463132 - failing to leave private browsing mode can lead to session loss

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Private Browsing, defect)

Description

[Simon Bünzli]

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open a few tabs
2. Enter private browsing
3. Do your privacy sensitive thing (a few minutes should do)
4. Once you're done, close the window

Expected result:
Get either a warning that the tabs from step 1 will be lost, be asked to save those tabs before quitting or just get those tabs back.

Actual result:
The tabs are gone (unless Session Restore was enabled).

Comment 1

[(no longer active)]

I think this issue is quite different to that of bug 463188.  Bug 463188 is about the fact that after step 4 in comment 0, if you open Firefox in a profile with default settings, an empty session is restored.

I see that this might prevent some confusions.  Maybe we should detect in WindowIsClosing if we're the last browser window and we're in private browsing mode, and if so, show a warning (which should override the gBrowser.warnAboutClosingTabs warning)?  CCing Alex because we're past string freeze, and I'm not sure what we want to do here.  (Wishing that private browsing mode could have landed a few days before the string freeze...)

Comment 2

[(no longer active)]

(In reply to comment #0)
> Actual result:
> The tabs are gone (unless Session Restore was enabled).

Just to clarify, the tabs are *gone*, and session restore won't help here because it won't remember anything from your private session.

Comment 3

[Simon Bünzli]

(In reply to comment #2)
> Just to clarify, the tabs are *gone*, and session restore won't help here
> because it won't remember anything from your private session.

I was talking about the tabs from step 1 which are indeed remembered inside nsSessionStore and written to disk when quitting - if Session Restore is enabled.

Comment 4

[(no longer active)]

(In reply to comment #3)
> I was talking about the tabs from step 1 which are indeed remembered inside
> nsSessionStore and written to disk when quitting - if Session Restore is
> enabled.

Oh, right...

Comment 5

[Alex Faaborg [:faaborg] (Firefox UX)]

>The tabs are gone (unless Session Restore was enabled).

I'm confused on how session restore got disabled, and if the user actively disabled it, why they would expect their tabs to be restored.

Comment 6

[Alex Faaborg [:faaborg] (Firefox UX)]

I suppose the answer to the second part would be because we are saying in the dialog that we are going to restore them, even though we are not.

Comment 7

[Simon Bünzli]

(In reply to comment #5)
> I'm confused on how session restore got disabled

I meant that the startup option wasn't set to "Show my windows and tabs from last time". Session Restore can't be further disabled than that.

Comment 8

[(no longer active)]

(In reply to comment #1)
> I think this issue is quite different to that of bug 463188.  Bug 463188 is
> about the fact that after step 4 in comment 0, if you open Firefox in a profile
> with default settings, an empty session is restored.
> 
> I see that this might prevent some confusions.  Maybe we should detect in
> WindowIsClosing if we're the last browser window and we're in private browsing
> mode, and if so, show a warning (which should override the
> gBrowser.warnAboutClosingTabs warning)?  CCing Alex because we're past string
> freeze, and I'm not sure what we want to do here.  (Wishing that private
> browsing mode could have landed a few days before the string freeze...)

So, Alex do you have any decision about the above quote yet?

Comment 9

[(no longer active)]

Alex: ping?

Comment 10

[Alex Faaborg [:faaborg] (Firefox UX)]

I think we should save the session regardless of the startup option, since the user might want to momentarily go into private browsing mode.

Comment 11

[(no longer active)]

Hmmm, Simon, reading comment 3, I think what you're really observing might have been solved by bug 463188.  Can you please test this with the latest nightly and confirm it?

Comment 12

[Simon Bünzli]

This bug used to depend on bug 463188 for a reason... ;-)

Comment 13

[(no longer active)]

Sorry, the confusion was all mine.  :-)

Comment 14

[(no longer active)]

Mass moving of all Firefox::General private browsing bugs to Firefox::Private Browsing.

Comment 15

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

Verified with multiple windows, tabs, and "Show my home page" set with:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1b3pre) Gecko/20081228 Shiretoko/3.1b3pre ID:20081228032813

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1b3pre) Gecko/20081228 Shiretoko/3.1b3pre ID:20081228020322