471725 - on session restore, gateway redirect results in loss of all previously open tabs

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 479752

(Firefox :: Session Restore, defect)

Description

[Calc-Yolatuh]

User-Agent:       Opera/9.62 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en) Presto/2.1.1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.4)  Gecko/2008102920 Firefox/3.0.4

Frequently, a page redirect sends Firefox to a different URL without registering it as a new visited page. Thereby, if a tab's first requested page is redirected, the expected original URL is lost. User ends up at the wrong page, with the wrong URL. There is no prior page entry to go 'Back' to.

The expected URL may be immediately retrieved from history in most cases. Most painful among exceptions to this, would be a session restore. When in a place where internet access is regulated, every tab may be redirected to a 'Login' request. The address of the last visited page in each and every tab is lost. Some of these tabs may have been opened some time ago, or a user may have Firefox set to clear page history when closed.

In any case, the only possible recourse is to crudely end the Firefox process without allowing it to close/save. A user may then use a different browser to sign in to the regulated gateway, after which time he or she may then re-open Firefox and proceed with his or her business.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.With Firefox closed, connect to a regulated gateway (as those in cafes)
2.Open Firefox
3.
Actual Results:  
Previously opened pages are redirected to a new URL.
Last open page's URL is lost in every tab, replaced by access point URL.

Expected Results:  
Either detect mass redirection and propose a solution to the user, OR

Improve redirection behavior to eliminate the possibility of lost pages.
It should always be possible to click the 'Back' button after being redirected.

This happens with most public wireless access points.

For example Panera, Baker's Square and most public libraries result in a redirection that causes lost pages.


Incidentally, while intentionally killing Firefox allows for the recovery of lost URLs or recently closed tabs, it is not a solution for accidentally closed windows.

Screenshots will be provided after next visit to one of the venues mentioned above.

Comment 1

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Thank you for this report. However, in order to make it more useful, please follow the steps found at http://quality.mozilla.org/bug-writing-guidelines and report back with your results.

Comment 2

[Simon Bünzli]

(In reply to comment #1)
I don't see how this bug report could be any clearer (except maybe somewhat shorter).

Besides, https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=bug-writing.html is IMO a better start for new bug reporters as it makes most relevant points clear enough without the need for too many words.

Comment 3

[Simon Bünzli]

(In reply to comment #0)
> Frequently, a page redirect sends Firefox to a different URL without
> registering it as a new visited page.

This is expected behavior - otherwise you would not be able to go back one page anymore (as it'd always redirect you right away to the page you want to go back from).

> When in a place where internet access is regulated, every tab may be
> redirected to a 'Login' request. The address of the last visited page in
> each and every tab is lost.

I'd actually suppose that once you've logged in in a tab that you're directed back to the page that should have been restored originally. If that indeed happens, right-clicking any tab and selecting "Reload All Tabs" might already fix your issue. Is that the case? If so, there's likely nothing much we'd have to do here.

> Some of these tabs may have been opened some time ago, or a user may have
> Firefox set to clear page history when closed.

In the later case, you're actually supposed to lose the URLs (per bug 398817), for the former case there's already bug 434232.

> In any case, the only possible recourse is to crudely end the Firefox process
> without allowing it to close/save.

Starting with Firefox 3.1, one further alternative would be to navigate to about:sessionrestore and reopen the lost tabs from there.

> Either detect mass redirection and propose a solution to the user, OR

This is an enhancement request we could consider.

> it is not a solution for accidentally closed windows.

This bit of your issue is tracked in bug 394759.

Comment 4

[Calc-Yolatuh]

I will check out sessionrestore page.

Simon, please to excuse but have you ever used Firefox?


What I clearly stated is that the actual PAGE URL is supplanted.
'Reload all tabs' reloads 50 login pages, giving me 50 'resubmit data' dialogues.

In several other browsers a new URL is always a new page, and I can always use 'Back' to return to the old page after logging in. Login pages only remember the single most recently requested URL of the batch. When Bakers Square tries to send me back to my last page, it is often a system or antivirus update URL.


Recently a friend sent me a link to http://encyclopediadramatica.com/

When middle-clicking links for articles, the newly opened tab may be redirected to advertiser "dexknows" and the requested AE entry URL is lost. In Opera this never happens, it is always possible to back up to the site without further incident. In this case requested pages may not even reach the History.

Comment 5

[Simon Bünzli]

(In reply to comment #4)
> Simon, please to excuse but have you ever used Firefox?

Would I be asking questions if I wasn't involved in Firefox's development?
That doesn't mean that I know how Firefox behaves with your WiFi hotspots.

> 'Reload all tabs' reloads 50 login pages, giving me 50 'resubmit data'
> dialogues.

The question was: Does this also happen once you've logged in in one tab?

> When Bakers Square tries to send me back to my last page, it is often a
> system or antivirus update URL.

> When middle-clicking links for articles, the newly opened tab may be redirected
> to advertiser "dexknows" and the requested AE entry URL is lost.

Both of this sounds like your system has been infected with malware. Please perform a virus/malware scan on your system before trying again and reporting back.

Comment 6

[Calc-Yolatuh]

Are you sure you're alright? Have you ever used a hotspot that requires the user to log in before being able to use it?

To answer your question with the same answer restated yet again, once logged in to the gateway provider, the page that I have logged in with either sends me to the provider's corporate site with a saccharin "You're online, now buy a giftcard!" greeting; or sends me to one single URL from the many requests issued at startup. I use NOD32 A-V, which frequently dials home for updates. Thus, the page I am given is occasionally eset's update repository URL. It could just as easily be a Sun Java update page or Adobe URL.

Given that the ORIGINAL URL IN EACH TAB IS GONE, refreshing all tabs does nothing even AFTER logging in. I also can not use the 'Back' button after logging in because the former page URL is GONE. Is there some way to make the font larger when restating myself? It's as though these words are illegible to the respondent.

System is clean. System is always clean. Firefox is always vanilla. Specifically encyclopedia dramatica's advertisers create a page redirect in the actual code of the displayed page. The problem is that, as with gateway login pages, Firefox is not capable of intelligently handling the altered URL. On the ED, pages redirected to an advertiser's site only sometimes lack the option to go 'Back' to the ED page that generated the redirect. Therefore this should indicate that the fault lies in a narrow window of Firefox's page processing algorithms. If the redirect is generated at the wrong stage of the pageload, the original URL is forever lost.

Comment 7

[Simon Bünzli]

(In reply to comment #6)
> Are you sure you're alright?

Please read https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html before adding any further comments.

As for my (repeated) original question, a simple Yes or No would have done (answer apparently being "Yes, my WiFi provider(s) doesn't bother to remember where I actually wanted to go and won't send me back there once logged in").

Comment 8

[Calc-Yolatuh]

Small correction: Wifi providers are incapable of remembering page-per-tab unless exact page URL either is not replaced in address bar OR each unique login page in each tab contains the URL of the requested page in its login request URL. IE: websites that embed outside links in their internal URLs.

(hxxp://whereiam.com/?=whereiwanttobe.com/)

Very few gateways exhibit either behavior. Thus the burden of rescuing users from lost pages most often falls to the browser application. Thus correct and predictable behavior in redirection and use of the 'Back' button requires attention.


I do apologize for side commentary.

Comment 9

[Calc-Yolatuh]

Attachment: Tab exhibiting proper behavior

As can be seen, this tab remembers that it was pointed at an AE site address. Even though a script redirected the page, Firefox can tell the difference.

Comment 10

[Calc-Yolatuh]

Attachment: Tab exhibiting incorrect behavior

This tab also contained an AE page before I shut down Firefox, but it has since forgotten its original address. For control, all tabs in this window contained AE pages with proper AE URLs before Firefox was shut down. I cloned this system and scanned its disk image with several programs. No infiltrations were found.

Once I stop at a Panera, I will upload screens of URL loss on a massive scale.