1931602 - Firefox working-set size increases over time -- Fail to release pages?

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Core :: Performance, defect)

Description

[Phil]

Steps to reproduce:

Start Firefox, create tabs and delete tabs, allow to sit idle.

Actual results:

Over time (hours) the working-set size of Firefox increases. Typically on my machine it starts around 2500 pages and increases up to 8000 pages.
I end Firefox via TaskMgr and restart Firefox. When it comes back, the working-set size is typically back to my start size. What I suggest is that pages are not being released by Firefox causing a memory leak..? This obviously causes a memory load and excessive paging.

Expected results:

Anytime a Firefox a new tab is started and subsequently cancelled, memory for that unit of work should be released. If Firefox itself is cancelled, its memory should be released and maximum cleanup be done.

Comment 1

[Phil]

This is an issue I have experienced for a few years now. i.e., not new

Whenever I cancel Firefox and restart it, the performance of whatever machine I'm working on improves markedly regardless of the hardware configuration. My current machine is new, and is an HP i5 with 32G real and an appropriate page area created. Response on my machine is normally very fast. However, when this situation occurs, my productivity drops substantially.

Thanks for checking this issue out.
Phil

Comment 2

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

This bug was moved into the Performance component.

:lasd8525, could you make sure the following information is on this bug?

• For slowness or high CPU usage, capture a profile with http://profiler.firefox.com/, upload it and share the link here.
• For memory usage issues, capture a memory dump from about:memory and attach it to this bug.
• Troubleshooting information: Go to about:support, click "Copy raw data to clipboard", paste it into a file, save it, and attach the file here.

If the requested information is already in the bug, please confirm it is recent.

Thank you.