573661 - downloading files increases 2 for 1 virtual memory putting system into swap & 100% CPU.

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Randolph J. Herber]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686 (x86_64); en-US; rv:1.9.2.4) Gecko/20100611 Firefox/3.6.4
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686 (x86_64); en-US; rv:1.9.2.4) Gecko/20100611 Firefox/3.6.4

herber@xyzzy herber$ uname -a
Linux xyzzy.fnal.gov 2.6.18-164.15.1.el5 #1 SMP Tue Mar 16 18:44:51 EDT 2010 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
herber@xyzzy herber$ cat /etc/redhat-release 
Scientific Linux SLF release 5.4 (Lederman)

3.2 GB virtual memory available; 5GB physical memory available



Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Download one or more large files, e.g., the WW2 Why We Fight series.
2. Watch linear with slope 2 (approximately) of virtual memory consumption
   for each byte of data downloaded.
3. Wait until virtual memory is consumed and system gors into 100% CPU
   swap shock.
Actual Results:  
Kill firefox or down somehow and problem and symptoms go away.


Not memory leak (or buffer entire file in memory), etc.

Comment 1

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

do you see this with newer firefox started in safe mode?
https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode

Comment 2

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.13 or later and a new profile (http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles). If you continue to see this issue with the newest firefox and a new profile, then please comment on this bug.

Comment 3

[Randolph J. Herber]

Already tested with 3.6.13, the bug is stiil there.
Please, remember that it only can be seen easily when downloading large
files (~>500GB).  The operation gradually slows down and then stops
due to a time out on a transfer operation.  Doing the same file transfer
with curl or wget works and at full speed throughout.  The memory usage
is about two bytes for each byte transfer and is only released when
the transfer completes or ends.

With a new profile the problem goes away (11% CPU at 11.2 MBHz).  That gives
me a half day rebuild process to do.

Comment 4

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

Randolph J. Herber: And you have tested this without addons (safemode) ?
Some buggy firebug versions are known to cause this

Comment 5

[Randolph J. Herber]

I renamed my ~/.mozilla to ~/.Mozilla and started firefox.
There are no extensions or themes when one does this.
I was told to use a bare profile. I did not use safemode.
In that mode, I was able to download a 4.1GB iso file.
(Now, I have to find where firefox put it as the default
mode does not ask where to put files)

Comment 6

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

If you open your download's window, right click the download and choose "open location".
since this works in a fresh profile then it is most likely an extensions in your old profile.