311181 - Both JavaScript Console and Download Manager windows take forever to appear

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Toolkit Graveyard :: Error Console, defect)

Description

[IU]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b5) Gecko/20051004 Firefox/1.4.1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b5) Gecko/20051004 Firefox/1.4.1

Lately (at least since the Branch - possibly even earlier), it takes an
extremely long time for either the JavaScript Console and Download Manager
windows to appear.

IMPORTANT NOTE: My system: Intel P3 933 MHz + 512 MB RAM


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
You may want to test on a less than multi-GigaHertz system, if possible, to get
an idea of just how bad the performance is.  Other note: tested using the .exe
build.

1. Generate a clean profile
3. Launch JavaScript Console.  Note how long it takes to appear
4. Visit http://www.filemirrors.com and search for spf (Sygate Personal Firewall
- a 9.01 MB file)
5. Click to download the once from skycable.tucows.com, and while that one is
downloading, click to download the one from mirrors.blue.aol.com (assign it a
new name, if you are going to save to the same directory).  If you don't get
these mirrors, use other mirrors.
6. Notice how slow the Download Manager window is in coming up in both cases. 
This is especially annoying when downloading many small files, as the Download
Manager window lag makes the constant waiting distressing.
5. NOTE the CPU utilization when this happens!  The CPU is pinned just to open a
small window.

Actual Results:  
Both the JavaScript Console and Download Manager windows take way too long to
appear, because the CPU utilization gets maxed just trying to display either.


Expected Results:  
Both the JavaScript Console and Download Manager windows should appear quickly
and with little strain on the CPU.

Comment 1

[Adam Guthrie]

Can you provide a regression range for this? I have my doubts as to whether this
is a valid bug. Can you reproduce this in safe mode?

Comment 2

[IU]

Found the causes:  The Download Manager issues is actually a Firefox performance
issue, and the slow JavaScript Console opening issue is cause by Sessionsaver.

The Download Manager issue, which can be experienced simply by clicking Tools
--> Downloads, is caused by poor performance in generating the download history,
when there are many items (say 50+, but very noticable and annoying with 100+,
200+ etc. entries) in the download history.  The more items in download history,
the longer it takes for Download Manager to appear, meanwhile maxing the CPU. 
Similary, this type of slow-down affects Extension Manager, but it is less
likely to get as severe as that of Download Manager, since it takes much more
than 50 extensions to get really annoying.

If this download Manager issue cannot be fixed, maybe (as a last resort) Mozilla
should either set a hard limit on the maximum number of items that are held in
the download history or add a user preference (with a reasonable default) to set
the limit.  If a limit is not set, don't assume that most users are going to
know to clear it - especially if they are not into the business of downloading
things they should be ashamed of.  Just imagine how badly Firefox will crawl
with hundreds of entries in the download history!

Comment 3

[Nickolay_Ponomarev]

These are two separate issues, and should be filed in separate bugs. But since
it has always been like that, I'd be surprised if there weren't bugs filed about
this.

So please file the two bugs, but search carefully first.

Comment 4

[rj hornsby]

WinXP+SP2 (install less than 3 weeks old), FF 1.5 Gecko/20051111
Having similar issues with the download manager, but only have about 10 entries in the download history.  This is a new behavior after upgrading from 1.0.7 to 1.5.  Lots of disk thrashing while waiting for the download manager window to come up the first time after FF is launched.  Will keep hunting for a more specific bugzilla entry in the mean time.

Comment 5

[rj hornsby]

Has anyone been able to locate existing or file new bug reports as per comment #3?  If so, would you kindly post the bug id(s) here?  Having to wait 30-60 seconds while FF thrashes on the disk (as reported above, only a few items in the download history...) before the download manager window finally shows up is very aggravating. 

Apologies for being an idiot, but I don't know what a "regression range" is.  Where might I go to find directions on how to obtain and provide this to you guys?

Comment 6

[IU]

Refiled as Bug #326405 focusing on only the Download Manager