1427255 - WebExtension browserAction menu items randomly disappear

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 832990

(WebExtensions :: Android, defect, P3)

Description

[Giorgio Maone [:ma1]]

[Steps to reproduce]:
1. Install any WebExtension using the browserAction API (e.g. NoScript, uBlock, ViewSource) 
2.Use the browser and open the main menu from time to time, scrolling to the installed WebExtension
 
[Expected results]:
- The WebExtesions's browserAction menu item stays consistently in the main menu
 
[Actual results]:
- After a while the browserAction menu item is gone. 
 
[Additional notes]:
- Could not find a reliable trigger yet, it may be memory pressure related (something gets garbage collected and shouldn't)?
- The WebExtension keeps working as usual, and the browserAction API appears to work even though the widget is not displayed (e.g. consequent setTitle() and getTitle() calls behave consistently)
- If multiple WebExtensions are installed, their menu items disappear all at once
- Each menu item reappears after disabling and re-enabling its WebExtension (the other ones are still missing)

Comment 1

[Paul [pwd]]

Dupe of bug 1396270

Comment 2

[Giorgio Maone [:ma1]]

Additional data point: debugging the WebExtension with WebIDE over USB shows it's fully functional, except for the menu item not being displayed.
Then issuing a browser.runtime.reload() from the remote console causes, maybe obviously, the menu item to appear.

Comment 3

[Luca Greco [:rpl] [:luca] [:lgreco]]

I started to look into this issue, unfortunately I have not been able to reproduce it yet.

The rendering of the browserActions on Android is being done on the Java side, in particular from the following code:

- The browserAction is added to the Android menu when a "Menu:AddBrowserAction" message is received by the BrowserApp class instance:
  - https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/b24e6342d744c5a83fab5c15972e11eeb69d68e6/mobile/android/components/extensions/ext-browserAction.js#133
  - https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/b24e6342d744c5a83fab5c15972e11eeb69d68e6/mobile/android/components/extensions/ext-browserAction.js#39
  - https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/b24e6342d744c5a83fab5c15972e11eeb69d68e6/mobile/android/modules/BrowserActions.jsm#68-80
  - https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/b24e6342d744c5a83fab5c15972e11eeb69d68e6/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/BrowserApp.java#1897-1907


- The registered browserAction are cached in mBrowserActionItemsCache ArrayList,
  and the BrowserApp's onCreateOptionsMenu renders any cached browserAction here:

  https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/b24e6342d744c5a83fab5c15972e11eeb69d68e6/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/BrowserApp.java#3428-3433

Comment 4

[Andy McKay]

Possibly see also bug 1396270 (which leads to bug 832990).

Comment 5

[Andy McKay]

Dropping down from a P1, something we'd like to fix, but we don't have anyone on my time who knows how to do this. Bug 1396270, is pointing towards bug 832990 as well.

Comment 6

[Jan Henning [:JanH]]

Based on the symptoms and comment 2 I'm quite certain that this is a duplicate of bug 832990.