1253031 - Impossible to clear data cached by Service Workers through any exposed UI.

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1047098

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Dan Callahan [:callahad]]

There is no way for a user to clear data cached by a Service Worker.

This causes the following problems:

- Private user data is at risk of disclosure
- Users can not reclaim disk space from greedy workers
- Developers can not reset the browser to a pristine state

Things that don't work:

- Forget button (Bug 1252998)
- Privacy -> Clear recent history (Bug 1253009)
- Privacy -> Clear everything when Firefox closes (Bug 1253027)
- Avanced -> Clear Cached Web Content (Bug 1253003)
- Advanced -> Clear Offline Web Content (Bug 1253005)
- DevTools -> "Disable Caches" (Bug 1253018)

STR:

1. Visit https://www.pokedex.org/
2. Try to find a way to clear the cached data.

You can check if the service worker is present or not by visiting about:serviceworkers.

You can check if cached data is still available by visiting https://www.pokedex.org/manifest.json and running the following JavaScript in the console:

    caches.match('/img/icon-48.png').then(x => console.log(`Resource ${(x && x.ok) ? "WAS" : "WAS NOT"} found in cache:`, x)).catch(e => console.warn("Could not open cache:", e))

Comment 1

[Dan Callahan [:callahad]]

Ooh! I found one way that *does* work:

1. Open the History panel
2. Right click the site and choose "Forget about this site"

Comment 2

[Bill Walker [:bwalker] [@wfwalker]]

(In reply to Dan Callahan [:callahad] from comment #1)
> Ooh! I found one way that *does* work:
> 
> 1. Open the History panel
> 2. Right click the site and choose "Forget about this site"

I think you might also achieve success by going to about:serviceworkers and clicking on the appropriate unregister button

Comment 3

[Dan Callahan [:callahad]]

Ah, yep, unregistering from about:serviceworkers does clear the cache once all controlled tabs are closed.