681555 - Encourage Components.utils.Sandbox callers to specify a sandboxName

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(addons.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Add-on Validation, defect, P3)

Description

[Jesse Ruderman]

Add-ons that use sandboxName are less likely to produce *mysterious* memory use increases.

Comment 1

[Nicholas Nethercote [inactive]]

What's the end goal for this bug -- what has to happen for it to be fixed?  Is it just documentation or something else?

Comment 2

[Jesse Ruderman]

A warning from amo-validator if extensions call Components.utils.Sandbox without specifying a name.

Comment 3

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

a?jorgev?

What is the text for this?

Comment 4

[Jorge Villalobos [:jorgev] (he/him)]

Ugh, that constructor interface sucks...

I guess we want to show a warning whenever Components.utils.Sandbox is used in an extension. Trying to figure out when the name is present will always be unreliable, so we shouldn't even try.

The warning should say something like: "Sandbox objects should always be created with a sandboxName to prevent memory problems. Read this documentation for more: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Components.utils.Sandbox".

Comment 5

[Nicholas Nethercote [inactive]]

(In reply to Jorge Villalobos [:jorgev] from comment #4)
> "Sandbox objects should always be
> created with a sandboxName to prevent memory problems."

Nit: I wouldn't say "to prevent memory problems", I'd say something like "because it helps memory profiling tools provide more information".

Comment 6

[Jorge Villalobos [:jorgev] (he/him)]

In that case it should be an informative message, not a warning.

Comment 7

[Sander Mathijs van Veen]

In bug 681556 the default sandboxName is set to the caller's filename, so there are no more nameless sandboxes in about:memory.

Shouldn't https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Components.utils.Sandbox be updated with "the default value of sandboxName is set to the caller's filename"?

Comment 8

[Nicholas Nethercote [inactive]]

> Shouldn't https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Components.utils.Sandbox be
> updated with "the default value of sandboxName is set to the caller's
> filename"?

Yes!  I added "As of Gecko 13, if you don't specify a sandbox name it will default to the caller's filename."  (CC'ing Sheppy in case my use of "Gecko 13" doesn't match the preferred style.)