308483 - clear search history option can be misleading, because it also doesn't clear history

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Search, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Ian Jackson]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050513 Debian/1.7.8-1
Build Identifier: firefox 1.0.6-ubuntu13

The `clear search history' option (on the context menu in the search box) has
two problems:

1. If invoked, it does not immediately save the updated profile, so a subsequent
crash can undo the clear.

2. When invoked, the normal browser history still contains the URLs for the
search results pages.  This completely defeats the effect unless the user knows
to clear the browser history.

Both of these problems mean that the feature is a privacy risk, as it can lead
to a false sense of security.  The first is easy to fix.  The second is harder:
the only correct approach would be to clear all relevant entries from the
browser history or perhaps to ask the user whether to clear the browser history too.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
To reproduce 1:
1. Start firefox
2. Check that some saved search info is present (eg by watching for completion
in the search box)
3. Select `clear search history' from the search box context menu
4. Send firefox a SIGKILL
5. Restart firefox
6. Observe that the search history is still present

For problem 2:
1. Start firefox
2. Check that some saved search info is present (eg by watching for completion
in the search box)
3. Select `clear search history'
4. Observe that the browser history still records the search (eg by starting
typing http://www.google.co.uk/.... in the location bar and watching the
completions)



I will disable the `clear search history' option for Ubuntu Breezy (our next
stable release).

This issue is recorded in the Ubuntu bugzilla:
https://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=13322

Comment 1

[Ian Jackson]

In 1.5, the first problem I mention (that the profile is not immediately saved) has been fixed.  The second, harder, problem remains.

Comment 2

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

I'm not sure that people really expect that clearing the search bar history also clears their history of result page views, especially given the fact that "Clear private data" also includes "Browsing History".

I'm not sure what would be the best way to fix this bug. I don't think any of your suggested fixes for 2) (prompting, or selectively clearing history) are appropriate. Would renaming the menu item to "Clear search bar history" instead of "Clear search history" satisfy your concerns?

Comment 3

[Mycroft Project (CC)]

Maybe 'Clear autocomplete entries' or something (I think I've seen that used somewhere)? Or maybe that's too complicated?

Comment 4

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

(In reply to :Gavin Sharp (use [e-mail] for email) from comment #2)
> Would renaming the menu item to "Clear search bar history"
> instead of "Clear search history" satisfy your concerns?

uiwanted: should we do this?

Comment 5

[Florencia Di Ciocco, NI to vbalducci]

Hi, I think that this bug has been fixed. If I'm mistaken, please reopen it.
Regards, Flor.