42198 - mozilla bootstrap behaviour could be more well-behaved.

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Core :: XPCOM, defect, P3)

Description

[John Morrison]

Overview Description:
  
This is a follow-on from bug #27601 -- if msvcirt.dll is not installed on
windows systems, then mozilla will repetitively launch "zombie" windows,
until eventually system memory is exhausted and mozilla crashes (or worse,
the windows OS locks up and forces a reboot). [This loop begins when
gkparser.dll and gkhtml.dll cannot be loaded by nsNativeComponentLoader].

Since that bug has a workaround (make sure the installer adds msvcirt.dll if
it doesn't exist), then you could consider this matter closed. 

But, I'm opening this bug for consideration of whether there needs to be
improved logic in the bootstap code to prevent other, similar "I'm doomed,
but I'm gonna keep on trying no matter what" behaviour.

In other words, failure to load certain components (e.g., gkparser.dll,
gkhtml.dll) is fatal; should mozilla shut down gracefully at that point. (It
currently does not).

I'm filing this as XPCOM, but it may be a higher-level issue (e.g,
application bootstrap behaviour). I'll attach an NSPR logfile for the output
of 'set NSPR_LOG_MODULES=all:2' on windows 95.

Steps to Reproduce (you may not want to do this at home :-]).

1) reboot into DOS
2) delete c:\windows\system\msvcirt.dll (or wherever it may be 
   located on your system).
3) boot back into Windows
4) start mozilla

Actual Results:

An endless stream of windows are opened, until mozilla finally crashes
due to an out-of-memory condition.

In the console, messages are like the following: 

WEBSHELL+ = 117
*************************************************
nsNativeComponentLoader: GetFactory(C:\TEMP\2000-06-08-15-M16\BIN\components\
gkhtml.dll) Load FAILED with error: error 1157
*************************************************

This can be reproduced on Windows (any flavour) with the current release
builds.

There is also a currently open bug 36928, where the same _apparent_ behaviour
is happening on the Mac. However, at this time, we don't know what is causing
this to occur (i.e., it only happens on one particular Mac (or set of Macs),
but no one can reproduce it on other apparently similar Macs).

Comment 1

[John Morrison]

Attachment: nspr log for 'set NSPR_LOG_MODULES=all:5' on windows 95

Comment 2

[leger]

Moving all current open XPCOM and XPCOM Registry bugs to rayw since dp is on 
sabbatical.  rayw is now default assignee for these components.

Comment 3

[leger]

Updating QA contact.

Comment 4

[Warren Harris]

Edward: Welcome to xpcom!

Comment 5

[Warren Harris]

Once again... attempting to reassign from Ray to Edward.

Comment 6

[Edward Kandrot]

At some point in the future, I will make the bootstrap code more stable, since 
there appear to be some number of bugs on this.  If some part of the app is 
missing, I do not expect it to work correctly.  The only thing that can be done 
is add more error checking, and handle edge cases correctly (ie quitting).

Comment 7

[Doug Turner (:dougt)]

reassign all kandrot xpcom bug.

Comment 8

[Judson Valeski]

per discussion w/ dougt, topembed minusing this bug.