539376 - A previous session is NOT restored after cancelling the "Firefox - Restore Previous Session" window (by clicking the upper right X).

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: Session Restore, enhancement)

Description

[bugzilla2010]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.6) Gecko/2009011913 Firefox/3.0.6
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.6) Gecko/2009011913 Firefox/3.0.6

Sometimes my computer crashes or freezes while firefox is running (for whatever reason...this does not matter....it is usually because too many other programs are open). I often decide to force quit Firefox by using "Task Manager" to free up some memory. (You can open "Task Manager" by pressing the ctrl-alt-del keys at the same time.)

When I restart Firefox the next time, I will get a pop up window with this message:
"Your last Firefox session closed unexpectedly. You can restore the tabs and windows from your previous session, or start a new session if you think the problem was related to a page you were viewing."
And it shows 2 buttons:
"Restore Previous Session" and "Start New Session"

This popup window is a normal and expected behavior of Firefox. So far so good...

BUT... If I close the window by clicking the X at the top right hand corner of the window, the previous session information is erased and a new session begins. (The reason why someone might want to close the window right away is because sometimes they can open Firefox by accident and they might not want to use it at that moment.)

But I gave Firefox no such instruction to start a new session. I never clicked the "start new session" button (nor did I click the "restore previous session" button either). When I close the entire restore session popup window (I do this by clicking on the upper right x.) it opens up anyway (which is OK) but it starts a NEW session and I lose all my previous session information.
In the options menu I do have the "restore previous session" option entered. So Firefox SHOULD open up with my previous sessions restored.

But it does not.
So please fix this "bug".

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Close Firefox in "Windows Task Manager" (press ctrl-alt-del to open "Windows Task Manager")
2.Restart firefox.
3.The "Firefox - Restore Previous Session" window should open. Close it by clicking the upper right X.

Actual Results:  
Firefox opens a NEW session and my previous session information is deleted even if the "show my windows and tabs from last time" choice is stored in "Options".

Expected Results:  
Firefox either should not have opened at all OR
Firefox should have opened with the previous session restored. (This means the windows and tabs from last time should be open.)

Comment 1

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

First, please update to firefox 3.5.7 or later.
Second, if firefox is closed while session restore is open, it won't keep it permanently in memory. I don't think this is a practical feature, so probably WONTFIX.

Comment 2

[Paul O'Shannessy [:zpao] (not bugmail, email directly)]

We're not going to make such user experience changes to a stable branch (3.0 in this case). Firefox 3.5 introduced a new experience where you get a page showing you your open windows & tabs giving you the option to restore or start a new session. This page only shows after a few crashes in a row, but on the first couple starts after crashes we resume the session automatically.

Comment 3

[bugzilla2010]

(In reply to comment #1)
> First, please update to firefox 3.5.7 or later.
> Second, if firefox is closed while session restore is open, it won't keep it
> permanently in memory. I don't think this is a practical feature, so probably
> WONTFIX.
You said:
"Second, if firefox is closed while session restore is open, it won't keep it permanently in memory."

No, this is not true.
I don't know what you mean by "if firefox is closed while session restore is open".
You must mean: If the Restore Previous Session window is closed by X clicking it, Firefox will lose the last session that was in memory.

Session restore works just fine if I close Firefox properly (by clicking on "File" and then clicking on "Exit").
Session restore also works just fine if I force quit Firefox by using Taskmanager and then click the "Restore Previous Session" button on the resulting popup window that I should get the next time I open Firefox.

The only time I have noticed (so far, and as far as I know) that Firefox loses the session restore information is if I exit that popup window by clicking on the upper right X.

Also, why did you chang my summary? It was fine the way it was.
You changed it to:
"Keep saved session restore from crashes unless user specifics an option"?
I have no idea what you mean by that. You are not taking the time to say what the problem is using plain and unabbreviated English.

I like my summary better so I changed it back.
(My summary originally said: "A previous session is NOT restored after cancelling the "Firefox - Restore Previous Session" window (by clicking the upper right X).")

Comment 4

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Paul made this wontfix, leave it please. He is a peer here.
If you disagree, politely give your reason, but don't change it. I changed the summary to be more concise, easier to search for, and more accurately.