239282 - Command to save (update) profile data

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(SeaMonkey :: Startup & Profiles, enhancement)

Description

[Stewart Gordon]

While we're pondering over the fellow dependencies of bug 327647, it would be
handy to have a Save Profile command.  This would update everything in the
current profile that needs to be updated, just as happens when Mozilla is shut down.

This would mean that a user can save the profile at will, without having to exit
and restart Mozilla.  One might issue this command just before a time-consuming
task (e.g. removing expired posts when there are thousands) in case it crashes
in the process, or it turns out necessary to kill Mozilla as it's taking too
long.  Also, after having just set up one's mail/news accounts or added to them
strikes me as a good time to save, in order to create a backup by whatever means
in case the profile subsequently falls apart.

This shouldn't be difficult to implement - a Save Profile command in the menus
somewhere, which would call the same code that is called on exit to update the
profile, sounds like a simple idea.

Comment 1

[Stewart Gordon]

Oops ... darn bug 40896 again!  Don't know where 327647 came from, even with the
likelihood that we will eventually have that many bugs to deal with.  As you've
probably worked out, it's bug 237647 being talked about.

Comment 2

[Rene Pronk]

Why would we want to bother endusers with this? IMHO it's just an ugly
workaround for a bug. Perhaps it's a nice have for developers but end users
don't want this. (for what it's worth: I crash regularly during testing but I've
never ever lost my profile. Knock, knock) What if MS Office would have a button
'Save options', just to make sure they don't get lost, wouldn't that be silly?
I'd say won't fix.

Comment 3

[Stewart Gordon]

(In reply to comment #2)
> Why would we want to bother endusers with this? IMHO it's just an ugly
> workaround for a bug.

Only "a" bug?  Just look at them!

> Perhaps it's a nice have for developers but end users don't want this.

They don't have to use it then.

> (for what it's worth: I crash regularly during testing but I've
> never ever lost my profile. Knock, knock)

You mean you've checked all the siblings of this bug, and you have an unusual
setup in which none of them happen?

> What if MS Office would have a button
> 'Save options', just to make sure they don't get lost, wouldn't that be silly?

It would.  But it would be even sillier if it didn't automatically save such a
mass of options as and when they're set.  But a Mozilla profile is a lot more
than just options, and with the infeasibility of saving some of this data for
every little change, some update mechanism is needed.

> I'd say won't fix.

Ugly as it may be, it's certainly the lesser of two evils IMO.

Comment 4

[Rene Pronk]

> Only "a" bug?  Just look at them!

I have.

> They don't have to use it then.

No, but it clutters their UI.

> You mean you've checked all the siblings of this bug, and you have an unusual
> setup in which none of them happen?

Apart from bug 101503, apparently yes. I can't even remember when I started
using this profile, despite the fact that I crash a lot while triaging bugs and
fix crashers every now and then. Since 101503 isn't causing data loss, it isn't
really bothering me. It's annoying at worst.

> It would.  But it would be even sillier if it didn't automatically save such a
> mass of options as and when they're set.

Then save the options automatically instead of letting the user do it. The only
real bug in the list is bug 231606 IMO. Close your files when you're through
with them. If that would be fixed and people wouldn't overwrite the old files
but instead backup them and then create e.g. a new bookmarks.html and then
delete the old one, things should be safe for most files. Wrt stuff like cache
and passwords, we delete them anyway after crashing.

And don't forget, how does the average user know when Mozilla is gonna crash? He
doesn't. If Mozilla crashes, it's over 90% of the time while loading a new page.
Should they save their options every time before loading a new page? No, that
would be ridiculous. Well, should they save their options after changing the
settings or saving a bookmark then? No, if the user can do that, we can better
do that ourselves.

Comment 5

[Stewart Gordon]

(In reply to comment #4)
>> They don't have to use it then.
> 
> No, but it clutters their UI.

Oh well, I suppose we could compromise.  Maybe we could have a
javascript command or special URI to do it.  Let's see ... 
about:config is enough an advanced feature already, how about
about:saveProfile or something?

>> It would.  But it would be even sillier if it didn't automatically
>> save such a mass of options as and when they're set.
> 
> Then save the options automatically instead of letting the user do
> it.

Of course.  But when?  As has been said, a few aspects would be
inefficient to save after every little change.

> The only real bug in the list is bug 231606 IMO.  Close your files
> when you're through with them.  If that would be fixed and people
> wouldn't overwrite the old files but instead backup them and then
> create e.g.  a new bookmarks.html and then delete the old one,
> things should be safe for most files.  Wrt stuff like cache and
> passwords, we delete them anyway after crashing.

Yes, maybe bug 231606 is the underlying cause of some of the other
bugs, and fixing it would put the problem into better perspective.

> And don't forget, how does the average user know when Mozilla is
> gonna crash?  He doesn't.  If Mozilla crashes, it's over 90% of the
> time while loading a new page.  Should they save their options
> every time before loading a new page?  No, that would be
> ridiculous.  Well, should they save their options after changing
> the settings or saving a bookmark then?  No, if the user can do
> that, we can better do that ourselves.

I'd agree there.  And after leaving a mail folder or newsgroup, and
whatever other circumstances.  But how long will it take to find every
circumstance where we should save and then put our development time where our
mouth is?

My suggestion is really just a thought, a fallback for the places
where we fail to automatically update/flush/close/whatever profile
files.  If other related bugs are just as quick a fix as this one, or
even quicker, so be it.

Comment 6

[Rene Pronk]

If this were to be implemented, the best way would be i guess to automatically
save profile data every 5 minutes where 5 could be a pref that can be altered
with about:config. A new about: parameter is not likely to be accepted by core
developers and this solution is nice because:
1. It is reasonably safe, at most data of the last 5 minutes is lost.
2. It is automatic so people won't need to think about it.
3. It is hardly disturbing because it happens rarely. (if a page is being loaded
it can be postponed for a few seconds so it won't impact performance)
4. It can be configured in a place where people are most likely to look for the
pref, they just filter for autobackup or something like that.

This almost makes it sound as bug 193567, except that this I propose an
interval. Still, bug 231606 should have priority over this one since closing
files means you don't have to flush them every 5 minutes anymore.

Comment 7

[Tony Mechelynck [:tonymec]]

No comment in 4 years.
Setting dependency as per comment #6 in fine.

Comment 8

[Robert Kaiser]

This sounds like the perfect thing for an add-on to do, but not something the SeaMonkey team will implement by itself.