1449966 - Consider adding a restart button to about:config

Status: NEW

(Toolkit :: Preferences, enhancement)

Description

[Markus Stange [:mstange]]

Flipping prefs that require a restart is the main reason I need to restart my browser. Having a button on about:config to trigger a restart would solve 90% of my restarting use cases.

Comment 1

[:Gijs (he/him)]

Could we add it to about:support? That already has the "Reset Firefox" button, opens profiles, etc. While I understand that this isn't as convenient when flipping about:config prefs, adding it there is unlikely to be much help for people who don't flip prefs. If you flip prefs on local builds, you can use the restart shortcut (cmd-opt-r on mac), which would be even quicker, probably? :-)

Comment 2

[Markus Stange [:mstange]]

It would be less convenient, but that would also work, sure. Is there a reason we don't want to have the button in both places? It seems relevant to both about:config and about:support.

Comment 3

[Darkspirit]

I thought I'd become crazy(!) while using mozregression, but I found about:restartrequired.

Comment 4

[:Gijs (he/him)]

(In reply to Jan Andre Ikenmeyer [:darkspirit] | about:restartrequired from comment #3)
> I thought I'd become crazy(!) while using mozregression, but I found
> about:restartrequired.

FWIW, accel-shift-J (to open browser console) and then accel-opt/alt-R also works on nightly.

Comment 5

[Darkspirit]

(In reply to :Gijs (he/him) from comment #4)
> FWIW, accel-shift-J (to open browser console) and then accel-opt/alt-R also works on nightly.

Thank you. (I never heard the term "accel" in relation to keyboard shortcuts before. Acceleration?)
Ctrl+Shift+J opens the browser console. Ctrl+Alt+R, Ctrl+AltGr+R, etc. do not work. This maximum hidden feature doesn't work for me (KDE, Debian Testing).

Open about:restartrequired. Look, how beautiful this button is. Hover it slowly. ;) The search bar on about:config is long enough that a restart button could be placed in the top-right corner.

Excellent SEO of relevant content: https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+restart+firefox+nightly&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b ;D

Comment 6

[:Gijs (he/him)]

(In reply to Jan Andre Ikenmeyer [:darkspirit] | about:restartrequired from comment #5)
> (In reply to :Gijs (he/him) from comment #4)
> > FWIW, accel-shift-J (to open browser console) and then accel-opt/alt-R also works on nightly.
> 
> Thank you. (I never heard the term "accel" in relation to keyboard shortcuts
> before. Acceleration?)

ctrl on windows, cmd on mac, in this case. As a word in relation to shortcuts it seems pretty common, just from sticking the words into google. Anyway, not really relevant here.

> Ctrl+Shift+J opens the browser console. Ctrl+Alt+R, Ctrl+AltGr+R, etc. do
> not work. This maximum hidden feature doesn't work for me (KDE, Debian
> Testing).

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=&hl=en#!searchin/firefox-dev/gcli$20restart%7Csort:date/firefox-dev/te3900T37mU/0REIjDpdAgAJ

says it should work. See comments there about a bug that got fixed for 62. I don't know what version of Firefox you're testing on. If you're having issues even after looking at those steps, file a separate bug on the relevant component.

Comment 7

[Darkspirit]

(In reply to :Gijs (he/him) from comment #6)
> just from sticking the words into google.
I just never heard "accel" before as a regular German user and only mentioned my accessibility issue.

Imagine a browser configuration where I don't want to restore my previous session by default, but only in the case when I changed a pref where I have to restart. Therefore (chrome://flags) I set the parity-chrome keyword.

(A says: "Hey, to try out WebRender, open about:config, search for gfx.webrender.all, set it to true and restart Nightly."
B thinks: "Oh, there is no restart button, then I have to close the window? Oh no, now my tabs are gone.")

Comment 8

[Darkspirit]

(Btw, there's a restart button in the top-right corner on about:profiles. I was kind of blind so far because I only noticed a box with a "Restart with addons disabled" button, which basically looked the same as on about:support.)

Comment 9

[Darkspirit]

It would still be great if a restart button could be added to the top-right corner of about:config. There shouldn't be any need to change a pref before.