduce it with those addons on Windows.

It's probably bug 1135719

Mike Conley wrote about it in his blog:
http://mikeconley.ca/blog/2015/05/04/electrolysis-and-the-big-tab-spinner-of-doom/
It may be bug 1135719 although...

1) I get it even without adblock or anything similar.
2) I get it on tabs which have had *plenty* of time to render, (minutes and 10's of minutes).
3) I get it even when switching back to tabs which have previously been rendered.

I don't know if these are symptoms of a different problem or additional symptoms of bug 1135719.
Hey K. Richard Pixley,

Would you mind providing us a performance profile to help us determine what's going wrong here?

Check out the video I posted at the bottom of http://mikeconley.ca/blog/2015/05/04/electrolysis-and-the-big-tab-spinner-of-doom/ for instructions on how to give us a profile.

If you could paste a link to your performance profile in this bug, that'd be very useful for determining what is happening and what we can do to help.
Flags: needinfo?(mconley)
Flags: needinfo?(rich)
It's been a very long time -> resolving as 'incomplete' - feel free to reopen if more specific information about what's slow here becomes available!
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 8 years ago
Flags: needinfo?(rich)
Resolution: --- → INCOMPLETE
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