311178 - download manager stalls windows messages making browser temporarily freeze

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 159107

(Toolkit :: Downloads API, defect)

Description

[mozilla]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915 Firefox/1.0.7
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915 Firefox/1.0.7

When downloading on a Windows platform, the command to initialize the download
manager to do a download stalls all "windows messages" for the current browser
window and all subsequent browser windows causing the entire firefox browser to
freeze. This effect is especially apparent when downloading relatively small
files, images for example. The download manager causes the stall at the start of
the image and when the download is complete. The two events are very close
together because the file is only a few hundred kilobytes big. The download
manager should not even be called if the image is in the cache.

Example: right click on a big image (that is in the browser cache) and save to
disk causes all browser windows to freeze while download manager initializes and
when the download is complete (about a second and a half later). The total
effect is a freeze of the entire Firefox browser for about 2 or 3 seconds while
downloading an image of about 300Kb when it is already present in the cache.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Surf to a site with large images (~600Kb)
2. Wait for all images to load on the page
3. right-click and select "save image to disk"
4. attempt to scroll up or down in a browser window or other navigation while
the download is initializing or finializing

Actual Results:  
Browser and all subsequent windows freeze for about 2 or 3 seconds. 

Expected Results:  
"windows message" pumping should be used to allow update messages to get to the
browser windows allowing minimize of windows, scrolling, or other navigation.

Comment 1

[Adam Guthrie]

Could you test this in a more recent build and see if you're still seeing this?
http://www.mozilla.org/images/front-ff15beta1.png

Comment 2

[Adam Guthrie]

Correct URL: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/

Comment 3

[mozilla]

I could test this with trunk builds, but considering it has been present for
about 3 versions now, I suspect it will still be there. Please understand that I
am also a developer and have limited time.

Comment 4

[Adam Guthrie]

(In reply to comment #3)
> I could test this with trunk builds, but considering it has been present for
> about 3 versions now, I suspect it will still be there.

Not really. We've fixed a /lot/ of bugs since we branched for 1.0 -- over 3500 IIRC.

Comment 5

[mozilla]

You have my apologizes! I truely wasn't aware of the 1.5 beta 2 version,
otherwise I would have tested with it. I was under the impression the trunk
builds only reached until version 1.0.x betas.

The effect is still present, namely when a download is starting or finishing the
freeze of the browser still happens, BUT for images I can't reproduce the
effect. They seem to be taken immediately out of the cache. Therefore the bug as
described above is not correct. I don't know if the freeze caused by the
starting stopping of the download manager is of importance since if you are
going to download a serious file a 2 or 3 second pauze is not that noticeable.

Comment 6

[mozilla]

Nope! Sorry guys. I hate to break it to you, but the effect is still there even
for images. I reproduced the effect with an image > 450 Kb.

Comment 7

[OstGote!]

How large is your downloads.rdf in your profile? 

Comment 8

[mozilla]

size= 935Kb

Comment 9

[mozilla]

You may email directly if you want to go through some debug routines.

Comment 10

[OstGote!]

(In reply to comment #7)
> How large is your downloads.rdf in your profile? 
(In reply to comment #8)
> size= 935Kb

If you delete the file (resets the dl mngr history), does that help?

Comment 11

[mozilla]

Yes, I deleted the file and I had trouble reproducing the lag. I replaced the
old 900Kb file and the lag was immediately reproduced.

Comment 12

[OstGote!]

Most likely this is a dupe of bug 159107. Try changing the download setting in
the privacy section to clear upon completion.
http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/options#privacy

If this does not fix the problem feel free to reopen.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 159107 ***

Comment 13

[Jean-Michel Reghem]

Bug 159107 is concerning Mozilla Application Suite / Download Manager... is there an other opened bug for Firefox / Download Manager?