Open Bug 432520 Opened 16 years ago Updated 1 year ago

Sometimes a second app icon appears in Dock (restart, profile manager, Quicksilver)

Categories

(Toolkit :: Startup and Profile System, defect, P3)

All
macOS
defect

Tracking

()

People

(Reporter: rotis, Unassigned)

References

Details

Attachments

(2 files)

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9pre) Gecko/2008050604 Minefield/3.0pre
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9pre) Gecko/2008050604 Minefield/3.0pre

I've got Minefield and Thunderbird in the Dock as start-up objects. After automated restarts of Minefield 3.0pre and Thunderbird 3.0a on MacOSX 10.5.2 (when installing new add-ons/themes or updating the application) in one of two cases a second active (white dot) app icon appears in the Dock.

Reproducible: Sometimes
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1a1pre) Gecko/2008052002 Minefield/3.1a1pre

WFM / Incomplete - Need exact step to duplicate

with Minefield and Thunderbird apps open - (with white dots under the app icons in the dock) I added CustomizeGoogle This addon did not auto restart FF - but after a restart - press the restart button - the Minefield icon bounces up and down in the dock  - no second instantiation of the minefield app icon appears
Reporter, we haven't seen this on RC 1 either.  Can you reproduce this with the latest nightly builds (or with RC1) you get the latest here: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/

If you can reproduce the issue, feel free to reopen.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 16 years ago
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
I did see this today during testing using Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008051202 Firefox/3.0. However, I have not been able to reproduce. I wonder if it might be an extension causing it - Reporter did you have extensions installed in that profile?
Status: RESOLVED → UNCONFIRMED
Resolution: WORKSFORME → ---
note: If it happens due to an extension restart it will most likely also happen due to a change in the Firefox version since they both cause re-registration of components which will cause the restart.
It happens sometimes but not always when restarting Minefield (or Thunderbird 3.0a) after a new nightly was installed. My Minefield runs in a clean new test user account without Add-ons.
I'm now in my guest account where I'm testing Minefield and Thunderbird 3.0a. I just automatically updated Minefield to the latest nightly (Gecko/2008052304 Minefield/3.0pre) including the usual restart. The second icon appeared again. It seems to me - but I can't verify - when there are substantial changes within Minefield from nightly to nightly (today the updater downloaded ~500 kB) it is more likely to start with a second icon. The last two or three days the updater seemed to download and update nothing except a new version string, and Minefield started normally. Also when I don't update for a few days, the Minefield updater usually downloads the complete Minefield from Mozilla (~15.9 MB) and it starts normally. It is just my vague observation, but maybe the chance of the "double icon" is higher when Minefield just updates a small part of itself.
(In reply to comment #6)
> It happens sometimes but not always when restarting Minefield (or Thunderbird
> 3.0a) after a new nightly was installed. My Minefield runs in a clean new test
> user account without Add-ons.

Not correct. I sometimes use the GrApple theme and I do use AdBlockPlus lately. However: The double icon appears with and without Add-ons and themes.
Voting... This problem occurs for me.

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008061004 Firefox/3.0 ID:2008061004

Adblock Plus 0.7.5.4
Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper 1.0.4
Add N Edit Cookies 0.2.1.2 [DISABLED]
CS Lite 1.3.8
DOM Inspector 2.0.0
Firebug 1.2.0b3
Flashblock 1.5.6
Greasemonkey 0.8.20080609.0
Image Zoom 0.3.1
More Tools Menu 1.1
Nightly Tester Tools 2.0.2
Organize Status Bar 0.5.2 [DISABLED]
Regular Expressions Tester 1.0.8.9 [DISABLED]
Web Developer 1.1.6
This occurs for me too, sometimes, randomly after an update. I don't know how to exactly reproduce it.
I have this same problem from time to time...

same problem here: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.0.3) Gecko/2008092414 Firefox/3.0.3

possible duplicate of bug 449930 as well.
Same problem on latest stable version of Firefox 3 on Mac OS X Leopard. The old icon remains and works, but a new one pops up. Potentially a problem with recognition of the executable being used?
Changing from PPC to All after seeing it happen on Intel macs too in these comments.

It sucks how intermittent this problem is, I haven't seen it in a while myself.
Hardware: PowerPC → All
I've seen this too some days ago with Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1b3pre) Gecko/20081229 Shiretoko/3.1b3pre ID:20081229020258.

It happened during an extension update after I upgraded my nightly build.

Which steps have to be done to get closer to this problem?

Confirming for now.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Version: unspecified → Trunk
Chances are this is due to the toolkit's startup code and can't be fixed in the shell integration code.
Markus and/or Steven, is it something you are familiar with?
(In reply to comment #18)

I believe I've seen this occasionally ... though not recently (not for
at least several months).

Of course we can't do much about it until we have reliable STR.

Wild guess:  It's conceivable that this is an event taps problem, and
that the patch for bug 436897 might fix it.
For what it's worth, the patch for bug 436897 has been landed on the
trunk (mozilla-central, yesterday) and the 1.9.1 branch (today).  So
it should be available starting in today's mozilla-central nightly and
tomorrow's 1.9.1-branch nightly.
(In reply to comment #20)
> For what it's worth, the patch for bug 436897 has been landed on the
> trunk (mozilla-central, yesterday) and the 1.9.1 branch (today).  So
> it should be available starting in today's mozilla-central nightly and
> tomorrow's 1.9.1-branch nightly.

Just ran across this this morning, on the 20090205 builds for both 1.9.1 branch and trunk.   Dupe dock icons appeared right after doing a software update from yesterday's build.   So i'm not so sure the patch for 436897 fixed it.
> So i'm not so sure the patch for 436897 fixed it.

I'm now quite sure the patch for bug 436897 *doesn't* fix this problem :-)

It was worth a try, though.
Component: Shell Integration → Startup and Profile System
Product: Firefox → Toolkit
QA Contact: shell.integration → startup
This does not only appear when restarting the browser. Even when I use Quicksilver to start Shiretoko, some times I get an additional icon in my dock.
Summary: [10.5] After restart a second app icon appears in Dock → [10.5] Sometimes a second app icon appears in Dock (restart, Quicksilver)
Happens for me too, on Firefox 3.6.3, on OS X 10.6.3. I think it happens when an extension is updated at Firefox startup, and Firefox restarts itself silently after the update has been applied.
This has reappeared in the latest Minefield build, esp. after installing the Flash 10.1 beta plugin.
Happens every time there is a flash on a page. I tried to just drag an swf-flash file into a browser window, and it always leads to the second icon in the dock.

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.3a6pre) Gecko/20100622 Minefield/3.7a6pre

Flash 10.1 r53
Some of you are probably seeing Bug 557225, especially the individuals who recently commented in the bug.
A lot of users on 10.6.4 are mentioning this is happening to them via Input http://input.mozilla.com/search/?q=two+icons&product=firefox&os=mac
Whiteboard: [Input]
(In reply to comment #30)
> A lot of users on 10.6.4 are mentioning this is happening to them via Input
> http://input.mozilla.com/search/?q=two+icons&product=firefox&os=mac

You don't want this bug but bug 557225.
Whiteboard: [Input]
After checkmarking "Don't ask at startup" over 10 days ago, I have not seen this problem since. [OS 10.6.5]

Does everyone experiencing this bug have Firefox set to ask you which profile to use?
i had the "don't ask at startup" checked when i met this bug; however lately i haven't experienced this particular issue.
I haven't update to 10.6.5 yet, but with 10.6.4 I see this a couple of times during a month.
I've seen this occur with both 10.6.4 and 10.6.5.

I reboot my machine at least once a day, and Firefox is one of the first two applications that are launched.  Between roughly 33-50% of the time, Firefox will spawn a second dock icon.  The Minefield builds will do this as well.  Clicking on the proper dock icon will do nothing to change focus to the app.  The duplicate icon must be the one clicked.

The key to this, I believe, is having the Profile Manager displayed during startup.  I've never seen it occur otherwise.
I put thus up on another thread (now closed):

In firefox 3.6.13 the firefox icon gets duplicated in the docking bar
apparently without doing anything eg an upgrade as just happened to me this am.

Reproducible: Sometimes
This always happens for me now with Minefield builds when the profile manager is used. Right after it has been closed a second dock icon appears.
Summary: [10.5] Sometimes a second app icon appears in Dock (restart, Quicksilver) → Sometimes a second app icon appears in Dock (restart, profile manager, Quicksilver)
(In reply to comment #35)
> Does everyone experiencing this bug have Firefox set to ask you which profile
> to use?

I've encountered this in OS X 10.6.x (can't recall if I did when I had 10.5) and have never used the Profile Manager on this machine. It occurs for me after a restart to update (Firefox/Minefield or extension), but incredibly rarely.
I just downloaded and installed Firefox 4 (I just coped Firefox into /Applications, overwriting Firefox 3.6).  After installing plugins and having Firefox restart itself, a second Firefox dock icon appears.  This second icon goes away after closing Firefox.
(In reply to comment #43)
> I just downloaded and installed Firefox 4 (I just coped Firefox into
> /Applications, overwriting Firefox 3.6).  After installing plugins and having
> Firefox restart itself, a second Firefox dock icon appears.  This second icon
> goes away after closing Firefox.

yes happens to me as well, while i don't recall happening that with 3.6.*
What I believe I've been seeing is that Firefox creates a second dock icon every time I start it, regardless of whether it's an automated restart or not.  This has been happening for the past few versions, and did not occur previously, but unfortunately I didn't note the exact version it started with.  I am currently on Firefox 5.0.1 on OS X 10.6.8.  After each time I start, I'm forced to go to the dock and uncheck Options: Keep in Dock for the old one and then check it for the new one.  I haven't tested to see if I'd get a third icon if I started again without doing that, but I'm guessing so.

As some others have reported, I have Firefox set up to prompt me for a profile upon startup, and I'm not willing to change this.
As an additional data point, while the profile chooser window is open, only the original Firefox Dock icon is present.  Once you click to start up with a particular profile, that's when the second icon appears and becomes the active one.  In case it's relevant, I also use the "Show my windows and tabs from last time" setting.
This may have started with Christian's changes to our bundle ID? I see it on every reboot - the profile manager comes up with the original Nightly icon, and then when Firefox actually launches, I get a second icon, and the original icon has no dot beneath it.
Joe, which bug are you referring to? This is a long standing issue and has not been introduced lately.
The bug I'm talking about is bug 553073. Perhaps I'm just conflating the two issues.
I use Firefox 17 beta and on each update I get the second dock icon upon browser restart.

Can't reproduce it in Aurora, though.
Happens for me in Firefox 18.0.1 on OS X 10.8.2 too. Steps to reproduce:
- remove an extension from the extension manager
- you'll see a link inviting you to restart Firefox
- click that link and you'll have a second Dock icon

If that's relevant, I currently have the following extensions installed:
- Adblock Plus 2.2.1
- Clear Search 2 1.0
- Download Statusbar 0.9.10
- Exif Viewer 2.00
- Firebug 1.11.1
- HeaderControlRevived 1.1
- PDF Viewer 0.7.1
- Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic 2.8
- Speed Dial 0.9.6.12
- Stylish 1.3.1
- Tab Wheel Scroll 20110909

This isn't a major issue but somewhat annoying, I simply quit Firefox and then restart it from the Dock when it happens.
Happens to me every time I upgrade on the release channel.
Just happened now when auto-upgrading from 38.0.1 to 38.0.5.
Thanks @Gerald for that info. I haven't been able to figure it out. For me it happens on every restart, I think its due to me using ocmmand line parameter of -no-remote -P "profile_name"
i just did the prompted upgrade to 39.0.3 and it didn't happen, but i've seen it happen before.

Gerald: does it happen for you with the 39.0.3 upgrade?
(In reply to Marc Bejarano from comment #58)
> i just did the prompted upgrade to 39.0.3 and it didn't happen, but i've
> seen it happen before.
> 
> Gerald: does it happen for you with the 39.0.3 upgrade?

It still happens for me, but I didnt test the upgrade thing. I am in the situation where I restart the aplication and thats all it takes to make a second one.
(In reply to noitidart from comment #59)
> (In reply to Marc Bejarano from comment #58)
> > i just did the prompted upgrade to 39.0.3 and it didn't happen, but i've
> > seen it happen before.
> > 
> > Gerald: does it happen for you with the 39.0.3 upgrade?
> 
> It still happens for me, but I didnt test the upgrade thing. I am in the
> situation where I restart the aplication and thats all it takes to make a
> second one.

It happened to me when restarting after the upgrade to 39.0.3. (But not everytime I restart.)
(In reply to Gerald Squelart [:gerald] from comment #60)
> (In reply to noitidart from comment #59)
> > (In reply to Marc Bejarano from comment #58)
> > > i just did the prompted upgrade to 39.0.3 and it didn't happen, but i've
> > > seen it happen before.
> > > 
> > > Gerald: does it happen for you with the 39.0.3 upgrade?
> > 
> > It still happens for me, but I didnt test the upgrade thing. I am in the
> > situation where I restart the aplication and thats all it takes to make a
> > second one.
> 
> It happened to me when restarting after the upgrade to 39.0.3. (But not
> everytime I restart.)

I kind of did some special stuff so it happens everytime so its no surprise, if any one wants to attack this bug i know how to make it happen everytime.
Happened again after upgrading to 40.0.

One interesting thing, not sure if it's important: After Firefox has restarted with a 2nd icon (with the 'active' dot), switching to another app and then clicking on the original Firefox icon (*without* the active dot) switches to the same Firefox app instead of starting a new one.
However, right-clicking (or control-clicking) on the original icon only shows a limited menu with "Options", "Show Recent", and "Open". While right-clicking on the 2nd icon also shows the list of windows, "New Window", and "New Private Window".
I'm experiencing this as well as recently as today on 40.0.3, and I am pretty sure I can replicate as well. Let me know if there's anything I can provide to help.
I can replicate on OS X El Capitan 43.0.4 2015 MBP.  Also the limited menu is still a problem as Gerlad pointed out.  I will try and replicate on FF beta.
Very long running bug...
Happens to me about half the time I restart firefox.
Doesn't matter whether I just updated software or not, or whether I just install/enable/disable an addon.
When I restart, the second doc icon appears.
I haven't seen it happen when I start firefox for the first time after my MAC is booted up.

The same happens to my thunderbird as well.
I haven't seen any other applications displaying this behavior.
So it's got to be something in mozilla startup library for MAC.
(In reply to Marcus Yoo from comment #65)
> I haven't seen any other applications displaying this behavior.

Eclipse after every update. Firefox only sometimes after an update on my system.
This sometimes happens to me with Nightly and I think I've only noticed it after updating. Two Nightly icons appear in the dock.

Selecting the old one from the dock seems to give focus to the old app, without changing the menu bar or displaying anything. Selecting the new one from the dock works as expected.

I can quit the new app and that leaves the old one stuck in the dock. The old one does NOT show up in ps(1) output (ps -ef) or in "Activity Monitor".
Is someone still able to reproduce this when updating with the most recent nightlies (yesterday's, or the day before)?
I hit this today. I think I also had a developer build of Nightly running (in its own profile) at the time I updated my official Nightly in case that could be to be related. I will try to test that tomorrow.
I hit this yesterday, as well.
I hit it again today when I restarted Nightly to update. It sometimes happens when I manually quit and restart Nightly, not just for the nightly update.
Hit this again today with update to 48.0.1
I hope this comment isn't spam, but i see that this doesn't seem to have been tracked down, so i thought i'd add some more information:

This has been happening to me for years, and it's just happened again tonight on Firefox 54 on macOS Sierra 10.12.4.

I rarely exit the browser for any other reason, so i usually apply updates manually by going to Firefox > About Firefox and clicking the restart button. I would say that maybe 1/3 of the time when i do this, when Firefox comes back up it will appear as a second Dock icon.

To be clear, i have Firefox pinned to the Dock, and i think this is a prerequisite for replicating the problem, since otherwise i assume the first icon would simply disappear. The second icon appears on the far right side of the Dock, indicating it's a non-pinned icon.

Everything else about the Firefox instance that starts back up seems to be as expected — all of my windows and tabs come back, &c.

Clicking the first (pinned) icon brings focus to the running Firefox instance — it doesn't try to start a new one.

Only one instance of Firefox appears in the output of `ps aux`, but there is a slight difference.

When launched normally (via the pinned Dock icon) the process command line looks like this:

/Applications/Firefox Beta.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox

When the bug occurs, and the second Dock icon is present, the process command line looks like this:

/Applications/Firefox Beta.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -foreground

In all cases, simply quitting Firefox and relaunching it from the pinned Dock icon fixes the problem. I have never had the second icon appear under any circumstance except when i've triggered a browser restart from within Firefox. (In all these years i can't recall it ever happening when i launched it myself via the Dock or Quicksilver or Alfred.)
Severity: normal → S3

The severity field for this bug is relatively low, S3. However, the bug has 13 duplicates, 24 votes and 50 CCs.
:mossop, could you consider increasing the bug severity?

For more information, please visit auto_nag documentation.

Flags: needinfo?(dtownsend)

The last needinfo from me was triggered in error by recent activity on the bug. I'm clearing the needinfo since this is a very old bug and I don't know if it's still relevant.

Flags: needinfo?(dtownsend)
Priority: -- → P3
You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.

Attachment

General

Creator:
Created:
Updated:
Size: