458639 - "Save and quit" won't work when "Browsing History" is cleared at shutdown

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 398817

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Jelle Geerts]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.0.3) Gecko/2008092417 Firefox/3.0.3
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.0.3) Gecko/2008092417 Firefox/3.0.3

Firefox displays the "Save and quit" button while in fact it's not working when the "Clear Private Data" setting includes clearing the "Browsing History".

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Check "Browsing History" in the "Clear Private Data" dialog.
2. Set `browser.warnOnQuit' to `true'.
3. Open a few tabs.
4. Close Firefox.
Actual Results:  
Firefox warns correctly that we're about to close tabs and asks us if we want to save them for the next time Firefox starts.

But the button "Save and quit" won't actually work. It closes Firefox but the tabs aren't reopened the next time Firefox starts.

Expected Results:  
Firefox shouldn't display the button "Save and quit" since it doesn't work (I think that is the intended behavior since we expect our private data to be cleared.)

Comment 1

[Simon Bünzli]

Confirming (although IIRC there's already a difficult-to-find bug to that end).

(In reply to comment #0)
> we expect our private data to be cleared.

We indeed do (cf. bug 398817).

Comment 2

[Jelle Geerts]

I'm not saying "Save and quit" should work, but I think the button shouldn't be displayed at all (since we expect the private data to be cleared).

(I probably should've chosen a better summary.)

Comment 3

[sbohdjal]

I see 2 ways to fix this:

(1) Remove the "Save and Quit" option if the option to automatically clear the history is enabled.

...OR...

(2) If the user clicks "Save and Quit", save the tabs AFTER the history is cleared.

The first fix is probably easy to apply, but I think the second fix is better since it retains a feature and it's clear the user intends to save the tabs regardless of the "clear history" setting. (Perhaps in this special case though, the default should be "Quit" instead of "Save and Quit".)

Comment 5

[tambourine_poet]

Sounds like a duplicate of Bug 398817

Comment 6

[bernhard krumm]

I am also using clearing history by   - about:config    - scroll down to:
browser.urlbar.maxRichResults  - changed from default 12 to 0

I DO expect all ( other ) history to be cleared,
but when I click  "Save and Quit"   instead of  "Quit"
I really DO EXPECT  saving of THESE TABS (ONLY)  to continue my work afterwords.

Quit Button should be activated, set FOCUS to.

Else add another option to 
Tools / Options / Tabs / 
  O  skip option  Quit  or  Save and Quit 

then it is up to each user

Comment 7

[bernhard krumm]

I am using  firefox-3.6a1pre.en-US.win32.installer.exe    07-Apr-2009 11:31

Comment 9

[mind_readerz]

I was about to report this bug also. Now I know why it happens to me, I always clear history at browser shutdown...

Comment 10

[Fischer]

The same with me.

Especially because this BUG is still present in the actual 3.5 final release!!!
And I think many End-Users won't be so happy about this (Sorry!) stupid change.
Therefore I agree with bernhard krumm by excepting of saving these tabs!

Comment 11

[Jelle Geerts]

My opinion is that the button "Save and Quit" should not be displayed, because private data was set to be cleared. Security/privacy should be chosen over comfort here. Also, just because *somebody* can't think of a reason to choose security/privacy over comfort is a fallacious argument to not choose it for the same reason Darwin's Theory of Evolution can't be disproved just because somebody can't think of life forms that have existed before a 'major' change became visible.

Comment 12

[Fischer]

@Jelle: nice analogy ;-)

But if you want to clear all your private data which was collected during browsing (cookies, chronik,...)when closing and ONLY keep your current tabs (which are opened, so you will need them in future; if not, why haven't you closed them before???) due to further work, and then Firefox is so friendly to ask you, if you want to keep these tabs or not - you have the choice (and you can even disable this dialog if you want!) about security and comfort here - then Firefox should leave the decision to the user.

I'm aware of the common prejudice that this might lead to vulnerability. But every user should be intelligent enough to recognize that this data (only your latest URL's), kept by request (and maybe this should be mentioned in this dialog) is not deleted, altough it is set to delete the rest by default.

Objections? I don't mind if you deactivate this option by default! If you think it is not safe then deactivate it - if you want even in about:config.

If you don't want to do so. If you don't want to keep any data - why don't you use the new private mode?: there is no *sensible* data left. 
Why don't you disable this feature?: there is no *sensible* data left and you are not even bothered.

But was is with the other users - the users that normally want to delete their private data automaticly by closing, and sometimes want to save their current tabs to continue their work when firefox is started next time? 

Why to ROB this feature (make it unusable - it doesn't do its task; the task which is written as its caption)? It is deactivatable! You don't have to use it!

But it is important (and comfortable) for me - and tens of thousands other users!

For me - if I WOULD BE a normal unversed user - it would seem more buggy than comfortably or securely. This would scare the user more than delight him.

In Word or OpenOffice for example: 
when you close your document and you haven't saved it before or after the recent changes - and your wordprocessing would ask you: *Would you like to save the changes?*
What do you expect? 
You click 'No': Well, nothing is saved....
You click 'Cancel': You want to come back to your document. You suddenly don't want to close it or maybe you clicked by mistake.
You click 'Yes'(, save): Then you expect Word to save your changes (or equivalent: your tabs). You don't want Word to DROP your data because of security reasons!! And then do so as they would be saved. And you believe so...till you want to continue your work or print it for the boss...

Well, a problem, isn't it?!

Maybe I wasn't able to convince all of you (or only the software-developer ;-))...

But then I ask you: Your crash-autosaving ISN'T very SAFE - when looking from the security aspect, but comfortable...
But the tab-saving by request is not allowed to be comfortable...

Sorry, but I think this is arbitrarily and blinkered...


In the hope of changing your mind,
make the best of a brilliant project,
not letting degenerate it,

best regards,

Max

Comment 13

[Jelle Geerts]

Of course you have a point that the tabs are also (re)stored after a crash, but users would probably assume their data is "safe", (likewise, they would expect that from the "Save and Quit" feature), regardless of the "Clear Recent History" settings. By "safe" I mean reasonably safe so that the "average user" can't access the data (however, if you cared, you can access it easily, unless it's protected with a key).

That said, the protection of saved tabs (whether in case Firefox crashes or when "Save and Quit" is used) is the same: there is *no* protection of that at the moment.

So, based on that, we should either:
1) Make "Save and Quit" work the way it "normally" works, regardless of the "Clear Recent History" settings.
2) Remove the "Save and Quit" functionality from the UI if it is "not possible" (by design) to save the tabs.

Comment 14

[bernhard krumm]

Workaround
Ok, one more try to finalize never ending discussions.

regards security or other reasons there can be following options:
a)Quit               ( by default )

b1)Save and Quit     ( displayed only when the own settings allows saving )
                     ( and saving will be done )

b2)Save these TABS regardless Your history-clear-settings and Quit  
                     ( to be displayed when b1) cannot be displayed, 
                     ( when setting will not allow b1-saving time beeing.
                     ( this should be clear to every user )

c)Bookmark all Tabs to Recent-Tabs-Group  and  QUIT  
                     ( almost same functions as in bookmarks option, )
                     ( there was no discussion that this should work so far ) 
                     ( saved to left of Bookmarks Toolbar named Recent-Tabs )
                     ( option to be used if You don't like option b2)
  :-)

Still any objections to keep this ?

Comment 16

[Fischer]

I think the suggestion from Bernhard is good (or first item on Jelles's list).

The choice by dialog to leave some data (only tab-urls) should have priority over background settings in this case.

But as you can see in #398817: it is marked as WONTFIX. So there will be no hope...

All this forwards and backwards is bureaucratic nonsense...and bloody disputes about influence among a few programmers.

To bad.

Well, I suppose I have to compile my own version every time...or hope for/write an addon.
But it's very likely that this will be prohibited by Mozilla or made impossible.

Best Regards,
Max